Emergence of medical marketing consultants, MBA courses in hospital management, the beginning of regular advertising campaigns are all heralding a new era of branding and marketing activities from the hospitals themselves. In this article we aim to explore some of the ‘claims, RTBs (reasons to believe) that hospitals are using in their adverts to market themselves.

1. Hospital Marketing
“In India, the hospital services industry is
expected to be worth US$ 81.2 billion by
2015. The Indian hospital services sector
generated revenue of over US$ 45 billion
in 2012.
This revenue is expected to increase at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR)
of 20 per cent during 2012-2017,
according to a RNCOS report titled,
„Indian Medical Device Market Outlook
to 2017‟.”
www.ibef.org
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2. Hospital Marketing
Medical marketing is a broad term and encompasses a lot of
themes. It could refer to the marketing of
Drugs
Hospitals
Allied
patient care
services
Equipment
Diagnostic
services
A closer look at the medical market in India shows that
hospitals are the fastest growing vertical of this industry.
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3. Hospital Marketing
A number of factors are contributing to the growth of
hospitals per se.
Increase in life
expectancy
Increasing
affordability - more so
in urban areas
Advent of medical
tourism
Rise in health insurance
penetration numbers
especially among the
urban denizens and
increased patient
awareness and demand
for better services
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4. Hospital Marketing
One can expect a lot more players in the hospital space within
the
medical
market.
Emergence
of
medical
marketing
consultants, MBA courses in hospital management, the
beginning of regular advertising campaigns are all heralding a
new era of branding and marketing activities from the
hospitals themselves. In this article we aim to explore some of
the ‘claims, RTBs (reasons to believe) that hospitals are using
in their adverts to market themselves.
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5. Hospital Marketing
1. We have the STAR DOCTOR
Hospitals
are
aggressively
marketing
either
individual
Doctors or a team of Doctors
they
have
to
service
their
patients. The ads within this
theme
focus
on
the
achievements of the doctor
and his team and we find
words like pioneer, leading,
best etc. used to cue a sense
of better than the rest.
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6. Hospital Marketing
2. We have the STAR TEAM
We find that in such advertising
not only is the doctor's lab coat
leveraged but also specific cues
that tell us these are surgeons are
shown. So typically you will find
the team wearing blue, green
colour surgical attires along with the appropriate head gear.
Showcasing a team of doctors dedicated to particular illness lends a
feeling of professionalism to the
hospital. The team dressed in a
uniform and with smiles in an ad
gives a feeling of ‘working towards
a goal’. It helps create a sense of
credibility for the hospital. In the
medical field nothing works more than the name of the doctor!
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7. Hospital Marketing
3. Consistent Excellence Over Time
Another claim that we find in this sector is one that focuses on
consistent excellence over time. It helps separate the men from the
boys. It cues that everybody can be good but only some great brands
stay at the top and offer the best in class services consistently In the ad
below we see Apollo Hospitals focusing on ‘11 years of excellence’ to
drive home the above point.
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8. Hospital Marketing
At times we also see a more in your face version of the consistence
excellence over time claim as shown in the advertisement below. Here a
specialist facility from Fortis highlights their track record of successful
deliveries and procedures and also shows the efficiencies of the NICU
via a numeric cue.
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9. Hospital Marketing
3A. Best in class service everywhere
A variant of the consistent excellence over time is the claim consistent
best service everywhere as shown in the above advertisement for Apollo
Emergency Services
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10. Hospital Marketing
4. Acrredited by the best/most relevant body
Any accreditation means delivery of a certain value for the patients.
Moreover these accreditations increase the credibility of the hospital.
It is believed that in this sector accreditation over time leads to four
types of impacts. They are
1. Change of practice
2. Impact on health care outcomes
3. Organisational and managerial change
4. Impact on patient satisfaction
Here are two examples of brands leveraging accreditation in their
communication material.
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11. Hospital Marketing
5. Packages and Gifts
Till recently the term “packages & gifts” was something we equated
with the hospitality industry and not with hospital services. However off
late things are changing.
A lot of super speciality hospitals now offer a 2 day – 3 night stay at the
hospital at a fixed rate for regular surgeries such as gall bladder
removal, hernia etc.
Hinduja Hospital for example mentions 1 day packages for diagnostic
services.
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12. Hospital Marketing
La Femme talks about special ante natal and birthing packages in their
communication.
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13. Hospital Marketing
These packages are further classified according to the affordability of
the patient. This strategy has also helped hospitals increase their
business through the rural belts in India and to cash in on international
patients and has led to the explosion of the medical tourism
phenomenon
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14. Hospital Marketing
6. Pioneers
The pioneer - ship claim ensures that the hospital brand is seen as
innovative and leading edge in terms of latest of technical knowhow.
Over time it ensure greater credibility, trust and market value for the
brand
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15. Hospital Marketing
Though we find many instances of using some RTB, claim in hospital
advertisements what is still missing is clear cut brand positioning cues.
Thus communications cues are still very product/ service centric and not
yet brand centric. Thus we can say that we are in the stage 2 of the
evolution of brand model where the brand acts as a reference:
According to the
http://www.onlineresearchjournals.com/ajbe/art/59.pdf- “In this stage
the goal of marketers and brand managers is to position the brand as
having unique functional benefits distinctive name so as to differentiate
it from other brands. In doing so the brand can be protected through
trade mark registration, giving it a legal protection against imitators and
denoting the source of ownership. In the early stages of the product life
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16. Hospital Marketing
cycle, the brand is differentiated on various attributes in order to get the
competitive advantage so as to have the brand preference by the
consumers over the competitors.
Differentiation is achieved by emphasizing on the product attributes
continuously as in the initial stages consumers are still in the process of
learning about the Brand. Identification requires only that the consumer
be aware of the brand name; differentiation requires more of the
consumer, i.e. they require some knowledge about the product. The first
type of knowledge that consumers might want is product-related
information such as superiority of product attributes or quality. These
networks are mostly categorical in nature in that they differentiate
brands primarily on physical attributes.
This process is described by Keller (1993) who conceptualizes brand
knowledge as having two components: brand awareness and brand
image. Awareness consists of brand recall and recognition. The first
component of brand knowledge is types of brand associations which
consist of attributes, benefits and attitudes. In this stage, the consumer
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17. Hospital Marketing
learns about the attributes, some of the benefits and begins to form
attitudes. The consumer may also form a few favourable and some
unique associations with the brand.
In summary, in stage 2, most marketing effort concentrates on
developing and enhancing functional characteristics of the brand and
communicating these to consumers. This, in turn, enables consumers to
identify and distinguish the brand from the competition and also acts as
a guarantee of consistent quality. Thus, marketers are engaging in a
brand positioning process which builds perception of the brand vis-àvis competitive Brands”
Typically it is in the next stage that we see the emotional and imagery
cues coming in and thus dialling up the role of intangibles. So in the
coming days we can expect to see the branding wars in the hospital
sector heating up.!
Copyright @ Connecting Dots 2013.
info@connectingdots.in
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