Marketing Discussion Questions
Question # 1
When establishing the product element of the marketing mix, a company must decide its product mix, product line, and its breadth and depth. Pick a Hospital or any health services facility you are working for, or you are familiar with, and describe the product (service) mix that facility is offering. Based on your experience with that facility, is it possible to modify the product mix by eliminating, adding, services? If yes, why? If not, why?
Question # 2
Transparency is a growing factor in health care. You have been hired to consult with a group of cardiologists who have just developed their first website.
The practice is located in a in a medium-sized community where there are 3 other cardiology practices. Present the pros and cons for them in developing a proactive approach to transparency on their website.
Some of the partners in the practice are strongly opposed to providing any metrics on the site.
Question # 3
Loyal customers offer multiple benefits to a healthcare organization. What are some of these benefits? How can loyalty be measured from a marketing approach? Find one example of a loyalty program in the healthcare industry, and comment on it. Is there in the program content any room for improvements?
QUESTION # 4
Visit the websites of two major healthcare providers, Mayo clinic (https://www.mayoclinic.org) and Cleveland clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org).
Which one do you believe does a better job in promoting its services and why? And why is the other website not as good and how could it be improved?
QUESTION # 5
At a recent strategic planning retreat of a 40 person multispecialty group, the administrator made a presentation that focused on the coming year’s plans to establish the organization’s first two primary care satellites, which would be located in the two growing suburbs of the community. These new additions would require the hiring of four family practitioners and other support staff. When the administrator finished her presentation, one of the most senior physicians stood up and said, “This is a foolish expenditure. We’re so busy now in this group, we can’t even see another patient. Our revenue was up 14 percent according to the previous financial presentation we heard. There is no reason to change what we’re doing.” How might you respond to this physician?