Segmenting of markets
Despite the fact that many health care providers operate as non-profit organizations, they need to implement marketing strategies to help them gain a competitive edge. For instance, the Melinda Gates Foundation in the US employs market segmentation, marketing mix, advertising, branding, positioning, and target market identification as its marketing strategies. Market segmentation refers to dividing consumers into groups that have common needs and characteristics when responding to marketing actions. The Melinda Gates Foundation subdivides its markets in order to serve the needs of consumers efficiently. When segmenting its markets, this non-profit health care organization starts by defining the areas of interest. It then reviews the segmentation variables which include the demographic, behavioral, and geographic variables.
Through demographic variables, the Melinda Gates Foundation in the US divides its markets basing on age groups. Through geographic variables, the organization divides its market into different locations. Lastly, the non-profit health care organizations segment their markets on the basis of customers’ attitudes and perceptions using the behavioral variable (Brown, 2007). Market segmentation plays a major role in advertising the products and services of this organization. First, it helps it to offer products and services that satisfy consumers. Secondly, it helps it to use the most efficient means of communication to reach the target audience. Most importantly, it helps the organization to differentiate marketing strategies from the ones used by the competitors, and hence gain a competitive edge.
Target markets
Just like the for-profit health care organizations, the not-for-profit institutions conduct research to help them identify their target markets. They need to have a target audience for their products and services. The Melinda Gates Foundation targets different markets depending on the needs of consumers. It offers services such as the provision of medication for the minority groups and local communities, as well as educating communities and students on health matters. The organization also funds scientific studies related to health care and promotes medical programs such as HIV prevention among others. The Melinda Gates Foundation targets minority groups that lack access to good health care services, health research institutions, and communities affected by illnesses or poor health conditions among others. It also targets the minority students in the US for its humanitarian efforts and scholarships (Wymer, Knowles & Gomes, 2006). The organization conducts research in the target markets to help it offer products and services that meet the needs of the audience.
Positioning of services
The Melinda Gates Foundation positions its services in the minds of consumers to persuade them that it offers the best services compared to its competitors (Hall, 2008). This organization uses promotional marketing tools to make consumers loyal to its services. It conducts thorough research on the target markets to help it identify the needs of consumers. After that, the Melinda Gates Foundation integrates the most efficient promotional campaigns in order to position its services to consumer preferences. According to John Kaegi (group vice president of marketing with BlueShield of Florida), the non-profit health care sector builds its brands quickly and effectively compared to for-profit health care (McPherson, 2008). For instance, the Melinda Gates Foundation achieves this through advertising campaigns, public education, and engagement of consumers by appealing to their health among other things. In reference to Jeffrey Cowart (the Chief Marketing Officer of Inova Health System), most of the non-profit health care organizations invest in advertising campaigns. This is aimed at increasing the awareness of health and wellness classes, as well as HIV clinics among other subsidized community programs (McPherson, 2008).
References
Brown, D., J. (2007). Consumer perspectives on nurse practitioners and independent practice. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 19(10), 523-529.
Hall, M. (2008). Non-profit Health Care Services Marketing: Persuasive Messages Based on Multidimensional Concept Mapping and Direct Magnitude Estimation. Health Marketing Quarterly, 26(3),165-82.
McPherson, B. (2008). Dialogue: Advertising by Nonprofit Health Care Organizations. Inquiry-Excellus Health Plan, 45(3), 256-262.
Wymer, W., W., Gomes, R., & Knowles, P., A. (2006). Nonprofit marketing: Marketing management for charitable and nongovernmental organizations. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publ.