Introduction
Marketing plays an integral role in assuring the success of a business enterprise. Marketing concerns itself with creating product or service awareness in the market. It is aided by advertising, which is an important component of marketing. Advertisement can take the form of print media, audio and video presentation, among others. A billboard is a perfect ensample of an advertisement that can be used by a business enterprise to market or advertise its products and services. The essay that follows will discuss the importance of healthcare marketing and relate the significance of advertising to the discussion questions posted.
Question 1: Possible Ramifications
The placement of Crestview Hospital’s billboard in close proximity to the entrance of Briarwood Health centre threatens Briarwoods wellbeing. The Billboard has been placed at a spot that Susan hoped to secure for the healthcare. Again, the billboard is facing the Briarwood’s entrance. This position taken by Crestview spelt doom for Briarwood because it almost seemed like they were promoting their archrival. The fact that Crestview has already surpassed Briarwood in market share further complicates the situation. The Billboard’s tagline that tends to advertise Crestview as, “The Best Medical Care” serves to attract patients from Briarwood health centre to Crestview Hospital (Fortenberry, 2011).
The billboard that has been placed along a busy highway facing the Briarwood Health Care will most definitely attract more patients towards Crestwood Hospital. People are driven and attracted by what they see. Sadly, for Briarwood, they are likely to lose the few patients that they already have. Visual advertisements have a strong effect on the consumer’s mind. The tagline is silently telling patients that Crestview Hospital is better than Briarwood and all the other healthcare providers. This will serve to inspire patients to choose Crestview instead of Briarwood, and Briarwood might lose its present patients to Crestview.
Question 2: Michael’s decision
The decision by Michael, the CEO of Briarwood Health Centre, to thwart the marketing proposal fronted by Susan is a mere representation of the feelings and attitudes of most executives in the healthcare industry. This attitude is inspired by a number of factors. First, the executives are of the opinion that healthcare establishments need not to overspend in marketing because the services they offer will create loyal and repeat clients and that satisfied customers will refer their friends to these establishments. This assumption is erroneous because some of these establishments do not offer very good services to either warrant the creation of repeat clients or inspire the clients to refer their friends (Kotler, Shalowitz, & Stevens, 2008).
Secondly, the executives happen to assume that the services offered by their health centres will always be in demand. This assumption tends to be informed by the fact that people will always be sick and as thus, they will always seek treatment for their health conditions. This assumption seems to be accurate to a small extent but still they need to advertise to net potential clients. Thirdly, some executives might also assume that the healthcare service does not fall under the for-profit category of businesses (Kotler, Shalowitz, & Stevens, 2008). This is an erroneous assumption because healthcare services are often run on a for profit basis with an exception of a few establishments that are supported by charitable organizations which run as not for profit establishments.
Question 3: Actions to Counter Crestview’s Billboard
A decision by Briarwood’s board to inject more funding in the marketing arm of the medical center is a welcome idea and can help remedy the prevailing situation. Susan can invest the additional funds in other areas of advertising. For instance, she can choose to buy out spots on local dailies and magazines and publish catchy adverts that will seek to draw clients to Briarwood Medical Centre. Another avenue of advertising that is available to Susan is the audiovisual media. Susan can design an informative advert that will be aired during prime time television viewing (Berkowitz, 1996). She can also try social media marketing and promote the medical centre on social media.
On the local front, Susan can enter into partnerships with event organizers and use part of the monies in sponsoring events that correlates with health issues. This kind of sponsorship will endear the locals to the medical centre and increase the number of clients that come to the medical centre. Another marketing avenue can be created by Susan collaborating with doctors from the medical centre to offer free clinics to the locals (Kotler, Shalowitz, & Stevens, 2008). Susan can then print out brochures and leaflets with information on the services offered by the medical centre.
Question 4: How to address Michael
It is clear from the case that Michael’s decision to thwart Susan’s proposal was very costly on the medical centre. This speaks tones of volume about Michael’s leadership style. As a new leader, he should have appreciated the role played by Susan and the other members of the management team in turning around the fortunes of Briarwood Medical Centre, which was on its way under (Fortenberry, 2011). His disregard of an expertly thought-out idea is reckless and if unaddressed might recur and impart a serious financial consequence on the medical center.
In addressing Michael’s poor decision, the board can choose to either fire him or reprimand him. The magnitude and severity of the problem caused by Michael’s reckless decision warrants a termination of employment (Gourville, Quelch, & Rangan, 2005). Michael in his decision proved that he did neither treasured nor valued expert opinion and in so doing accomplished two things; one was to demoralize the marketing manager who had a great idea, and two he let the competition gain an advantage against the medical center he was supposed to protect. In this regard, I believe that Michael’s job is at a stake.
Question 5: Chain of Command
The respect for chain of command is very important. Organizations thrive when the chain of command is observed. A failure by an employee to observe the chain of command would lead the said employee in problems. Such an employee would be accused of insubordination and the employee might lose his or her job (Boyle, 2001). However, there is an exemption to the chain of command supposition and the case presented by Susan is a perfect exemplar of instances when an employee can break the chain of command. As the CEO, Michael is the official liaison between the medical centre staff and the board. All directors report directly to Michael who is then expected to take up the matters reported to the governing council of the Medical Centre.
If I were Susan, I would use my contacts at the board to table my marketing proposal. This would have been an easy task to accomplish because of the cordial working relations established between the board members and me. Another source of inspiration would have emanated from the fact that all data and evidence in my possession points at the proposal ending up in good success (Fortenberry, 2011). This would in effect have prevented Crestview from getting hold of the spot while at the same time bringing in more clients to Briarwood Medical Centre.
References
Berkowitz, E. N. (1996). Essentials of health care marketing. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen Publishers.
Boyle, P. (2001). Organizational ethics in health care principles, cases, and practical solutions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fortenberry, J. L. (2011). Cases in health care marketing. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Gourville, J. T., Quelch, J. A., & Rangan, V. K. (2005). Problems and cases in health care marketing. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J., & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic marketing for health care organizations: building a customer-driven health system. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
