1.Why is it difficult for marketing concepts and strategies that are commonly used in other
industries to “penetrate” the health care industry?
2.In your opinion, has marketing been truly accepted as a necessity for health care
organizations yet, or is it still regarded as a luxury?
Part 2: Please write a 2 page essay on marketing in the health care environment in the
following two-part case scenario:
1.Compare and contrast marketing techniques among for profit vs. non-profit
organizations.
2.Suppose that you are the manager of a start-up health care organization that previously
had a for-profit structure, but has achieved non-profit status. Describe how you would
change your marketing strategy.
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Introduction
Marketing can be defined as the processes and activities for crafting, communicating and
supplying offerings that are valuable to the clients, customers, partners as well as the community.
As such, marketing is an extensive effort that encompasses relationship building techniques that
swiftly increase as technology advances. Health care institutions progressively realize that
marketing problems are inevitable with the reduction in clients, finances, members and other
possessions reminding the organizations of the reliance on the market (Astuti and Nagase, 2014).
One of the aims of marketing is to study how, when and why individuals fulfill their desires and
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interests in order to try to influence the process of making decisions. Besides, marketing is
conducted through the formation, promotion, pricing and supply of concepts, possessions, and
services. Moreover, another objective of marketing is to build internal as well as external
relations to gratify persons or organizations.
Why is it difficult for marketing concepts and strategies that are commonly used in other
industries to “penetrate” the health care industry?
Presently, consumers are becoming extra savvy when seeking health services in hospitals
and clinics with distance not being an issue currently due to better means of transport. As such,
patients are more eager to look for services in places such as hospitals based in universities
because the services in those centers are better than in other hospitals and clinics. As such,
marketing has become a necessity for most healthcare organizations (Fellows, 2013). Notably,
specialized treatment for example cancer centers are predominantly featured in most
advertisements in the Television and attend to the sick with better and more advanced
technology. Moreover, there are several websites nowadays that provide more information
regarding compliance records for several healthcare corporations. Collecting and reporting
compliance information is necessary for determining the healthcare organization that offers best
services and such information is available on the internet. As such, if an individual hospital does
not provide better services in a particular area, the patient may not select that hospital (Astuti and
Nagase, 2014). This could be incredibly devastating especially for care in the countryside where
most of the variables may be within the standard of treatment except for a few other areas. For
example, a health care organization may provide better laboratory services but perform dismally
in consultation services. Remarkably, the Internet is a channel for numerous healthcare concerns
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in marketing where most people search for various diseases and health problems and take the
information to be accurate and authentic which is precarious because not all the sites are reliable
Health care organizations compete and this may have an adverse impact on the employees that
work in close collaboration with each other. Also, given that most people search the ratings of
the various hospitals via the Internet may impact how information is collected with the staff
being trained how to utilize the words they may encounter on the satisfaction review so that they
will get a positive rating
From a positive viewpoint, customers can conduct additional inquiries of care services to
pursue an improved experience. When viewing satisfaction information, it’s hard to repudiate a
high ranking as being false (Garcia and Gonzalez, 2013). Apparently, the organization is
undertaking something right to gain the respect of the customers. Without having a form of
advertising that resonates well with the clients and offers up to date information, consumers may
never be aware of the services present in their communities. Besides, the data about the services
is present on the internet and for the people who do utilize the internet can be helped by their
families and friends
When engaging the customers, it is paramount to them that not everything they see and read on
the web is accurate and genuine. Reliable data must be founded on sources that clients are aware
of and which the organization typically uses because reporting untrue information is unlawful
and be damaging to the body. As such, patients need to utilize sources that are credible and
reliable to acquire information that is true and accurate.
In your opinion, has marketing been truly accepted as a necessity for health care
organizations yet, or is it still regarded as a luxury?
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Notably, most healthcare companies nowadays spend vast sums of money in advertising, and
this can be evidenced by the elegant billboards and lavish advertisements featured in televisions
(Fellows, 2013). However, it is the consumer who in this case is the patient that pays for the ads
through the high prices charged when the customer seeks for health care services. Therefore,
healthcare companies are highly relying on marketing to the extent that it has become a necessity
or else the organization will lose the client base. However, there is a lot of misleading
information to the extent that it is not easy to find something accurate written concerning
healthcare marketing activities. Also, it is tough to deny that there is dishonesty in marketing in
healthcare since there are many false claims submitted to insurance organizations. Moreover,
several healthcare providers convince patients through marketing that certain procedures and
tests are necessary to them yet the tests are not beneficial for their health in the long run(Astuti
and Nagase, 2014). As such, with the advertisement in healthcare becoming a necessity it is
paramount for the customer to do deep investigations to ascertain that the services advertised by
healthcare providers are accurate, real and adequate.
Compare and contrast marketing techniques among for-profit vs. non-profit organizations.
Compared with nonprofit organizations healthcare companies established for profit
purposes use marketing to boost their operations. Regardless of the fact that several health care
providers operate as nonprofit corporations, such organizations require to adopt marketing
strategies. For example one of the forms of marketing utilized by nonprofit providers in the
healthcare industry is the enrolment of students to professions in health care (Fellows, 2013)..
Considerably, both organizations need marketing to appeal to their diverse target markets and
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provide additional information about their services. For example, organizations that operate to
earn profits market their services through various methods such as identification of the target
market, branding, and marketing mix to generate more revenues. On the other hand, nonprofit
corporations also utilize marketing to heighten awareness about the availability of the wellness
and health classes and other subsidized programs in the community (Garcia and Gonzalez,
2013). Similarly, marketers working for nonprofit organizations labor as hard as their
counterparts in profit corporations to boost the visibility of the company and maintain the
organization’s reputation as well as achieve the goals and aims of the firm
Intuitively, there are certain differences between for-profit and non-profit companies in
healthcare marketing. First, the two organizations differ in the way they are governed and the
manner in which various groups or parts within the firm behave. For instance the organization of
the members of the board and they manner in which they are compensated.
Notably, a profit corporation mostly pays its members’ salaries for services provided and
hires other participants outside the company to perform certain duties for them. On the other
hand, nonprofit corporations rely highly on volunteer work and conduct most of its individual
activities within the enterprise itself to realize their marketing goals. Further, profit corporations
pay a certain percentage of the profits realized in the form of taxes to the government which is a
legal requirement failure to which the entity may be charged huge penalties (Astuti and Nagase,
2014). On the other hand, nonprofit organizations do not pay taxes but cannot utilize their
resources for other purposes different from the mission of the organization.
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Suppose that you are the manager of a start-up health care organization that previously
had a for-profit structure, but has achieved non-profit status. Describe how you would
change your marketing strategy.
First, the strategy employed in marketing would change in the logic that more focus and
emphasis would be on time as opposed to money in stimulating the new marketing policy. Also,
instead of using a significant amount of the budget in financing current areas where marketing
can be utilized, less money would be utilized in the new marketing plan with more hours being
utilized in activities such as volunteering and organizing for motivational talks (Garcia and
Gonzalez, 2013). Secondly, the philosophies and motivations guiding the corporation would be
made clearer to the target groups and would be presented in a very persuasive and eye-catching
manner. Lastly, greater creativity and innovation would be of great value in the new marketing
plan in highlighting the critical concerns of the company while stressing the more considerable
resourcefulness shared amongst persons that seek to aid the organization to achieve its set goals.
References
Astuti, H. J., & Nagase, K. (2014). Patient loyalty to healthcare organizations: relationship
marketing and satisfaction. International journal of management and marketing research, 7(2),
pp. 39–56
Fellows, J. (2013). Rebranding Helps Sharpen Marketing Strategy. Healthcare Marketing
Advisor 14(11), 4-7.
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Garcia, M. R., & Gonzalez, L. I. A. (2013). The untapped potential of marketing for evaluating
the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations: a framework proposal. International review on
public and non-profit marketing, 10(2), pp. 87-102