1. Essentials of Health Care Marketing 2nd Ed. Eric Berkowitz
Chapter 11
Promotion

2. Chapter 11 Learning Objectives
Understand the nature of the communication process
Recognize the alternative components of the promotional mix and their respective values
Appreciate the range of sales promotion strategies for both consumers and the trade
Know the alternative promotional strategy approaches for controlling the channel of distribution

3. Introduction Four basic components of promotional strategies:
Advertising
Personal Selling
Publicity
Sales Promotion
Communication is at the heart of all these tools

4. Learning Objective 1 The Communication Model
Sender – person or company
Receiver – target of communication
Encoding or developing the message
Message
Channel to send message
Decoding or interpreting message by receiver
Noise
Feedback
See figure 11-1, p. 294

5. Learning Objective 1 The message
Two-sided: Sender presents both pros and cons of service being promoted
Have stronger impact on educated consumers
Comparative messages – Claims relative to the competition
Emotional appeals – humor, fear
Testing the boundaries
Vs. rational appeals

6. Learning Objective 1 The channel
Mass communication vs. personal approach
Health Care – traditionally word-of-mouth
Opinion leaders

7. Learning Objective 2 The Promotional Mix
Four basic components of promotional strategies
Advertising
Personal Selling
Publicity
Sales Promotion

8. Learning Objective 2 Advertising – paid and nonpersonal
Advertiser can control to whom, when, what and how often the message is delivered
Most effective when buyer awareness is minimal
Also when industry sales are rising
When service features are not observable
When opportunities for differentiation are strong
When service is new

9. Learning Objective 2 Personal Selling
Strength – allows for direct feedback
More direct control over who receives message
More direct targeting of audience
Limitation – cost, personnel training

10. Learning Objective 2 Personal selling vs. advertising Trade-off
Decision making

11. Learning Objective 2
Publicity – most common to health care organizations
Indirectly paid form of communication
Credibility
No control over when or how message is delivered
Planned vs. unplanned messages

12. Learning Objective 3 Sales Promotion Strategies
Sales Promotion – temporary inducements to buy
Coupons, sweepstakes, premiums
Samples, trade promotions, allowances
Cooperative advertising

13. Learning Objective 3 Sales promotion objectives
To encourage trial usage
To encourage customers to buy more than one
To acquaint customers with service changes
To identify new customers
To build customer loyalty
To encourage customers to switch facilities or providers

14. Learning Objective 3 Sales promotion objectives (continued)
To gain entry into new markets
To encourage intermediaries to utilize the facility
To encourage intermediaries to devote more effort to selling/referring the product or service

15. Learning Objective 4 Factors affecting sales promotion
Product life cycle
Channel Control strategy
Push vs. pull
Discuss push vs. pull strategies

16. Summary
Several factors are necessary for effective communication. Communication often is affected negatively by noise.
Messages can take several forms; they can be one-sided, tow-sided, or emotional.
The promotional mix for an organization consists of advertising, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotion.

17. Summary continued
A major advantage of advertising over publicity is in terms of control over the message.
Publicity has greater credibility than advertising.
Advertising and personal selling each have distinct values. The decision to use one promotional tool more than the other is based on the risk of the decision, size of the decision-making unit, the complexity of the service, the size of the market, and the geographic dispersion of the market.

18. Summary continued
Advertising and personal selling have differing levels of impact in each stage of the consumer’s decision-making process. The more personal the post-purchase contact with the buyer, the more satisfied the buyer.
Sales promotion has been an underused tool of the promotional mix within health care. Sales promotion tactics can be directed to consumers or to the trade.
In a push strategy, the promotional efforts are directed to the intermediaries in the channel, while in the pull strategy, promotional efforts are directed to the end user.