Whether it is the marketing of goods or services, there are four entities that comprise the essential elements of marketing everywhere. These are together referred to as the “Marketing-Mix”. These elements are:-
1. Product:
The type of service to be offered preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, etc. viewed in terms of the benefits the service provides to the patient relief from pain, longer life, less disability, etc.
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2. Place:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Where and how the service will be delivered to the patients the location, hours, referral mechanism, etc. which determine the extent and mode of access to the product (service).
Basically this applies to the marketing of goods, channels of distribution of the product and includes warehousing, transportation, etc.
3. Price:
This is the charge made for the service (which often is not paid directly by the patient anyway). This covers everything the health care organisation requires the patient to go through in order to utilise the service.
The product has to be adequately priced. This involves the cost, consideration of profit margin, the concept of right price.
4. Promotion:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
How and what the prospective patients learn about the health care organisation and the service it offers—how the patient can become aware of service offered, develop an interest in using a service, utilise it, use it regularly and recommend the organisation to friend, etc.
Promotion is the aspect of selling and advertising other words, it is communicating the benefits of the service to the customer in order to persuade them to purchase such services. The above are commonly referred to as the four Ps of marketing-mix or simply the four Ps of marketing.