Introduction The landscape of health care is continually changing andthis change is allowing patients to receive medical care without even schedulinga doctor’s appointment. In our society there are many different health careoptions accessible to individuals.
Services such as walk-in clinics, web basedresources, and retail clinics are all available for health care consumers.Retail clinics such as CVS, Walgreens, or Walmart have locations where patientscan check their blood pressure, receive medication prescriptions, and discusstheir health care plan with a pharmacist inside the store. Urgent Care Carolinas HealthCare System Urgent Care located in FortMill, South Carolina offers a wide array of medical services to patients. Thehours of operation for this Urgent Care is from Monday thru Sunday, eight inthe morning to eight at night. This health care facility provides immediatecare for non-life-threatening illness and injury in a friendly, caring andcompassionate environment for all patients. Fort Mill Urgent Care targetspatients of all ages and races, who have an injury or illness that requirestime-sensitive care but is not serious enough to visit an emergency room. Theyalso offer patients the convenience of checking in online upon arrival andshorter wait times.
This location uses social media as a marketing technique.The social media platforms used are YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.Although this health care organization is utilizing many various platforms toattract potential patients, they must consider individuals of all ages. Tobetter reach the target demographic they need to broaden the marketingtechniques to reach more than generations X and Y. The baby boomer generationis more traditional when it comes to marketing.
Fort Mill Urgent Care cananalyze different marketing techniques such as advertisements via magazines andnewspapers. Baby boomers are also drawn to picking health care by usingbrochures or word of mouth. Retail Clinic One retail clinic that is offered is Minute Clinic, whichis located at CVS Pharmacy in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Minute clinic patientscan be seen for illnesses, injuries, screenings/monitoring, conditions, andeven physical examinations. Other services may include vaccinations, travelhealth, and injections. The demographic targeted by the CVS Pharmacy minuteclinic are both male and female, all ages and races. Since the Minute clinic islocated at the neighborhood pharmacy, patients receive the easy convenience ofa quick walk-in service.
The Minute clinic is appealing to patients, simplybecause of the accessibility and the hours of operation. The health carefacility is open seven days a week and offers evening hours which is ideal forpatients to avoid missing work or school. These walk-in clinics have numerousmarketing techniques from television commercials, newspaper ads, and magazines.Due to these ideal marketing strategies, CVS Minute clinic is doing well toreach their entire target demographic. By utilizing social media avenues suchas Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the Minute clinic is reached by bothgeneration X and Y. No Appointment Physician’s Office Shiland Family Medicine, a part of Carolinas HealthCare System,located in Fort Mill, South Carolina provides a wide range of primary andfamily care, along with health care services from minor to major injuries andmore. Shiland’s target demographic is not specific, they service all ages andraces.
The health care facility is open on Monday to Thursday from seven in themorning to eight at night, Friday from eight in the morning to five in theevening, and Saturday from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon.Shiland offers medical care for no appointment services, as well as byappointment. This health care organization reaches all their target demographicby advertising via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and newspaper advertisements.Additionally, the health care providers use platforms that allow them to personallyreach people in York County by having booths at vendor events. While attendingthese vendor events, organizational members hand out marketing materials to individualsthat may show interest in taking control of their health care plan. This couldbe a strong, effective marketing strategy to reach the target demographic atvendor events and health fairs, where they are able to inform potentialpatients on new health care information and keep them updated with the latestmedical technology.
An interactive event is one of the best methods to marketyour health care organization, a consumer may use a product or see a familiarbrand and automatically think about that specific health care facility. As aresult, he/she may consider reaching out and scheduling an appointment toreceive medical care from that physician’s office. Marketing Techniques & Effectiveness Although the approach of these health care facilities issimple and honest, measuring the effectiveness of their approach is not simple.The goal of any marketing strategy is to obtain and retain. Gaining theattention of the consumer is always priority and retaining the patronage of theconsumer is the desired outcome. To obtain this outcome you need a strategicframework for conceptualizing, designing, and scaling efforts, so that both thetarget audience and the short-term/long-term goals of the organization are met.Patients are now in complete control of their health care plan, health careinformation, and how it is obtained. It is critically important for the threehealth access options to make sure they are providing medical related content thatis accurate and credible for all potential patients.
It’s evident that changesare being made daily because of this, the internet has changed the landscape ofmarketing. Utilizing outlets such as email marketing, social media andtraditional advertising such as television, radio, and print are still viablein the marketing strategies. All three health care facilities discussed FortMill Urgent Care, CVS Minute Clinic, and Shiland Family Medicine have utilizedthese strategies to obtain their target demographic. By using these outlets,they have widened their reach and influence in their targeted demographicconsumer base. One key conceptual point that only Shiland is utilizing would becommunity outreach programs. Community outreach programs can be an effective wayto communicate or share health care information with those living in localareas.
