Marketing
Mary Wilson, the Director of Marketing and Communications at St. Margaret’s General Hospital, has a great task ahead of her. As a new appointee to this seat, she is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the hospital’s image is raised in the eyes of the numerous publics served. There are quite several image issues at St. Margaret’s General Hospital that needs to be addressed so that the institution may register an increase in both the number of referrals and physicians. For instance, the hospital has been gravely affected by government regulations, modern and expensive medical technologies and various concerns about lawsuits.
That notwithstanding, the institution’s image has also been affected by the reduction of government support and alterations in the health insurance policies, which apparently affect many other hospitals too. Other than the general problems, the hospital also faces stiff competition from similar hospitals in the neighborhood of Minnesota. For instance, its proximity to Mayo Clinic, one of the most prestigious hospitals in the state, offers a comparable challenge.
This is because most physicians tend to first have Mayo in mind when making referrals. Despite the setbacks, St. Margaret’s General Hospital still has a potential of improving its perception amongst clients and physicians.
In addition to the image issues, St. Margaret’s General Hospital has brand issues too. Mary believes that the name Margaret is an uncommon name in the current century. She thinks that an old-fashioned name may contribute to the low number of patients served at the hospital. This, to some extent, may be true since most people would want to be identified with things of their generation (Clow, and Baack, 2011).
Technology is a good example! In spite of the hospital’s affiliation with the Catholic Church, I would recommend that its brand name is changed from St. Margaret’s General Hospital to St. Peter’s General Hospital. Peter, unlike Margaret, is an acceptable name in the current century. The purpose of retaining the “St.” is to keep the clients who visit the institution solely because it is affiliated to the Catholic Church. Good marketers in any institution should ensure that present clients are maintained even if other marketing strategies are applied (Clow, and Baack, 2011).
It is important to note that Mary had realized that there was no distinctive service through which St. Margaret’s General Hospital was identified with. A good hospital should be identified with a distinctive service. This makes it easy to differentiate it from other service providers. In this case, Mary should make a choice between heart care and cancer treatment.
Only one of these should be a core service offered by St. Margaret’s General Hospital. As a competitive marketing and communications manager, Mary should have noted that the medical market is flocked with cancer treatment centers. In order to be unique and attract more clients and physicians, Mary should consider marketing the hospital as a heart care center. The key strategy behind attracting more customers is any business is becoming unique (Czinkota, 2007). However, St. Margaret’s General Hospital should continue providing cancer treatments.
The hospital being a nonprofit organization is a great advantage. Nevertheless, St. Margaret’s General Hospital should not just stop at that. It can engage in other promotional activities all in a bid to woo more referrals from other physicians. For instance, it may provide bonus services like cancer screening. In the event that heart care is made its core service. St. Margaret’s General Hospital may also offer occasional free heart surgeries to attract more patients.
References
Clow, Kenneth E., & Baack, Donald E. (2011). Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Communications: Student Value Edition. United States: Pearson College Div.
Czinkota, M. R. (2007). International marketing. United States: Thompson.