The could be a variety of possibilities for marketing in healthcare. A lot depends on the person or entity who sets a goal, the purpose of the goal and the expected results. The authors of specialist marketing books divide the mentioned above goals into two categories.

The first one presents transaction orientation. This theory claims that the purpose of marketing is to generate sales and, more importantly, profit. All actions taken are therefore aimed at obtaining orders, selling products and services. Marketer’s attention is not focused much on other aspects, because they are either irrelevant or secondary.

The second theory presents a completely different approach, which is based on building a relationship with the client (the patient) which will be satisfactory for both parties. In this case, the marketing specialist places a huge emphasis on the satisfaction of the consumer of the product or service, which is important as it provides him with the corresponding positive emotions. Not only will a satisfied patient gladly come back to consult a doctor, he will also recommend this doctor to others. A person seeking medical care more willingly trusts his good friend than an advertisement in the local newspaper, where the employees of the clinic can write themselves everything they think a man would like, which obviously reduces the credibility of this information.

The most important task of marketing of health services is to meet the needs of patients, which mainly include three categories of needs: saving lives, improving health and maintaining life. It should be noted that the above-mentioned needs find their key place in Maslov’s theory, which placed health at the level of security needs. Those needs belong the lower level, and more precisely on the second level (from the most basic), above the physiological necessities, which are the most basic human needs. If a person does not have the needs of a lower order satisfied, he or she does not even think about satisfying the needs of a higher order, e.g. affiliation.

It’s also worth mentioning that while defining the tasks and goals of marketing, a scheme developing the “SMART” principle may be helpful (S – specific; M – measurable; A – achievable; R – realistic; T – timed).

1. Bukowska-Piestrzyńska A., 2014. Marketing usług zdrowotnych – od odbudowania wizerunku placówki do zadowolenia klientów. Warszawa: CeDeWu Sp. z o.o.  
2. Czubała A., 2012. Podstawy marketingu. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne.
3. Hereźniak G., 2001. Marketing usług medycznych. W: Nosko J. (red.), 2001. Ekonomika i zarządzanie w opiece zdrowotnej. Łódź: Instytut Medycyny Pracy  
4. Kotler P., Keller K. L., 2016. Marketing. Poznań: Dom Wydawniczy REBIS Sp. z o.o.,  
5. Kotler P., Shalowitz J., Stevens R. J., 2011. Marketing strategiczny w opiece zdrowotnej. Warszawa: Wolters Kluwer Polska Sp. z o.o.
6. Nowicki P., Drobnik J., Jadach R., Kollbek P., Cichoń R., 2008. Marketing w medycynie, konieczność, potrzeba czy zbędny ekstras. W: Drobnik J. (red.), Nowicki P. (red.), 2008. Wybrane zagadnienia zdrowia publicznego. T.3: Marketing i negocjacje na rynku usług medycznych. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Continuo.
7. Nowotarska-Romaniak B., 2002. Marketing usług zdrowotnych. Kraków: Kantor Wydawniczy Zakamycze.
8. Szulce H., 1999. Istota marketingu. W: Mruk H. (red.), Pilarczyk B., Sojkin B., Szulce H., 1999. Podstawy marketingu. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu.

Marketing mix is ​​the most popular marketing concept. This concept was used for the first time in 1948 by J. W. Culliton. It is a combination of the best and most-needed ingredients and marketing means. The described concept serves to meet the recipients’ needs and achieve the goals of the individual.

At the beginning, the marketing mix consisted of four elements, namely “4P”:

• Product – product / service,
• Place – distribution,
• Promotion – promotion,
• Price – price.

Then, along with the development of this concept, another “P”, or Staff, was added. At this point, the “5P” marketing mix is ​​being discussed. However, its development did not end there, as two more “P” were added: Physical evidence-material certificate and Process-the process of rendering. Currently, the marketing mix contains “7 P”. The first “P”, or product, is an individual focus on the product or service offered. This instrument is called the central element of the entire marketing mix. It consists of tools supporting a product / service such as:

• the scale of service production,
• features of this service or product,
• quality of offered services,
• use of a trade brand,
• service guarantee system,
• after-sales services,
• complaint management.

In health services, the patient can be offered, among others knowledge and competence as well as the experience of medical personnel, his skills, technical security of the building in which medical services will be provided and the necessary tools to perform it, e.g. medical equipment. Price is also an important element of the marketing mix, especially on the medical services market. Determining the price of the service can cause considerable difficulties, and its designation takes into account service costs, demand and recognition of competition. Another factor influencing the pricing policy is location, because otherwise the price of medical services will be shaped, for example, in a larger city, and differently in the countryside. Distribution is another, very important element of the discussed concept. In the health services sector, it is the location of service implementation mentioned earlier. In this specific market, which is the medical services market, it is very important because a person needs a service as close as possible to their place of residence. Providing a service at a large distance from the patient’s home rather unfavorably translates into his or her health, sometimes it can be highly dangerous in a state of threat to health and life. The promotion allows to acquire patients, because it is a helpful tool that allows the recipients to be informed about the offer of services, such as a clinic. The patient information instruments include, for example:

• advertisements in the local newspaper;
• accounts on social networks eg Facebook;
• recognizable logo;
• participation in health fairs, white sundays, sports competitions;
• organizing preventive actions;
• publishing your own brochures with health advice;
• creating a loyalty program;
• posters, leaflets.

Staff as a component of the marketing mix is ​​the most important resource of any organization. On the market of health services based primarily on the relationship between medical personnel and patients. This particular type of marketing is called relationship marketing. It is worth to mention the relationship, probably the longest in time, between the service provider and the patient, i.e. the family doctor, who often takes care of the doctor from the newborn to the elderly person. Maintaining good relations between the parties is extremely important, because it should be based on mutual respect and trust. Staff in the medical industry should have:

• qualifications,
• skills,
• predispositions,
• empathy.

A material certificate is an element that consists of the material environment of the place where the service is being provided, i.e. interior design of the clinic, its coloring, adapting the building to mothers with children and the disabled, distance from the busy street. The service process is the organization’s functioning and organization (eg the way of registering for a given service, waiting time).

SOURCES:

1. Bukowska-Piestrzyńska A., 2014. Marketing usług zdrowotnych – od odbudowania wizerunku placówki do zadowolenia klientów. Warszawa: CeDeWu Sp. z o.o.
2. Düssel M., 2009. Marketing w praktyce. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo BC.edu.
3. Pobrotyn P., Nowicki P., Czaprowska I., Fal A., Pirogowicz I., 2008. Funkcja strategiczna marketingu. W: Drobnik J. (red.), Nowicki P. (red.), 2008. Wybrane zagadnienia zdrowia publicznego. T.3: Marketing i negocjacje na rynku usług medycznych. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Continuo.
4. Hereźniak G., 2001. Marketing usług medycznych. W: Nosko J. (red.), 2001. Ekonomika i zarządzanie w opiece zdrowotnej. Łódź: Instytut Medycyny Pracy.

Patients have the need to increasingly access information about health services in order to make more informed decisions about their choice. Nowadays marketing is becoming an increasingly popular tool for “acquiring” patients. Competition on the medical services market is constantly growing, hence it is becoming an increasingly used instrument. Patients have more and more requirements and awareness of their rights, and all this affects the greater need of adapting the quality of health services to correspond to the market requirements. Therefore, marketing has become an obligatory tool, as well as inevitable when conducting medical activities.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines Marketing as an “activity, a set of institutions and processes used to create, communicate, deliver and exchange offers that have value for customers, contractors, and society in general.”. Many recognized practicians, among others Kotler, Shalowitz and Stevens also cite a different to the developed by AMA definition, which reads as follows: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes aimed at creating, communicating and delivering value to clients, as well as managing customer relations in such a way as to provide benefits for organization and its stakeholders’. Marketing in the medical services industry allows not only to “acquire” patients, but also to obtain greater acceptance of doctors, for example a new drug introduced on the market.

The above benefits are not the only ones that can be owed to him. Well-organized marketing aims, for example, to make patients aware of the importance of vaccinating against diseases that can be prevented by such an action. It has the dimension of, among others a social one, because it is also the care for the health of the society or minimizing the risk of epidemics of various infectious diseases. A marketing campaign encouraging a healthy lifestyle (which includes, for example, a healthy diet without fast food or physical activity) has a preventive effect, preventing e.g. diabetes or obesity. Kotler cites that “Marketing is a social and management process, thanks to which, through the creation, offering and exchange of products that have the value of specific people and groups, they get what they need and what they want”.

The most important task of marketing is to meet the client’s needs (the patient’s need to recover) – the most important element of the whole process associated with it. It involves entering the role of the patient and seeing what he needs and the answer to the question of how to ensure it. This entry into the role allows the marketing specialist to perfectly adapt the campaign to the patient’s level, which will probably increase its effectiveness. Marketing offers mutual benefits because hand we have the needs of patients and on the other hand – measurable financial profits of the entrepreneur. Though it must be emphasized that it is specific due to the fact that money is not the only incentive to its use, because the market for medical services is a market for the clients who suffer and need help. This desire to improve health and save lives should guide the overarching goal of marketing health services.

SOURCES:

1. Bratek Sz., Fedorowski J., 2002. Marketing usług zdrowotnych. W: Fedorowski J. (red.), Niżankowski R. (red.), 2002. Ekonomika medycyny. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Lekarskie PZWL.
2. Bukowska-Piestrzyńska A., 2014. Marketing usług zdrowotnych – od odbudowania wizerunku placówki do zadowolenia klientów. Warszawa: CeDeWu Sp. z o.o.
3. Czubała A., 2012. Podstawy marketingu. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne.
4. Düssel M., 2009. Marketing w praktyce. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo BC.edu.
5. Kotler P., 1994. Marketing. Analiza, planowanie, wdrażanie i kontrola. Warszawa: Gebethner i Ska.
6. Kotler P., Armstrong G., Saunders J., Wong V., 2002. Marketing. Podręcznik europejski. Warszawa: Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne.
7. Kotler P., Shalowitz J., Stevens R. J., 2011. Marketing strategiczny w opiece zdrowotnej. Warszawa: Wolters Kluwer Polska Sp. z o.o.
8. Mruk H. (red.), 2008. Zarządzanie i planowanie marketingowe. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Forum Naukowe, s. 14.
9. Nowicki P., Drobnik J., Jadach R., Kollbek P., Cichoń R., 2008. Marketing w medycynie, konieczność, potrzeba czy zbędny ekstras. W: Drobnik J. (red.), Nowicki P. (red.), 2008. Wybrane zagadnienia zdrowia publicznego. T.3: Marketing i negocjacje na rynku usług medycznych. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Continuo.
10. Nowotarska-Romaniak B., 2002. Marketing usług zdrowotnych. Kraków: Kantor Wydawniczy Zakamycze.
11. Szulce H., 1999. Istota marketingu. W: Mruk H. (red.), Pilarczyk B., Sojkin B., Szulce H., 1999. Podstawy marketingu. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu.