BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

BRING IT ALL TOGETHER

HSA 505

Distinguish the marketing approach that a health care marketer would take to handle products and services to a marketer of consumer goods.

Conduct research on the health care climate in your state and articulate how each of the pricing objectives impacts the health care system in your state. Provide statistical data when applicable and / or expected. Based on your findings, discuss the implications of your research.

Assume you are the decision maker of a health care firm and you need to communicate changes to the distribution strategies for products offered by your company. Devise a plan that outlines the communication strategy you would use to reach your main stakeholder groups. Be sure to identify the stakeholders.

Assess the advantage of each advertising classification

Craft a policy for health care marketing firms you would recommend to be used to avoid ethical violations in the areas of pricing, service, and advertising.

ANSWER:

Distinguish the marketing approach that a health care marketer would take to handle products and services to a marketer of consumer goods.

Introduction marketing in health care is going through dramatic change and reinvention due to the emerging trends in the industry, the emergence of social marketing, reform uncertainties, and a renewed emphasis on outcome, quality, and prevention. Executives in health care organizations are demanding greater impact as well as more returns on the market investments, and it is becoming more and more necessary that the marketers align their marketing efforts to the strategic objectives of their organizations, as well as with consumer experience and the incorporation communications across multiple channels and platforms. Marketing in health care thus requires professionals should adopt marketing approaches to proactive health care marketing with defined strategies, techniques, action steps, and tactics to enhance visibility, understanding, awareness, market share and profitability (Van Rompay & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2010).

Research has showed that marketing of products and services in health care differs a great deal from marketing of consumer products. It is important to note that marketing health care services and products present unique challenges that are not experienced in marketing of other consumer products and services. This is due to the fact that marketing of health care products and services tend to deal with health behaviors rather than purchasing behaviors, as is the case in the marketing of consumer products and services.

Marketing of health care products, as opposed to marketing of consumer goods entails education and awareness as well as behavior adoption or change. These factors are often challenging and can take time. To become an effective marker of health care products is at the end of the day more challenging compared to becoming an effective marketer of consumer products. Another difference is that a dynamic population normally influences marketing of health care products and services as well as related issues, advance in research and technology, and other factors in the external environment (Van Rompay & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2010).

Demographics, trends, policies and privacy have great effects on marketing of health care products and services, as compared to the marketing of consumer products. Change s in population affects marketing, not just in the “how” of marketing the products and services, but also on the “where” of marketing. There are various reasons that people change their health behavior as compared to how they change their purchasing behavior when dealing with consumer products. Marketers in health care products and services are tasked with the need to understand these changes as they affect their role and performance as marketers(Van Rompay & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2010).

Government policies tend to have more impact on health care products and services as compared to other consumer products. Thus, there is a greater demand placed on marketers in the healthcare sector to understand how the policies impact on their sector. Privacy issues are more common in health care as compared to the consumer sector. Understanding of laws and policies that govern privacy is therefore of paramount importance for marketers in the health care sector (Van Rompay & Tanja-Dijkstra, 2010).

Conduct research on the health care climate in your state and articulate how each of the pricing objectives impacts the health care system in your state. Provide statistical data when applicable and / or expected. Based on your findings, discuss the implications of your research.

There are various pricing objectives in the health care sector in New York. Most of the objectives are available and should be carefully considered, as some do not have any influence on health care products and services, while others have a negative impact. Health care organizations in the state are required to carefully consider the attributes of their products and services, as well as their market before making the decision as to the pricing objective to adopt. It is also important to note that the pricing objective adopted by an organization does not have to be used over and over, especially if it is not achieving the desired goals. In health care system in the state, the pricing objective is decided in accordance to the goals and objectives of the entire organization (Keller & Fay, 2012).

Four main pricing objectives are used in the health care sector in New York: survival, profit, sales and status quo. Survival as a pricing objective suggests that prices are not fixed and should be varied as long as they ensure survival of the organization. In the health care system in the state, prices are lowered most of the time to increase demand for services, but to a lever that survival of the organization is ensured. This mostly applies to the health care sector where the costs should not be too high such that some patients are unable to afford. Price has a direct as well as an indirect effect on profit.

Most of the health care organizations in the state are operated on a for-profit basis, and therefore pricing is performed in such a way that the organization remains profitable. At times, the objective might have a negative effect on the health care system where the prices are set too high to gain profits at the expense of affordability for those in need of the services. Sales-oriented pricing objective seeks to increase volume or expand market share. The sales that the organization seeks to make dictate the price of its products. This might have a positive or negative impact on the healthcare system depending on where the prices are set. Low prices to increase sales have a positive effect. A status quo price objective can be viewed as a tactical objective to encourage competitiveness on other factors, besides price. This objective has a positive effect as its focus is on maintaining market share, and can have a stabilizing effect on the health care system (Keller & Fay, 2012). This research is important in realizing how products are priced in the healthcare sector in the state.

Assume you are the decision maker of a health care firm and you need to communicate changes to the distribution strategies for products offered by your company. Devise a plan that outlines the communication strategy you would use to reach your main stakeholder groups. Be sure to identify the stakeholders.

The main stakeholder groups targeted by this communication strategy are the marketers and the customers. The marketers will be directly targeted for the communication such that they will deliver the message to the consumers. The following communication strategy developed aims at communicating the changes and distribution strategies to the marketers in such a way that the message will reach the customers. The main role of the communication strategy is to maximize sales through a communication of the changes directed towards this end (Grandjean & Guéguen, 2011).

The communication strategy

Good communication will not only involve telling people that you and your organization exist but it should be accompanied by the provision of quality products and services to the customers. In fact, people refer customers to professionals and organizations that they have confidence that they will deliver and this makes quality products and services more important than communication. Confidence is also not built on a one-time communication between professionals but rather on a long-term relationship and this is why professionals engaged in healthcare marketing are advised to join associations that bring professionals together. The key principle here is networking between professional as it is the only way that professionals in the same field can establish constructive friendship and come to build confidence on each other.

Branding is another tactic of marketing in healthcare. Branding refers to multiple aspects inculcated in marketing to ensure that a marketing firm or a marketer is different from others. It is doing things out of the ordinary and some things may be simple but make a marketing firm or an individual marketer of healthcare products and services to be over others. Being different does not mean doing big things that other people or organizations have not done but it is doing small things those other organizations or other people have ignored.

Context

The context of this communication is the change that is affecting the entire organization, and more so the marketing department. Marketing is therefore the policy area that is covered by the communication strategy. The implementation of the strategy is aimed at protecting the organization from any negative outcomes emanating from the change. this is a major change that have negative effects if not handled properly, but its main purpose is to boost the sales of the product and thus the profits of the organization.

One more essential element is the determination of the various groups of employees and the work that they do and to what degree they would be affected by the change in the event that it occurs. This way, the staff to be affected by the change shall be well informed on the effects of the change on their day to day operations, so that they may be ready and psychologically prepared to act in the event of the change. It is essential to note that organizational change can only take place effectively when the employees are committed to accept the change. Forcing the employees to accept the change is only good for a short term but results into more challenges for the human resource management.

Goals and objectives

The goals and objective of this communication strategy is to communicate the changes to distribution strategies to the marketers in such a way that the message will reach the customers. The cost of healthcare services and products influences the outcome of marketing. For example, cases of fraudulent billing which are very relevant in healthcare sector especially in the private sector has incapacitated marketing in the healthcare arena. Facilities that charge customers heavily have received fewer customers than organizations that charge their customers reasonably. Poor communication to the customers and stakeholders has also been a problem that has dwarfed marketing efforts and this need to be improved.

An area that may require changing in communication in healthcare marketing is communication between the producers of healthcare products and the distributors of these products. In many cases, customers require the distributors to explain the details of the products to them and many have been unable to explain the details to the customers appropriately. There is thus a need to first communicate to the people about these products before they go on marketing. As a decision maker in changing this particular area of communication, workshops and seminars will be used as the strategy to pass the message through to the distributors.

Message

The customers need to know that the distribution strategy that has been in use in the organization has changed. This will include the details of the new distribution strategy. The message will also include the communication of the implications of the change, in terms of such aspects as prices of the product.

Marketing in the area of healthcare is clustered into several levels and each level will require different approaches. For instance, there are health products which if they are made easily available may be abused by the consumers and for this reason they should only be taken under the prescription of a doctor. Other products may not have immense effects on the consumers and any person can market these. For instance, the exercise equipment which are health products may be marketed by any person as their use have no negative effects. On the other hand, medicines are required to be marketed by medics who have full knowledge of their advantages as well as disadvantages.

The massage though relayed through the marketers, has to reach the customers. For this, there will be use of customer-facing materials such as press releases, brochures, Web sites, and trade show presentations. The brochures will be distributed to the potential consumer, while the information will be available in the company’s website. The press release will be used to communicate the changes through the media. Healthcare services and products are crucial aspects that should not be taken lightly. Of late, there have been cases where some people have sold products to desperate patients that have turned to worsen their health rather than improving it. With multiple of organizations having been allowed to produce health products, monitoring their activities has been difficult and some of these organizations have taken this chance to exploit their customers.

Stakeholders

Besides the marketers and the customers, other stakeholder groups that will be impacted by this change are the suppliers of the products, and the invertors of the company. Therefore, these groups should also receive the message. Health of citizens is very important for any national development and sale of fake products makes the population to be unhealthy. The government should therefore intervene by regulating the production of healthcare products. If possible there is need to reduce the number of organizations producing these products to a manageable number. The pricing of these products should also be regulated as many of organizations mandated with provision of healthcare services have become notorious in being fraudulent. Healthcare is really an important sector and government should treat it as such.

Key activities

The marketers will be responsible for distributing the communication materials to the customers, and generally getting the message of the changes to them. The marketers are the determinants of the success of the change process. A marketer can also use the Internet to boost public relations, which is another model of marketing. In this model a marketer makes the firm known to the public and this can be through publications like free leaflets or magazines, research publications newspaper articles or even interviews in the radio or TV. This is a cheap way to advise as many of the tactics used in this model are not paid for. However, some like research publications require input of some resources that have been found to be few than what is used in other models of marketing.

Assess the advantage of each advertising classification

Advertising is the process of promoting products and services of a company via different mediums with the aim of increasing the sales of the product and services. Advertising achieves this aim through creation of awareness on the product as well as focusing on need of the customer to purchase the product. Universally, this process has become a very important part of the world of business. It is for this reason that companies are investing large parts of their income to the advertisement budget. It also plays an important role in building the product brand that in turn is important in achieving sales for the company (Bruce, Peters & Naik, 2012).

There are five main types in the classification of advertising: print, broadcast, outdoor, covert and public service advertising, each of which has its advantages. The main advantage of print advertising is that it is a popular media and has been in use for the purpose for a very long time. Newspapers, magazines, fliers and brochures remain effective means of communication. Print media also provides a relatively permanent medium of advertisement. Broadcast advertising has the advantage of reaching a wide audience, especially in the use of TV, radio and Internet. The Internet has the advantage of interactivity, and can also maintain the message for a relatively long time and the audience can view it any time he or she wants. Outdoor advertising make use of various outdoor tools to gain the attention of the audience. The billboards, kiosks, as well as events and tradeshows have the advantage of catching the attention of the audience, even though that might not be out to look for the message (Bruce, Peters & Naik, 2012).

Covert advertising is a unique advertising means where products or messages are ingeniously included in a TV serial or movie. Though there are no real ads, this method can be used in advertising different products to specific targets. The message targeted to a group that love a particular movie can be passed to the target audience alongside the movie. Public Service Advertising is used for public causes. These kinds of ads are advantageous in the health care sector to pass message on important issues like HIV/AIDS, disease outbreak, drug resistance or medical invention. It is also effective in passing message on prevention of diseases or events organized for medical purposes. They are more effective where the awareness of the general public is necessary (Bruce, Peters & Naik, 2012).

Craft a policy for health care marketing firms you would recommend to be used to avoid ethical violations in the areas of pricing, service, and advertising.

Carried out in a proper ways, ethical marketing in health care can increase profits, provide the cases and patients the organization desires, and build the reputation (brand) of the organization. However, in the increasingly competitive world of business, more and more health care organizations are involved in marketing to create awareness on their products and services, expand their market share, and generate the required revenue and profits for the organizations. However, the organizations are engaging in marketing for their products and services without consideration of the fact that they are different from other consumer organizations(Ruger, 2008)..

Generally, it is worth noting that the altruistic nature of health care organizations makes it inappropriate to engage in certain kinds of marketing that other companies engage in. given the fact that health care organizations should not market their services and products for the sake of financial enhancement, there are various ethical considerations that should be taken in marketing their products and services (Ruger, 2008).

Unlike other organizations, health care organizations should observe the ethical principles of honesty, fairness, as well as avoidance of conflicts. The consumer needs in healthcare are always a priority and should therefore come before the interests of the organization. In healthcare marketing, it is unethical for the message or the information to be false, unsubstantiated, misleading or deceptive, or information that mislead through omission of important details. While other organizations can get away with this, health care organizations are founded on the observance of the interests of the people in need and should observe that on all occasions(Ruger, 2008).

Any information to be disseminated to the consumers of health care services should be substantiated and completely factual. It is important to note that while other organization should also act in an ethical way in their marketing, the integrity of health care organization depends on ethical practice, this also being the foundation of health care service provision. Additionally, when unethical marketing is experienced, whether perceived or real, it can be damaging to the health care organization. It is thus important that all health care organization engage professionals who are trained, not only on how to market, but also on the ethics in health care marketing. Such training should also be carried out on regular basis to equip the marketers with what it takes to be ethical in marketing (Ruger, 2008).

References

Bruce, N., Peters, K., & Naik, P. (2012). Discovering How Advertising Grows Sales and Builds

Brands. Journal Of Marketing Research (JMR), 49(6), 793-806

Grandjean, I., & Guéguen, N. (2011). Testing a Binding Communication Strategy in a Company:

How Could Persuasive Information be more Efficient?. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 39(9), 1209-1216.

Keller, E., & Fay, B. (2012). Word-of-Mouth Advocacy: A New Key to Advertising

Effectiveness. Journal Of Advertising Research, 52(4), 459-464

Ruger, J. P. (2008). Ethics in American Health 2: An Ethical Framework for Health System

Reform. American Journal of Public Health, 98(10), 1756-1763.

Van Rompay, T. L., & Tanja-Dijkstra, K. (2010). Directions in Healthcare Research: Pointers

Prom Retailing and Services Marketing. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD), 3(3), 87-100.