Healthcare Marketing

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association, An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders

Marketing is the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow, refer, upload, download, obey, reject, conform, become complacent to someone else's products, services or values. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing.

History

The practice of marketing is almost as old as humanity itself. was originally simply a gathering place where people with a supply of items or capacity to perform a service could meet with those who might desire the items or services, perhaps at a pre-arranged time. In 1960 Theodore Levitt wrote a journal article called Marketing Myopia. This is said to have really begun the marketing craze

Health Care Marketing It seems natural at first to dismiss health care marketing as the invasion of crass commercialism into some of the most sensitive areas of people's lives. This approach is too simplistic, however, because health care marketing is one of the ways that advancements in medicine and in health-protecting services like insurance are made widely known.

Using health information to market goods and services certainly runs the risk of invading privacy. The inappropriate advertisement or sales call can communicate to people that their sensitive information has been handled indiscreetly. This can be a mortifying offenses to a person's sense of autonomy and dignity.

Buoyed by corporatisation of healthcare, India’s as well as other country promotion as a sought after medical tourism destination and threatened by the mushrooming of new hospitals, it is becoming difficult for hospitals these days to depend on mere word of mouth promotion to attract patients. Hospital managements are putting extra effort in carving a brand image of the hospital and improving hospital’s visibility. In other words, many would agree, that hospitals marketing has evolved from being subtle to aggressive.

Marketing Department

With the realization of importance of hospital marketing, the presence of a full-fledged marketing department has also been acknowledged. “The marketing department is said to be the voice of hospital where the brand is fashioned and communicated, internally as well as to the community at large,”

Marketing strategies

Though there are no specific strategies for hospital marketing, a systematic approach to marketing has evolved over the past few years. “Unlike earlier, now the corporates prefer a long-term association with the healthcare institution by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU)

Events, both indoor and out-reach programmes, play a significant role in marketing of healthcare institutions. Continuous medical education, awareness sessions for general public, check-up camps for public, organising events on various health days, conducting interviews of specialists on visual media, informative and interactive website, printing and making readily available various emergency or appointment numbers are the commonest marketing tools.

“As patients are the best ambassadors, it is important to take care of their needs and provide them with best possible care. Their apprehensions should be addressed so that they have the courage to come back to the same facility,”