Membership Issue
Practice Owner/Partner
69% are 50 years or older
Employee Dentist
66% are younger than 39 years old
Like many other associations,
PDA is struggling with how to attract
new and younger members while
continuing to meet the needs of
current, more established members.
To address this challenge, in 2018 PDA
hired an outside consultant to evaluate
member needs. A key finding of the
consultant’s research identified that
younger dentists, who are a growing
under recruited market segment, are
more likely to be an employee dentist
with different membership needs. While
PDA was aware of the trend of under
recruited new dentists, we weren’t aware
of the difference in needs between older
members who are likely to be practice
owners/partners and younger dentists
who may be an employee dentist. These
details are important because a large
percentage of PDA members are over
the age of 50.
Age and Experience showed consistent
differences in survey responses and are
frequently related to ownership stake,
and therefore, are important
contributing factors to the needs
of Pennsylvania dentists.
PDA recently reached out to members
in different stages of their careers and in
different practice settings to gather
perspectives on membership and
addressing their needs. Their responses
highlight that all members, regardless
of age or practice setting, have a similar
view related to professional challenges,
but the priority of those challenges
differs. While there are overlapping needs
for benefits and services, these insights
demonstrate that PDA must provide
more focused communication to
members based on their market
segment. To build more personal
connections with all members, PDA
must send the right message in the right
format to these different target groups.
MARCH/AP RIL 2019 | P EN N SYLVAN IA DEN TAL JOURNAL
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