Free Essay About Health Care Marketing Reflection

Detail

Introduction
A need to innovate existing marketing techniques has become a necessity due to the recent developments in the healthcare sector. The healthcare sector is defined as a stock category related to health care and medical goods or services. It includes biotechnology, health maintenance organizations, hospital management firms, and other medical product variety.
The internet came and eased the access to information on medical products; thus any business dealing with healthcare must strive to provide more than mere products or services that are to help resolve an individual’s health problem. It is from this ideal that healthcare marketing, as done via the internet, involves deeper techniques in the sense that some firms opt to use direct mailing (Wagner 2015). By the use of direct mail, a firm can ensure that its patients give certain medical conditions the needed attention or if not remind such clients to make routine health care or procedure appointments.
The information is useful if shared at the right time and with the right people who need it, and it is from this train of thought that health care marketing is utilizing social media as a way to facilitate social networking. Information on health care is shared while current and potential patients are reminded of the need to care for their health, thus enabling the given firm stayed relevant and connected to its target market. Interest in a firm’s practice is drummed up by the use of health education while at the same time expounding on the type of products and services it offers.
Firms using the internet as a marketing media first tend to build a brand that they will be identified with thus setting themselves apart from other competitors and becoming unique to a consumer’s eye. The next stage is creating a real website since it has proven to be essential for medical practitioners and healthcare organizations seeking to build a respectable name and by maintaining the website on a daily basis will help clients take the firm seriously. Pay per click advertising on search engines such as Google helps generate traffic to the firm’s site where its products and services can be viewed by potential customers (Westerhof 2012).
Pharmaceutical businesses rely mostly on medical conferences, which are vital for their survival. However, taking cost implications into consideration firms find it difficult to afford while regulations limit the possibilities of an industry-sponsored attendance. It is from this that virtual conferences started cropping up with most people finding the innovation beneficial. Virtual conferences allow individuals to attend all sessions and even pause and replay (Wrzosinski 2014). When in real time networking is made possible via emails or maintained sync communication through discussion boards.

Opinion on Current Health Care Marketing Techniques and Trends

Marketing has always been about creating awareness and by participating in conferences one can increase the number of customers who come into contact with the firm’s products and services. However, though a great platform to interact with the right individuals, upstart business organizations cannot afford the given cost implications that come with attending these conferences. Therefore, use of virtual conferences is a great innovation in terms of conference participation where even the startup firms get a chance to be included and still afford the small expenses tied to it.
Depending on a person’s traits and tastes any entrepreneur will say that it is wise to learn about the broad customer base and know how to appeal to the given specific segments. Therefore, by noting what a given age group such as Generation X and its preferences, for example, their demand for healthcare information on how to improve their energy level will help a firm know how to market and penetrate such portion of potential yet untamed customer base. The sole reason monopolies arise or competitive advantage is attained by any firm lies in its ability to supply what is demanded for at the right time and this can be achieved if the customer base population is well defined and its taste and preferences noted.
Growth and development always result in a demand for innovations and the health care sector is not excluded from this. Therefore, one cannot argue that the marketing trends and techniques are not moving with technology with marketing strategies going as far as firms having their marketing applications on mobile phones such as androids. This is a wise move since the target market, as history suggests, is known to adapt to new technologies, and failure to do so is but a move to kill one’s firm or business.

Consumer Trends

Influence is the ability or capacity, however small, to persuade an individual’s behavior, character, or taste. Therefore, considering that before the marketing techniques are put into play consumer trends tend to be in a given direction, but with the techniques employed a change is not only felt but observed too. For example, some diseases such as erectile dysfunction or depression used to be an embarrassing topic of discussion to most patients, but with proper advertising of such by health care organizations' consumers’ views towards the given conditions have changed and many are seeking treatment.
Patients were known to keep most of their inquiries to themselves due to lack of information. However, with the marketing techniques in play, for example, the internet many patients now know what they need, and thus, can be able to converse with health care providers since they now have the information to ask an informed question. Therefore, it would be utter ignorance to downplay the fact that current techniques used in healthcare marketing have affected consumer trends in the health care sector.

Positive and Negative Effects

Like the lack of an absolute truth so is an effect being entirely positive or negative. Thus, the current techniques and trends bring nothing short of both benefits and negative effects the only difference is that the benefits outweigh the negative effects. For starters, through marketing trends and techniques, patients get informed, educated, and empowered since they can access, unlimited information sources about the forms of treatment options available for a given health issue. A well-informed patient is more likely to be compliant with the prescription compared to a less informed patient. However, many critics claim that flooding information about drugs on a free and easy to access media results to drug abuse and more hazardous practices if well regulated the techniques and trends save more lives than those negatively affected.

Conclusion

In an ever changing environment where consumers are said to live in the age of technology, any advancement in the field demands parties in business or any other activity move with the new development. Therefore, it will be absurd for health care organizations not to have their marketing techniques utilizing modern technological platforms such as the smart phone and the internet (Social media) to stay ahead of competition and reach the final consumer. However, it is not wise to throw caution to the wind and give false information but while carrying out their marketing techniques the health care sector should consider the repercussions brought by the information passed to the consumer.

References

Wagner, Nancy (2015). Techniques used in Health Care Marketing. Available at:
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/techniques-used-health-care-marketing-68741.html>
Westerhof, Marie. (2012). Top 7 Current Healthcare Marketing Techniques and Trends.
Available at:
<http://www.medicalwebexperts.com/blog/top-7-current-healthcare-marketing-techniques-trends-312/>
Wrzosinski, Piotr. (2014). Top 5 Pharma Marketing Trends in 2014. Available at:
<http://www.k-message.com/top-5-pharma-marketing-trends-2014/>