Marketing Forces and Diversification
As American society becomes increasingly ethnically diverse through immigration, relocation, birth rates and other factors, our hospitals must hone their sensitivity to resulting changes in community health needs. In addition, rigorous competition among hospitals requires sensitive, targeted marketing strategies attractive to diverse populations. An excellent example of responsive marketing and health care is given in Noonan's and Savolaine's article. The intelligence and success of the subject community hospital's approach shows that at least a hybrid of its approach should be followed in marketing to and serving a hospital's community.
Analysis with Noonan and Savolaine Article as the Focus
Thoughts about the Market Orientation of the Community Hospital
Focusing on Noonan and Savolaine article's examination of marketing obstetrical services in a diverse Midwestern market, the community hospital showed considerable wisdom in closely examining its prospective patient population by reviewing discharge data for obstetrical patients and asking doctors do define their patients' ethnicities and cultures. (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). Believing that the service area analysis dividing area ethnic populations into "72.2% non-Hispanic white, 7% African-American or black, 0.5% Native American, 11.2% Asian or Pacific Islander and 9.1% other" (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001) did not show the unique population features, the community hospital further divided the Caucasian population and Asian population into 4 major target ethnic groups: "Korean; Middle Eastern; Muslim (Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indian) and Hispanic (Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban)" (Noonan & Savolaine, 2001). After defining its major target groups, the hospital tailored marketing with specific steps to "differentiate services from competitors," "family-centered program of care" and "enhance…marketing presence" among those target groups (Noonan & Savolaine,...
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