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5.0 Introduction
Health care organizations are amongst the last ones to adopt modern
marketing practices into their marketing systems. Prior to the late 1970,
functions that were performed at all under the auspicious department with
titles like “development” and “Public relations”. The lack in the field of
undergone sea changes in its role in health care management, but certainly
What is Marketing?
Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One
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American Marketing Association offers the following formal definition:
stakeholders 3.
be pure services and some services are combined with products and goods.
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Places this is an entirely novel concept that is being done today. To take a
simple example, tourism spots like Goa and Kerala are being marketed to
attract tourists. In the field of healthcare, a city may market itself as a place
to come for the right treatment due to availability of the right type of
treatment.
Eminent surgeon who has gained expertise and reputation, winners like
Kiran Bedi who is known as the most powerful lady is now being marketed
who probably was never ever was thought will be marketed, Dhoni the
cricket coach Mr. Negi being asked to promote reality shows, Amitabh
men accessories being names after the celebrities are examples of persons
being marketed.
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insurance based organizations like mediassist, Paramount, TATA AIG, Raio
service Providers like the Radio Mirchi promoting on the reality shows,
not be ethical practice. Like for example the Operation Research Group
who collects the product sales data, new product launch data from across a
set of 2000 chemists and extrapolates to 2lacs chemists and does the
the form of a book for a premium price. With the help of this the companies
can then take a call about their marketing strategies against a competitor,
competitors, which new products are doing well and the acceptance by the
that they meet the changing needs of the customers on whom the
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organization depends. As a verb, marketing is all about how an
Till now we have seen marketing as a concept now we will see marketing
between the buyers and the sellers, the exchange of products with
process is: There are at least 2 parties, there could be more Each has
delivery Each is free to accept or reject the exchange Each believes that it
is appropriate to deal with the other. Thus both the buyers and sellers and
if there are any other parties, give something to each other and are
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5.3 Marketing as a Managerial Function
Thus employing the right marketing mix, which means using all those
consumer needs but also achieve its objectives. Thus marketing can be put
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What is Marketing Orientation?
viewpoint and assumed that they knew what the customer requires.
consumer needs, wants and preferences, both stated and unstated, again
fulfilled and unfulfilled. Unfulfilled customer needs drive their new product
development efforts.
marketing companies integrate all the elements of the marketing mix, and
not just merely advertising and selling into a sound business plan that
could successfully help them to fight the competition. That the entire
Futuristic approach: These companies strategize and compete not only for
today's market, but also proactively create markets for tomorrow. So these
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investment. For example, they would look at the market from a future
is market-oriented.
expectations. For example you hear from a neighbor about a good doctor,
the cleanliness about his hospital, courteous staff, reasonable rates and
above all good treatment. You go to this doctor and let's assume that all this
turns out to be true. Then since there was an expectation the satisfaction
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would be just about met. But if there is even something that does not get
fulfilled, say a mistake in the billing, there will be low satisfaction in spite of
the fact that you had good treatment. On the other extreme, you go to a
the fact that you may have been given a lot of importance and attention
may make you ignore everything else, even the high bill, and make you a
satisfaction because customers will switch to other offerings if they are not
just satisfied or just about satisfied. Highly satisfied customers will not
switch easily and their bond is more than just rational, it is often emotional.
Thus you gain loyalty. The key to generating high customer loyalty is to
customers. In the above process, the first step is to generate leads for all
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suspecting. The next step would be screening this list, based on various
concentrated upon.
company must measure its retention rate say for a hospital how many
patients would come back when there is a need or say in the case of a
travel agency, how customers may keep on booking through you. Next is to
see the reasons for losing customer. There are many cases, where nothing
can be done; the company in spite of its best efforts would have lost these
have them at all, because there may be a loss, trying to retain and serve
these customers. In other cases, quite often the reasons are manageable
and the company should correct their mistakes. The reasons are obvious if
the company calculates the profits lost from existing customers and also
looks at the cost of acquiring new customers, it would be very large. The
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customers, talks and advertises about our company at no extra cost and is
then willing to try new products and services offered in the future by your
company.
Marketers use numerous tools to elicit desired response from their target
defined as a set of tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing
objectives in the target market. McCarthy classifies these tools into four
and promotion.
Marketing mix decisions are made for influencing the trade channels as
well as the final customers. Typically a firm can change its price, sales force
size and advertising expenditures in short run. It can develop new products
and modify its distribution channels only in long run. Thus the firm
The term "marketing mix" was coined in 1953 by Neil Borden in his
new ingredients no one else has tried. The marketing mix (price, product,
the company’s market." The term became popular in the article written by
Niel Borden called, “The Concept of the Marketing Mix,” as explained on the
distribution. Those are the four main ingredients of the marketing mix, but
description of the marketing mix is accurate, but missing some vital pieces
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of information which will allow individuals to gain a better understanding
wide use.
Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as the "Four 'P's", a
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Product - It is a tangible good or an intangible service that is mass
units. Intangible products are service based like the tourism industry &
motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass
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Price – The price is the amount a Patient pays for the product. The
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Any organization, before introducing its products or services into the
market; conducts a market survey. The sequence of all 'P's as above is very
In recent years the addition of a 5th P has become common place. The 5th P
being people, this is to represent the people who you are targeting but also
the people who will physically conduct each part of the campaign. Some
More recently, three more Ps have been added to the marketing mix
made available.
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Process: Procedure, mechanism and flow of activities by which
services are used. Also the 'Procedure' how the product will reach the
end user.
relation.
5.6.3 Four Cs
into a product.
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Pricing is replaced by 'Cost' reflecting the total cost of ownership.
Many factors affect Cost, including but not limited to the Patient's cost
Convenience takes into account the ease of buying the product, finding
the product, finding information about the product, and several other
factors.
advertising, and any form of communication between the firm and the
consumer.
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5.7 How does a marketer strategize to attain success in a marketing
influencing the buyer. From the buyer’s point of view, each tool is designed
to give the customer benefit. Some authors have suggested that the 4 P's of
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5.8 Marketing Mix for Services
One who buys a service offering probably takes a decision based on the
following factors:
mix has mentioned above contains: Product, Price, Promotion and Physical
Marketing in Healthcare 1
and the marketing era was not considered to begin in healthcare until the
1980s. This does not mean that certain healthcare organizations in the
retail and supplier sectors had not been involved in marketing activities.
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Pharmaceutical companies, consumer-product vendors, and health plans
equipment). The main interface for PR staff was with the media. They
served as the interface with the press should some negative event occur.
although they were often carried out under the auspices of the PR
activities that might affect the organization. They served as the interface
of- need activities. This function has historically been critical for many
most of the hospitals is unique and advanced. The hospitals have state-of-
patient's doorstep. Example if ECG is taken in the ambulance the same can
his mobile.
open 24 hours. It caters to the needs not only of the inpatients and
outpatients, but also patients from other hospitals who require emergency
drugs.
staff, while preventing stress or panic among visitors to the hospital. These
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ID badge shows disaster codes. Hospital emergency codes are frequently
coded by color, and the color codes denote different events at different
The fact that different hospitals, even those in close proximity to one
privileges at more than one facility, and the expectation is that he or she
seems that without due diligence in regular review of the codes for each
Apart from the above mentioned services, hospital also offers "Health
following:
levels:
consultants.
people, the staff and their skills along with their attitude. In a hospital, the
receptionist, the doctors, the nurses, the administrative staff all put
together deliver the service. Their skills and attitude along with what they
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customer, the moment is lost. Thus the evidence of such acts determines
the quality and delivery of service. Process as detailed earlier, there are
the right time and in the proper way, and thus the process is important.
Hence the seven Ps of services are Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People,
Six P's add value to the services. Out of the 7 P's of marketing mix for
services 6 P's of the mix calculate for the 7 P, that is value for money, price
different sectors
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Issues are the current concerns that arise in response to events and
trends
information, data, trends which will affect your company, directly and
indirectly, in the present and also possibly in the future. Screening the
future that will have an impact on the company. In forecasting, one would
and monitoring. Evaluating the impact, you would determine the action,
a) Marketing environment
b) Finance environment
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c) Economic environment
d) Demographic environment
Marketing Environment
It is concerned with the markets in which the company operates and the
Financial Environment
Demographic Environment
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It is concerned with the population's size and growth rate, age and sex wise
Economic Environment
communication/ roads / rail / air / etc., and other such factors that affect
Political/Legal Environment
attitude towards labor, bilateral relations and overall factors that may
Social/Cultural Environment
It is concerned with the quality and number of suppliers, labor and people
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technology, appropriate technology, cost/benefit of technology and other
such factors.
Internal Environment
a) Resources
b) Capabilities
c) Competencies
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An Opportunity is a favorable conditioning the organization's
which creates a risk for, or causes damage to, the organization. An example
advantage.
Based on the above a company would evaluate the SWOT analysis. There
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of the opportunities and minimize the threats, a company would require a
company needs a good sales team and excellent distribution systems, etc.
If these CSFs are available with the company in a measure larger than
the best doctors and if these types of doctors are not available with the
competition, then it is strength. If all the other hospitals also have similar
panel of doctors that you have, it is a neutral factor. So strength has two
characteristics one, it is required for success and second, you have it more
than the others. If something is needed for success, but is absent in your
the opportunities and the competition will erode your position. Thus,
strengths and minimize the threats that arise due to your weakness.
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Target customers can be divided into two types:
2) Internal customers:
attention
products one can use form, e.g. a medicine by different doses, size, coating,
action time, sustained release, etc one can differentiate by features one can
a whole lot of such services. One can create a difference by giving an image,
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Once this is done, you then need to position your offering for the target
market identified.
The organizations must carve out a “POSITION” for itself and its services /
Advantages of Positioning
products
and try to be the best on those attributes and benefits. There should be
balance of trying to promote only one benefit, which might be too narrow
and on the other hand promoting too many benefits that do not seem
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Under positioning : giving only a vague idea, customer cannot
beyond that.
prevention centre.
to customers. There are different types of images current image, the way
as seen now mirror image way the company thinks it is seen wish image
the way a company would like to be seen. The aim is to make the current
image and wish image to match. For effectively positioning services the
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responsiveness to solving problems and complaints the experience of the
customer.
knowledge of the needs and benefits of the service offered e.g. Escorts
Pricing
Setting the right price is crucial for services and the most challenging. If the
prices are too high, you may not get customers, if they are too low, you may
Fixed costs the cost you have to incur irrespective of the volumes /
Variable costs: the costs of your inputs that are directly proportional
Positioning
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Promotions
Taxes
Image
Elasticity of demand
Discriminatory pricing:
Backward pricing
Assess what customers are willing to pay and then price accordingly
to their willingness
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Set the initial price low w.r.t. expectation of customers, so as to
for repeat visits, lower your charges for subsequent visits, or offering
seasonal discounts.
offering high quality with high price super value pricing, offering high
quality at a low price economy pricing, offering low quality with low
offering low quality at a high price just because of shortage, will not
last long.
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services to other key relationship markets. Promotion is a descriptive
Why Promotion?
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Promotion for Healthcare Organization
Advertising:
Kotler and Armstrong defines Advertising, ‘as any paid form of non-
advertising.
An overview of all the media available for marketing, and then their
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broad acceptance, high believability, where the disadvantages
News lines.
Out door media: they can be divided into single location and multi
media.
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approach where the disadvantages include low credibility and high
cost where the disadvantage is low appeal and clutter effect of “ad”.
literate.
The widely used media in Health care services are outdoor media, where
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There are five main stages in a well-managed advertising campaign:
to the potential sales impact of the campaign. This, in turn will reflect the
For example, new products tend to need a larger advertising budget to help
difference.
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Setting the advertising budget is not easy - how can a business predict the
right amount to spend. Which parts of the advertising campaign will work
best and which will have relatively little effect? Often businesses use "rules-
infamous John Cleese campaign for Sainsbury). Research suggests that the
clarity of the advertising message is often more important than the amount
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Stage 4: Decide which Advertising Media to Use
may use one or more of the media alternatives. The key factors in choosing
(a) Reach - what proportion of the target customers will be exposed to the
advertising?
(b) Frequency - how many times will the target customer be exposed to
(c) Media Impact - where, if the target customer sees the message - will it
have most impact? For example does an advert promoting holidays for
elderly people have more impact on Television (if so, when and which
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Stage 5: Evaluate the results of the Advertising Campaign
(2) The Sales Effects - has the campaign generated the intended sales
Competence
Courtesy
Credibility
Responsiveness
Communications
Communications:
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a) Direct communication efforts to employees : target employees are
health care industry word of mouth plays a better role than best of the
c) Provide tangible clues: health services are one of the most intangible of
home and the comfort the patient gets at home will be provided in hospital
while making sure that employees are neat and clean, can increase
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satisfaction thus, if marketing communications establish customer
Informing and educating public about the various services, say about
the front office staff must be customer friendly and should deliver
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5.10 Problems in Marketing of Healthcare Services in Indian Context
customer awareness. For the size of the market, in many basic areas of
rural area the reach of health services is very poor. Where as in urban
conducted those marketing functions that were performed at all under the
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4. Illiteracy: our problem of illiteracy is linked with high population
5. Poverty: India's per capita income is one of the lowest in the world.
More than 30% of the population is below poverty line, which affects the
into two types, those who try to cure with some divine power or those who
are not qualified i.e. through medical registration, but do play with
allopathic medicines.
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9. Enforcement of the consumer protection act: the awareness and
The hospital services can be divided into two parts Medical & Non Medical
Doctors can be either Full Time or Part time. It is suggested that only
salary or retainer ship. But all RMOs should be MBBS to handle any
case of emergency.
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B) Non Medical: This service includes Marketing, Ambulance service,
Hospital and ensure Quality Service to the Patients. This will help
References:
Marketing Association:
4. http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/promotion_advertising.asp
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5. Larry Steven Londre Marketing, IMC, Advertising, Promotion, Media
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_emergency_codes
Reading
2. http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/20041215/marketing01.
shtml
http://www.davechaffey.com/E-marketing-Glossary/Patient-centric-
marketing.htm
5. www.crminfoline.com
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix
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