Healthcare Marketing - Essay Example

Patients are healthcare providers’ biggest asset since they form the backbone of the services. They can be compared to the product in conventional marketing Ps: you develop the product first, and the rest will follow (Winston, 2012). This also applies to healthcare marketing; once the service has been set up, the organization must attract patients using common slogans like cost and quality. Having patients will bring the other Ps into focus. For instance, a small private clinic serving a village in Africa would hire trained nurses and an intern doctor to attend to patients because complicated cases are unlikely to arise (Winston, 2012). However, the largest private hospital in the United States would hire the best doctors from a wide pool of specializations. What is the difference between the two services? The other Ps will fall into place – not easily of course – and will be easier to define after the patients’ aspect is known.

Patients are like the customers of healthcare providers. Satisfied patients are also indirect marketers for healthcare organizations; a patient who is pleased with services in a particular hospital will tell his friend and the friend will tell others (Winston, 2012). A healthcare organization would rather lose physicians and donors but not patients; because patients can create enough buzz to attract physicians, payers, public and favorable politics. Everybody wants to be associated with the best; satisfied patients ensure the best of the remaining 4Ps are available.

Conclusion

As previously stated, patients embody the product in healthcare marketing. Have the best product (satisfied patients) and the rest can be built around a solid patient pool. When healthcare organizations market themselves, they do it for potential patients (customers), not physicians, politicians, or payers (Winston, 2012). Interestingly, patients can also be the public because until one falls sick, he or she is “the public.”