- Marketing
- Integrated market communication especially for home healthcare services is a booming activity in nowadays market. This activity is serving various demographic groups that were not having marketing services before (Blakeman, 2007). There is a growing demand in healthcare firms for the key players to meet consumer’s expectations. Consumers have difficult moments in finding a reliable professional who can help in nursing their relative or colleagues. In order to retain a healthy care services for the consumers, many agencies are creating new online referral systems. The online systems are to help consumers attain the recommended healthcare services. Nowadays, an established firm offers counseling services to companies that offer healthcare services so that they can implement their market plans and achieve the intended goal (Blakeman, 2007).
- When promoting marketing healthcare services it is advisable to use both push and pull strategies in order to reach the consumer (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). While using push strategy, it is very possible to identify customers through the help of an intermediary. The broker promotes the services that a healthcare firm offers and this brings customers attentions closer to the firm. Using pull strategy is dealing directly with the consumer without involving a broker. The advantage of this is that healthcare firm gets to interact with the consumer. This is an advantage to the consumers as there are no brokers to negotiate the price of services (Kotler et al., 2008).
- The general message strategy between all the promotional tools is that consumers ought to get the utmost professionals services. While either using push or pull market strategy method, healthcare firms need to give consumers better services (Kotler, et al., 2008). In all promotion tools, consumers ought to receive the necessary information about how it is necessary to receive home healthcare service from the firm. With a message strategy, consumers remember a firm whenever they think of finding a home healthcare firm. Informing the consumers that they ought to get the best services from healthcare firms is the most important message to give (Blakeman, 2007).
- Advertising is one of the promotion tool recommended in this field of healthcare services. The main reason of choosing advertisement as a promotional tool is to notify even the grass-root consumers about the services that the healthcare firm undertakes. Through advertisements, quit a good number of consumers get to know the existence of a healthcare firm (Blakeman, 2007). While using advertisement as a promotion tool, it is advisable to use the television. The advantage of using television as a mode of advertising is that the information concerning healthcare services will pass to consumers through oral and picture method. Consumers will have the opportunity to view what a healthcare firm offers. Through the television, it is possible to show how a healthcare firm offers provisional services (Blakeman, 2007).
- Another promotion tool that is advisable to use for home healthcare service is use of direct marketing. The term direct marketing simply means that the healthcare firms ought to interact personally with consumers. The advantage of using direct marketing as a means of promotion is that consumers get an opportunity to provide their opinions and recommendations to the healthcare firm (Pride & Ferrell, 2008). The consumers may communicate with healthcare firm through direct mails. Through mails, consumers will outline what kind of services they would require healthcare firms to undertake in their homes. Consumers will have an opportunity to outline the kind of people they would like to work at their homes while offering healthcare services. Through this form of promotion, it is possible to express to the consumers how better the firm offers professional services (Pride & Ferrell, 2008).
- Sales promotion is another method that will be effective in healthcare services. Through this method of promotion, healthcare firms introduce marketing strategies that consumers will easily accept. Through sales promotion, healthcare services may use campaign method where they can offer some of their services to consumers without charging. This method of promotion helps the healthcare firms to obtain significant results from consumers and help in building a stable relationship between the two parties. A home healthcare firm gets a better opportunity to express to the consumers how it offers professional and acceptable services (Pride & Ferrell, 2008).
- References
- Blakeman, R. (2007). Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to implementation. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Kotler P, Shalowitz J & Stevens R, J .(2008). Strategic marketing for health care organizations: building a customer-driven health system. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- Pride W, M. & Ferrell O, C. (2008).Marketing Cengage Learning.
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