Consumer-Driven Healthcare Marketing Article Reviews Examples

The paper starts with defining marketing and then deriving a definition for consumer-driven healthcare marketing as well. Marketing has existed for many years until today, but one particular commercial span around the pharmaceutical world, and turned it into a multibillion-dollar industry. Pharmaceutical marketing includes numerous concepts such as pricing strategies, positioning of the brand, promotional techniques, product conception, channels, and strategic planning. Additionally, pharmaceutical marketing concentrates mostly on the healthcare industry, which is a frightening and complicated field to be in. This makes it difficult for traditional marketing methods to be successful in the healthcare context.
The paper examines the development of consumer-driven healthcare marketing revealing how it has been used before and how it has evolved. Once the internet was introduced in the end of the twentieth century, new challenges evolved such as communicating directly with the customer through new media, and also having a more limited control over the consistency of messages. With the introduction of internet customers could freely express their opinion and dissatisfaction of products or services, which affected the many industries including the healthcare sector. Some pharmaceutical companies created websites that played the role of online business cards but involved little interaction with the customers, and thus missed the multi-used advantages offered by online applications. The internet has changed the controversial idea of marketing. The new focus was on the consumer’s needs and wants which fueled the rise of consumer-driven healthcare marketing.
Similar to banks, healthcare could use data for marketing gain. The healthcare consumer nowadays wants to know how the organization’s products or services will directly benefit him. Additionally, as the airline industry does, building strong relationship campaigns, and making sure that customers are satisfied with the online interfaces is a future model for the future of consumer-driven healthcare marketing. Healthcare companies can install software that will improve their appointment scheduling and market it accordingly.
The paper presents the difference between new-technology and traditional methods of marketing. Electronic sources seem to be less costly than the traditional ways of marketing healthcare.
One way of new-technology consumer-driven healthcare marketing is online auctioning or online matchmaking, for example eBay for physicians (in the role of sellers) and patients (in the role of buyers). Another way is to advertise with stealth ads, which are videos that seem to be made in a home setting but are actually produced by big businesses. Stealth ads are a good way of converting web surfers into engaged viewers. Last but not least, there is the phenomenon of social media and blogs. Healthcare organizations create a Facebook page, for example, and let their customers share their stories, which creates word-of-mouth. Blogs are hard to maintain, but if frequently updates, they generate viewer traffic and improve the search engine experience.
In conclusion, the paper shows and examines the essentials of consumer-driven healthcare marketing. Companies that have dared to implement it have received a strong influence from it. It is often less expensive to invest in technology-based marketing strategies rather than in traditional marketing ways, such as paper etc. The internet gives both consumers and physicians the opportunity to communicate all the time and make the communication more personal. The marketing achievements of healthcare companies and firms in other industries illustrated in this paper provide a convincing case for the spread of consumer-driven healthcare marketing.

Bibliography

Rooney, K. (2008). Consumer-driven healthcare marketing: using the web to get up close and personal. Journal of healthcare management/American College of Healthcare Executives, 54(4), 241-251.