The 5 P’s of Healthcare Marketing & The Client: A Truly Unique Combination in the Business World

When it comes to marketing to a potential or future client, it is commonly assumed that it is a one size fits all scenario: that one set of skills can apply to all industries. Unfortunately for marketing professionals, that is not the case. Healthcare marketing is even more unique, and marketing to providers of healthcare is even more challenging, requiring its own particular focus and strategy that differs immensely from other industries.  When it comes to b2b marketing as is the process here at ReportingMD, you have to both market to your client [Healthcare Organization], while assisting them with their patients and consumers.

What is healthcare marketing?

WebMD defines healthcare marketing as “a process of strategic outreach and communications designed to attracted healthcare consumers, guide them through their healthcare journey, and keep them engaged with the health system”. To successful achieve this, competent healthcare marketers must  incorporate multiple tools and strategies. This involves an omnichannel approach to create and maintain a loyal client base. This is where the 5 P’s of Healthcare Marketing (Product, People, Place, Price, and Promotion) come into play and the order that I find to be the most important and beneficial to any healthcare organization.

Product:

The first key to any successful healthcare marketing campaign is to firmly establish the product at hand. Establishing the core selling point to clients and prospective clients kick starts the rest of the 5 P’s of Healthcare Marketing and establishes the marketer as the voice of the product. ReportingMD’s product focus is our Total Outcomes Management (TOM) platform with the aim being to best serve their clients and their clients’ patients so that these patients are receiving the post possible care to remain a healthy population, which includes offerings in MIPS, HCC codes, Care Gap Management, and eCQM/CQM measures just to name a few.

People:

Almost as important as the product itself comes the people to which your organization is serving. Establishing your ideal client base is a key step in establishing the rest of the marketing process and how your campaigns will be orchestrated. ReportingMD is “proud to work with some of the finest health care organizations from independent practices to multi-specialty to rural and regional medical centers to academic health systems in the country”. Not only are our healthcare organization clients vital to our success, but through our services we aim to establish a healthy patient population by better providing for our clients’ patients.

Place:

“Place” encompasses where clients and prospective clients find the product. A company’s website is an obvious answer but establishing the place for a product is much more than the homebase. The competition is taking this into account as well: looking for other areas where to best broadcast their product, whether that be through online ads or promotion on other industry websites. This is where the marketer steps in. By utilizing SEO skills with tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console help establish new jumping off points for your product and help outstep the competition.

Price:

Price, although appearing self-explanatory, is more complicated than just establishing the price of the product. Price plays a huge part in the marketing efforts that are utilized, deciding what is ultimately used as a tactic and what is tossed to the side. Research is essential to establish what is worth the price when it comes to marketing the product.

Promotion:

Promotion is the culmination of the rest of the 5 P’s of Healthcare Marketing. By combining Product, People, Place and Price, we are truly able to create a successful marketing campaign for a healthcare organization. Cementing the product, establishing/focusing on the audience population, creating the places for the product and deciding on pricing will not only sell a well valued and useful product but will maintain a happy, content client base.