Evanston Hospital Healthcare Marketing - Essay Example

? The Evanston Hospital Health Care Marketing The Evanston hospital was among the first s within the American health care sector to create an official position for their marketing staff (Peterson, 2008). The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined the term marketing as the ‘process that involves the planning and execution of the formation, pricing, promoting and distribution of thoughts, services and commodities for the satisfaction of personal and institutional objectives’ (Hoffmann, 2008). In order to be able to adequately respond to the needs of their customers the hospital should develop products, determine the prices that their customers are willing to pay for them and which places are the most convenient for their customers to access or buy the products (Habiyaremye, 2011). It should finally carry out promotion incentives to avail their customers with the necessary information concerning their goods (Hoffmann, 2008). Therefore, the four P’s of marketing can be said to consist of promotions, prices, products and place. These variables are vital for businesses that may wish to define their marketing strategies and pursue their desired sales levels (Hoffmann, 2008). The Evanston hospital indulges in the provision of services and plans within the health care department. Their range of products has changed in the past thirty to forty years from the provision of simple medical procedures and orthotic devices meant to correct physical disabilities (Peterson, 2008). However, the hospital is currently into providing modern services in addition to the traditional products that include contracted emergencies physician organizations that run their emergency rooms, group purchasing contracts and consulting services found on the web (Habiyaremye, 2011). The product is important for the hospital’s management who has to decide on their quality, safety, functionalities and services in relation to satisfying their customer’s needs (Hoffmann, 2008). The products are subject to life-cycles and the marketers within the hospital should conduct a research in order to ascertain how long their products life-cycles are (Habiyaremye, 2011). This should be done with a view of ascertaining the different challenges that these products are supposed to go through as they pass the different stages that may be found within their life-cycles (Peterson, 2008). The product mix is also another important aspect of the hospital’s product that should be put into consideration. The expansion of the current product mix being utilized by the hospital’s management can be carried out by augmenting a certain product’s depth or their product lines (Hoffmann, 2008). The hospital’s marketers should consider how they will position their products or configure their product mixes to enable their products complement each other (Habiyaremye, 2011). In view of the hospital’s product, the marketers should consider the most appropriate development strategies that should be used (Peterson, 2008). Price is described as what the customers to a business may be willing to pay for their services or products (Habiyaremye, 2011). In other words, when the hospital provides either a service or a product to its customer, then he or she is supposed to pay a certain amount referred to as the price (Peterson, 2008). However, the issues of pricing have become major concerns for various marketing strategies in the health care sector as its environment changes (Hoffmann, 2008). According to previous reports there are several factors that contribute to the role played by the pricing variables in the development of a marketing strategy (Peterson, 2008). For instance, the rising costs for health care services have created a major concern for many businesses in the profession (Hoffmann, 2008). These reports additionally state that the costs of providing health care previously rose by 5.8% in the US, 6.8% in the UK, 7.1% in Greece and 9.6% in a country like South Korea (Habiyaremye, 2011). These increases in the prices of health care have in turn affected entire economies negatively. The hospital has to consider the issue of prices since when individuals are able to handle their health costs; the burden placed on their economy becomes lighter. The issue of prices within the hospital’s marketing department is important since it could help the institution in controlling and reducing their costs during the long run periods (Peterson, 2008). The prices that the hospital’s management decides to charge are vital in the determination of their facility’s profitability and eventual survival (Habiyaremye, 2011). Adjustments made on the prices charged by the hospital may have profound impacts on their marketing strategies which actually depend on the price elasticity of their products (Peterson, 2008). The adjustments made on their prices may also end up affecting the supply or demand for their services and products (Hoffmann, 2008). The marketers within this facility should therefore set prices that compliment the prices set for the other elements in their marketing mix (Peterson, 2008). When their marketers are setting their prices, they must take into consideration the customer’s perception of their products value (Habiyaremye, 2011). Among the pricing strategies that the hospital’s marketing department should use when setting the prices for their products are neutral, market penetration and market skimming strategies (Peterson, 2008). In addition, their prices reference and differential values must also be considered by the marketers setting these prices since they play a vital role in determining the eventual profitability of the institution (Hoffmann, 2008). Place in the marketing field refers to the ways that services and goods are distributed by a business for the satisfaction of their customer’s needs. In regards to the hospital, place refers to the location of their facility and the time that their services and products are accessible to their customers (Habiyaremye, 2011). The hospital has created a managed care plan to enroll its customers to insurance options that may provide for their health needs. The hospital has also greatly considered the accessibility of primary care for those customers who are old and cannot access their services or products easily (Peterson, 2008). The place chosen by the hospital may be important to their marketers in terms of how many people they can reach and how easily their facility can be accessed. In case their customers experience problems in accessing these products and services, they may end up going to their competitors in turn affecting their profitability (Hoffmann, 2008). Finally, the final element of the marketing mix used by the hospital is promotion (Habiyaremye, 2011). Promoting involves passing information to the hospital’s customers of their provision of goods or services that may satisfy their needs and desires through any method (Hoffmann, 2008). The tactics used in promoting the hospital’s services and products for the purpose of passing their information may include advertising, personal selling and use of publicity and sales promotions (Peterson, 2008). The advertising costs that the hospital has indulged may cover any pieces of information that they have paid for while public relations may involve any information that they have not paid for (Habiyaremye, 2011). Their marketing staff is required to play an important role in promoting their activities and services through their public relations departments and through their mouths (Peterson, 2008). Promoting the activities and services of the hospital is vital because it helps in increasing the awareness of their customers (Hoffmann, 2008). The hospital’s marketing department has established partnerships with other external bodies in order to ensure that their activities are successful. It has made arrangements with several media groups to have them display their adverts at costs that are affordable and cost-effective for them (Peterson, 2008). They have also entered into licensing agreements with the local authorities who have agreed to let them display their adverts on billboards and street corners. These arrangements have greatly helped the institution in increasing awareness concerning their activities and products or services on offer (Habiyaremye, 2011). The facilitation of their marketing department’s activities has been facilitated by the partnerships that they have made with several external financiers who include banking institutions and micro-financing organizations (Peterson, 2008). Through these partnerships the hospital’s marketing department has been able to finance its activities and proceed with their marketing plans without encountering barriers that would have been avoidable (Hoffmann, 2008). The hospital’s target market includes children, middle aged customers and the elderly people who live within Illinois. The Illinois area is a densely populated area with about 13 million people according to the American national census results of the year 2000. It is also occupied by people from all classes and age groups though a large proportion of them live in the urban areas. The area’s birth rates are higher than its death rate as witnessed by the growth in their population over the last ten years (Peterson, 2008). The state is also among the richest in the country, a factor that greatly enhances its chances of achieving high profitability. Understanding the target for the hospital is vital for the successful creation and implementation of their marketing plan (Hoffmann, 2008). This is mainly because it helps the hospital in ascertaining the needs of their customers and formulating the best ways to pass them information (Habiyaremye, 2011). By understanding their target market, their marketing department may also be able to know where they are located and how best they can reach them in a manner that is cost effective (Hoffmann, 2008). References Habiyaremye, J. d’ A., (2011), Market Segmentation and 4p’s. New York: GRIN Verlag. Hoffmann, S., (2008). Are The 4P’s Of International Marketing Of Equal Importance To All Firms? What Factors Might Cause Some To More Or Less Important Than Others?: A Short Article. New York: GRIN Verlag. Peterson, M., (2008). Evanston. Illinois, Chicago: Arcadia Publishing. Read More