Introduction
Marketing in healthcare is associated with numerous ethical concerns because the prospective clients of healthcare providers would not want to feel that they are encouraged to use specific services. Due to the unique character of healthcare organizations’ work, explicit advertising of healthcare services is not the best option to gain popularity. The given paper discusses the inbound marketing strategy of Saint-Joseph Hospital and provides recommendations that can be implemented to improve it.
Main body
Being one of the well-known healthcare organizations in the area, Saint Joseph Hospital uses social media accounts to create an online community consisting of people who have a positive experience with the healthcare facility. Among the particular inbound marketing efforts made by the management of the healthcare organization is the creation of a Facebook account (“Saint Joseph Hospital Denver,” n.d.). The account provides the information that is relevant to prospective customers: contacts, working hours, and parking information. Apart from that, it is important to note that the use of this account helps the healthcare organization to support its positive social image. For instance, there are posts about talented volunteers and nurses who work there, the organization’s partners in healthcare, and tips on healthy nutrition.
Another advantage of this part of the organization’s inbound marketing strategy is associated with the presence of customer feedback. Former patients are allowed to share their impressions with other users, and the presence of such information (that is sometimes critical) definitely increases the level of trust in this organization. There are more than fourteen thousand Facebook users who visit the page from time to time, and the number of subscribers indicates the effectiveness of the strategy.
There is one more advertising channel that is a part of the hospital’s inbound marketing strategy – YouTube. The hospital’s YouTube channel was created almost six years ago (Saint Joseph Hospital, n.d.). As is clear from the media content presented, the creation of the channel was aimed at making more people aware of the hospital’s services. Only a small part of videos on the channel advertises the hospital’s services directly, which is an important advantage.
Other videos present useful tips for new parents, those who want to lose weight, and people of advanced age. Among the particular topics touched upon in the videos are heart disease and measures that reduce the chances of heart attack, sudden infant death syndrome, a healthy diet during pregnancy, and breast cancer. It is clear from the selection of videos presented that the organization tries to share media content that would attract people of various ages and social groups.
Conclusion
On the surface, Saint-Joseph Hospital seems to have an effective inbound marketing strategy that helps it to advertise healthcare services in a more implicit manner. The right choice of advertising channels (Facebook and YouTube) that are extremely popular among young and adult Americans helps the organization to attract many people living in the area. Nevertheless, the number of YouTube subscribers that the healthcare organization has is relatively small (162 users).
Due to that, changes related to the choice of media content may need to be implemented. Among the factors that make the channel less attractive for users is the length of videos (they are quite short) and the absence of entertainment videos touching upon health problems and the way to avoid them. In other words, to make its marketing strategy more effective, the hospital’s management may need to hire company bloggers who would produce unique and attractive media content.
References
Saint Joseph Hospital Denver. (n.d.). Web.
Saint Joseph Hospital. (n.d.). Home. Web.