Having billboard postings from a rival medical facility would trouble Briarwood Medical Center in specific ways. The billboard postings of Crestview hospital specifically target the patients at Briarwood Medical Center is something which is a direct competitive punch from their arch-rivals. The billboard also ensures that Crestview would attract any new member in the community seeking healthcare services. The pair of billboard postings informs patients from Briarwood who may be unaware of Crestview hospital and sort of gives them another option of a medical facility. Any patient who happens to encounter an issue from Briarwood hospital is set to have their frustrations consoled by the billboard posting of Crestview as they walk out of Briarwood, giving them a different option. Additionally, the community stakeholders, too, wouldn’t like the fact that arch-rival raise a billboard right on Briarwood’s doorstep.
Many people in the healthcare industry, just like Michael, are not for the opinion of healthcare marketing. There are those who believe that they have enough patients, and their patients will continuously refer others to their facility. Others hold the opinion that it is unethical to do healthcare marketing. In their views, healthcare doesn’t count as a normal business. Other opinions hold that communities that host healthcare facilities know the facility, and there is no need to market. For non-profit making healthcare institutions, many people do not support using huge amounts of money to advertise the facility, yet it is a non-profit facility. However, healthcare marketing is of absolute importance since it increases the patients’ trust in quality offered by a facility (Kemp et al., 2017).
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Countering Crestview’s billboard postings may take more than meets the eye. Susan ought to invest in building a close patient relationship with the available patients to improve their satisfaction level. A responsive system is suitable for a healthcare facility and a modern advertising model that would be effective (Sheaff, 2002). Additionally, extending their reach outside the community will help increase their patient traffic. Briarwood Medical Center should invest in online marketing to counter their arch-rivals. They should create a website to advertise their services and improve responsiveness from their patients. Briarwood can also use geo-location mobile marketing where they use GPS tracking devices to locate nearby mobile phones and send them advertising pop-up texts on their devices. This particular strategy will also target the patients at Crestview Medical Center.
Michael’s arguments against investment in the two billboards were not ill-motivated. In fact, he was right to argue that Briarwood had already invested in some marketing, and it was not necessary to add more money to spend. Besides, Michael did not anticipate that their arch-rival would be the one to secure the billboard panels right at their doorstep. The fact that Michael was in a position to make the decision alone was the source of the problem. The medical facility should give equal decision-making rights to other members of the management board. This way, Michael can have his decisions overturned by other like-minded members with different opinions.
If I was in Susan’s shoes, and I was determined to grab the billboard opportunity, I would have proceeded to seek the Board’s intervention. Susan had wanted the two billboards for a long time, and she probably had a workable plan to help the medical facility gain more competitive advantage. Her interest in the billboard made her be handed a priority leasing opportunity by Steve Williams. However, Michael was not convinced and did not buy the idea. Moving ahead to seek the Board’s intervention would have helped make Michael understand the value of the billboard. Moreover, the Board of management would have informed Michael of Susan’s achievement and advised him to consider her proposal.
References
Kemp, E., Bui, M., Krishen, A., Homer, P. M., & LaTour, M. S. (2017). Understanding the power of hope and empathy in healthcare marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing , 34 (2), 85-95.
Sheaff, R. (2002). Responsive healthcare: marketing for a public service . Buckingham: Open University Press.
