Healthcare Marketing Plan Paper

Healthcare marketing is a new idea that connects and facilitates relationships between doctors, hospitals, and patients. Healthcare in America has changed overtime. It has become a competitive and profitable business due to governmental healthcare changes and our growing population. Patients today have more choices than ever. Gaining and keeping a successful client base is important to a provider to stay in business. This requires a well-researched marketing plan. A successful marketing plan in healthcare starts with an appraisal of the marketplace. In the current healthcare arena, senior citizens make up a significant portion of this demographic. Seniors provide the majority of income in the healthcare system. Marketing to this demographic

One way to accomplish this is by finding the available demographic records and break that down into smaller subcategories such as age or zip code. By having this data you can initially begin in the areas where your intended marketing plan will be best received. In the studies found, data shows this demographic is growing at a rapid pace and most often live independently in a community style setting. “In the 65 to 74 age segment, one of every 100 people lives in nursing homes; the number increases to 6 of every 100 for people aged 75 to 84 and 22 of every 100 for people 85 and older (Aging America 1987-88).” (Spotts Jr. H, Schewe C. 36) Another target area is their lifestyles, purchase behavior, and their core values such as healthy eating or aging well. "For example, General Mills’ Cheerios ads focus on heart health, which certainly resonates with boomers, but also could connect with anyone interested in living well. “It’s a way of being ageless. They’re not saying it’s an old person’s cereal or a young person’s cereal. It’s more about the value of healthy eating.” (Birkner. C) The new 65+ generation has evolving lifestyle changes that do not mirror the lifestyles of their

It is important to make sure marketing techniques match the needs of the targeted population. In addition, marketing to a senior audience presents a specific set of challenges in terms of design and messaging. We want to make sure that font size is large enough for easy reading. Laptops and most computer monitors are relatively small, making reading difficult for many seniors. Our goal should be to keep the navigation as simple as possible. If you are trying to get an older audience to buy, then make them feel comfortable and welcome on your site. Understand the market; marketing to seniors is a sub-specialty. Most internet marketers tend to be younger and don't quite understand the senior market or how to communicate with them. It makes sense to add at least one person to your marketing team that has experience working with senior consumers on some level. Create landing pages specifically targeted to the senior audience. If your online advertising is geared to attract a senior audience, then it makes sense to create a landing page or alternate home page specifically geared to that audience. You want to make them feel that their primary care is the main concern and build that long-term