Healthcare Marketing: Breast Cancer - Essay Example

?Health Care Marketing: Breast Cancer Consumer Analysis In spite of the fact that a lot of medical information is available over the Internet, there still exist many problems for the health consumers regarding the location, interpretation, and comprehension of the data. To a large extent, these problems of consumers can be attributed to their lack of knowledge of medical science as well as the difference between theirs and the health professionals’ language. In order to adapt the services of information retrieval to the needs, knowledge, and language of the health consumers, it is imperative that the lay persons’ input is taken while developing the techniques of obtaining, identifying, and evaluating the expressions and terms related to breast cancer (Messai et al., 2010). In addition to that, consumers’ needs, their preferences, and behaviors toward breast cancer need to be observed and studied in detail in order develop such programs of treatment for breast cancer that would appeal to the consumers the most in terms of cost, convenience, and quality of service. In a vast majority of cases, patients tend to seek medical help only when the cancer has developed to a dangerous extent. Very few patients target the disease in its very initial stages because of lack of awareness of the gravity of the issue. This imparts the need to not only conduct a lot of research to gain information from the consumers related to the aforementioned aspects, but also develop programs directed at creating awareness among them about the pains, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. Target Market The target market of breast cancer is women in a vast majority of cases, though some men particularly with a condition called as gynecomastia in which the breast enlarges are also vulnerable to breast cancer. Participants in the movements related to breast cancer as well as the target audience of the advertisers of products and services related to breast cancer have typically been white middle-aged women that are well-educated and belong to the middle class (King, 2006, p. 110-111). Although it is a deadly disease, yet at least 2.5 million patients of breast cancer have survived the disease in the US as a result of early detection methods and cutting-edge treatments that have been made available to the patients today (phillymag.com, 2012). For the marketing of products and services about breast cancer, unique marketing strategies have been used. Some marketing has blurred the distinction between events and advertisements e.g. guerrilla marketing and flash mobs. Campaigns of advertisement run on the social media websites like Facebook have motivated the target audiences to make use of double entendres and sexual innuendo in the status updates so that the readers can be reminded of breast cancer. In the year 2009, women were asked in the campaign to post their brassieres’ color whereas in the year 2010, women are asked to post the location of their purses in the campaign as a result of which, some women posted such statements as “I like it on the floor” (Kingston, 2010). Such campaigns have acquired a lot of criticism for trying to sexualize the disease. Market Segmentation Since the middle-aged women are the most vulnerable to breast cancer while the population of men with breast cancer is very small, the target consumers of the services of the Women’s Clinic would primarily be women, though the clinic would also render the services for men who suffer from breast cancer. In fact, there is a lot of need to educate people in general and men in particular about the risk factors that increase their vulnerability to breast cancer because the disease is normally associated with women alone. People do not even know about gynecomastia, while knowing about breast cancer in men is a step next to that. In fact, creating awareness among the masses about the risk factors and the need to take medical help in time is one of the factors that provides Women’s Clinic with a competitive advantage. Understanding the fact that most of the people cannot afford a very expensive health care service, Women’s Clinic would keep its rates lower as compared to what is generally charged for similar services by other health care organizations. To gain the trust and confidence of the patients, every patient would be provided with a complete break-down of the cost so that patients can see for themselves how much of the cost covers the basic expenses of the medicines, and operations and what percentage of the cost is kept as fee by the Women’s Clinic. In addition to that, the concerned staff would assist the patients with useful advice about payment options. Competitive Analysis The mission of our Women’s Clinic is to offer specialized services in breast cancer and to create awareness about the prevalence, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. We have employed numerous strategies to gain competitive advantage over other hospitals and health care centers that render services related to breast cancer. For one, the name of our clinic is Women’s Clinic that makes it obvious for the women that the clinic has specialized in services related to women, so the name appeals to the patients of breast cancer as the right spot to get the examination and treatment from. Secondly, the plan of Women’s Clinic appeals to the heart of the community as a charitable cause in that we present facts to create awareness among the people. Creating awareness among the people regarding self-diagnosis of breast cancer and the need to seek medical help is the first step in the way of effective treatment of the disease and its eradication from the society at large. In addition to that, one of the prime sources of inspiration for people to seek medical help from the Women’s Clinic’s would be services of the people who have actually had suffered from breast cancer at some point in their life and have survived it by seeking medical help timely. Women’s Clinic appeals to the survivors to be a part of the workforce at the clinic and having survived the disease themselves, help others survive it also with their experiences and expertise. References: phillymag.com. (2012). Philadelphia Treatment Guide: Breast Cancer. Retrieved from http://www.phillymag.com/health/treatment_guide/breast_cancer/overview.html. King, S. (2006). Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Kingston, A. (2010). A Nice Rack of Slogans. Maclean's. 123(41): 73. Messai, R., Simonet, M., Bricon-Souf, N., Mousseau, M. (2010). Characterizing consumer health terminology in the breast cancer field. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 160(2): 991-994. Read More