Introduction
Marketing is a vital component of any business undertaking. It determines the extent to which one’s products or services are accepted on the market. Although most companies are doing well in this respect, there have been allegations that marketing has not been fully embraced in some industries. In this regard, this paper discusses marketing challenges in the healthcare industry. The paper asserts that the best way to market healthcare services is to avoid marketing and concentrate on service delivery. Some of the strategies successfully employed in other industries are discussed in relation to the healthcare industry.
Marketing Strategies
Marketing strategies can be designed based on product, prising, location or extensive promotion. Some strategies work better in certain industries than others (Powers & Jack, 2008).
Product Strategies
Companies that employ product strategies strive to enhance customer satisfaction (Powers & Jack, 2008). This can be achieved by ensuring that products yield better results and are easy to use. According to Powers and Jack, product strategies involve innovation and differentiation (2008). A differentiated product is defined as one that stands out from the rest.
As Powers and Jack points out (2008), the kind of services offered in the healthcare industry makes innovation and differentiation difficult. The industry is highly regulated because of the high risks involved. As a result, there is no flexibility that is required for innovation. In addition, people are creative when the consequences of mistakes are not so severe. Mistakes in healthcare industry come with deadly repercussions. The consequences range from litigation to cancellation of operating licence. As a result, most players focus on perfection rather than innovation. This makes it difficult to achieve product differentiation (Powers & Jack, 2008).
Under such circumstances, it becomes likely that one will find similar services and procedures in different hospitals. Without product differentiation, a hospital cannot put itself in advantageous position. It should be noted that this factor affects all players and no particular firm is disadvantaged. Companies can, therefore, concentrate on service delivery and benefit from the increasing demand for healthcare services rather than commit resources on marketing.
Prising Strategies
In the absence of innovation, most firms resort to prising strategies. This is an elimination tactic employed by big firms to reduce competition. Thomas (2002) observes that prising strategy cannot work in the healthcare industry. Prices are already too low as a result of the government’s initiative to avail healthcare services to minority groups that are economically disadvantaged (Thomas, 2002).
This puts players in financial constraints that cannot allow them to cut prices. In addition, low prising scares rich healthcare consumers who associate cheap things with poor quality. It should be noted that the well-resourced white majority are the main healthcare consumers. Therefore, there is need to balance between taking care of minority groups as per the government policy and retaining rich consumers (Thomas, 2002).
Place strategies
Place strategies involve designing how customers can access one’s product (Thomas, 2002). All businesses look for strategic locations where they can be reached by many customers without much hustle. This strategy relies on the fact that most people value convenience. In the case of a hospital, ideal location can be areas with high population. Hospitals can also be located in less populated places with people who are willing to pay more for health care services.
It is believed that highly populated places are mostly occupied by people who cannot afford healthcare services. On the other hand, less populated places are mostly occupied by white majority who can afford expensive healthcare services. Most players prefer areas with less population that comprises of people who are willing to pay more. However, distribution of healthcare facilities is controlled by the government to ensure that minority groups are taken care of (Thomas, 2002).
Promotion Strategies
The most proactive marketing strategy is promotion. This involves reaching out to target groups with the aim of provoking their interest in the product (Rooney, 2009). Companies mostly use television and radio advertisements to reach their target markets. This strategy can be expensive considering the financial constraints that most players in the healthcare industry operate with. However, use of internet and social media makes it relatively cheap (Prue & Daniel, 2006). It should be noted that internet has disadvantage as well. People can find information regarding their health on internet and only visit a hospital to seek a second opinion. This reduces demand for healthcare services which are mainly about consultancy (Prue & Daniel, 2006).
From the above discussion, it can be seen that most players in the healthcare industry feel that marketing is a necessity. However, they have also realized that most approaches applied in other industries cannot work for them. Therefore, the question is not whether marketing is necessary or not but rather which approaches are appropriate for the industry.
Conclusion
Most marketing challenges facing players in the healthcare industry result from the nature of services provided. The industry has many stakeholders with obvious interests and, as a result, players cannot make unanimous decisions that promote business. Interference from authorities makes it impossible to come up with strategies that improve revenue collection. Participants in this industry should, therefore, stay calm and concentrate on service delivery. Those who do it better will benefit from the increasing demand for health care services.
References
Powers, T., & Jack, E. (2008). Using volume flexible strategies to improve customer satisfaction and performance in health care services. The Journal of Services Marketing. 22(3), 188-199.
Prue, C.E., & Daniel, K.L. (2006). Social Marketing: Planning Before Conceiving Preconception Care. Maternal and Child Health Journal,10, 53-72.
Rooney, K. (2009). Consumer-Driven Healthcare Marketing: Using the Web to Get Up Close and Personal. Journal of Healthcare Management, 54(4), 241-251.
Thomas, R. K. (2002). How far have we come? Marketing Health Services, 22(4), 36-47.