Effective ways to reach specific patient groups

Market analysis

Choosing your target markets can be very powerful. Ideally they should not be the same as your competition's (both pharmacy and nonpharmacy) as this allows you to differentiate your offer. The first thing to do is segment your market. In other words, decide how you want to define your different customer types. This requires some market analysis.

Traditionally, this is done by looking at demographics such as age, sex, income levels, etc, and requires you to review your local population and healthcare needs to determine whether you have a dominant patient group or unmet need. Look at local population data (fingertips.phe.org/profile) and your Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (content. digital.nhs.uk/jsna) or local Quality Outcomes Framework (qof.digital.nhs.uk) performance data for information to inform your market analysis. You can also undertake analysis of the types of patients who most use your services using the patient medication record system and your patient survey data.

It's also helpful to engage your team, who will live in the local community, and ask them their views. One of the problems of relying solely on who walks into your pharmacy is that you may be missing a patient group who have not been attracted to your premises. For example, you may have a sizeable younger population, but you may not cater to their needs well enough.

Choosing your target groups

Aside from the findings from your quantitative analysis, it is important to ask yourself the following questions to help identify your target groups.

• What am I passionate about? Passion wins through every time, and in a field such as healthcare it matters to patients €“ a lot. Select the services and conditions where you believe you have unique insights and can make a real contribution, and focus on supporting those. You or your team may have an interest or personal connection that helps create energy and focus on supporting your community. For example, you may have an interest in diabetes, respiratory conditions or supporting people with mental health issues.
• What am I good at? What skills and knowledge do I and the team have that can be used to best effect?
• Who do I want to help? In community pharmacy, we must deliver a great service to all patients, but there may be some groups that you have particular empathy with, such as young mothers, smokers or older people with dementia. Having a greater understanding of a specific group or groups of patients will enable you to develop the service further, investing time, resources and energy in something that means more to you.
• Who is my ideal patient? Once you have understood what you are passionate about and who you might have more empathy with, it can help to create a picture of your ideal patients. Who do you want to use your services and why? Conducting a survey of your existing patients and/or adding questions to your contractual Patient Questionnaire (CPPQ) can give you good insight into who your main communities and profiles are, how they view your current services and what else they might like to receive from your pharmacy.

Develop your strategies

Once you have decided on the patient group or groups that you will focus on, you must develop your target patient strategies. What should you offer to be attractive to that customer group? You will need to find out what is important to each of the audiences you're targeting and then consider how you meet these needs. For example, if you want to attract the parents of young children, consider all the services, in-pharmacy health promotional activities and products that are likely to relate well to this group.

Young people will be looking for a healthcare environment that is welcoming, but where they feel confidentiality is always maintained €“ a place where they can get ready access to information and services. Older women are probably more concerned with issues around the menopause and age-related conditions such as breast cancer than other people, and men in their late 50s may be looking for information on erectile dysfunction and health checks.

If you are working with elderly patients, then consider becoming a dementia-friendly pharmacy (see alzheimers.org.uk). Think about the different needs of your older patients, focusing on those with multiple medicines, and stocking living aids.

Don't forget to engage and train your team in the appropriate needs and solutions for your target group. They will be crucial to the successful delivery of your offer.