Southern Baptist Hospital (SBH) had long resisted the use of marketing, believin
ID: 455987 • Letter: S
Question
Southern Baptist Hospital (SBH) had long resisted the use of marketing, believing it was not an appropriate activity for a nonprofit organization. By the mid-1980s, however, the erosion of its market share due to growing competition forced SBH to adopt an aggressive marketing strategy. Its primary initiative was a campaign of television advertisements aimed to reinforce for the general public the image of SBH as a high-quality institution. Because the organization was starting its marketing activities from scratch, ad production and airtime costs were expensive. The television commercials were professionally produced and received critical acclaim from the advertising community. Following the public’s repeated exposure to these advertisements, a hospital executive requested information about the impact of the advertisements. The idea to study the campaign’s impact had not been considered earlier, and a belated evaluation effort was mounted to determine the extent to which the campaign had achieved the desired effect. Much to the consternation of SBH administrators, the evaluation found that the ads had had virtually no impact on the public’s already high perception of the institution, and no improvement in patient volumes, revenues, or market share could be attributed to the campaign. SBH administrators, committed to an expensive initiative, rationalized that the campaign had not aired long enough to generate the desired effect and invested even more money in the initiative. After reviewing the above case, address the following points: To what extent did SBH research the needs of its audience prior to developing a marketing strategy? Does it appear that SBH has an overall marketing plan? Does it appear that SBH had a significant grasp of the nature of marketing? What are the implications of focusing marketing efforts on corporate image rather than the services the organization provides? What are the implications of marketing to the general public rather than targeting specific segments of the market? How much thought was given to measuring the effectiveness of the campaign going into the initiative?
Explanation / Answer
To what extent did SBH research the needs of its audience prior to developing a marketing strategy?
The major issue with the marketing strategy that SBH used was what SBH wanted to convey regarding its services, without doing any research what the audience needs were, and what the hospital is providing to fulfil those needs. SBH’s marketing strategy was a campaign of television advertisements aimed to reinforce for the general public the image of SBH as a high-quality institution, whereas SBH already had the image it was trying to convey through the advertisements, as the case states: ‘the ads had had virtually no impact on the public’s already high perception of the institution’.
Does it appear that SBH has an overall marketing plan?
SBH didn’t have any overall marketing plan, as it used television advertisements just to reinforce what the audience already believed in, i.e. SBH being a high-quality institution. Also, if they had a overall marketing plan in place, they would have analyzed the impact of the marketing investment made right after the ads were aired on television. The marketing efforts from the SBH administrators lacked proper planning.
Does it appear that SBH had a significant grasp of the nature of marketing?
SBH didn’t have a significant grasp of the nature of marketing, as they didn’t put in proper research as to what their customer base is, their needs, how does the hospital fulfil those needs, what medium suits the target audience the and finally what is the message they want to communicate through their marketing efforts.
What are the implications of focusing marketing efforts on corporate image rather than the services the organization provides?
Focusing marketing efforts on corporate image rather than the services the organization provides, organization faces the risk of the potential customer being alienated with what all services he/she can expect from the organization. An organization with good corporate image does not necessarily mean the audience knows what they can expect from the organization in terms of variety of services in the area. For example, SBH being high quality institution, does not communicate the list of medical services the organization can provide, or what all advanced medical facilities SBH owns that can help the patients in easier and more effective treatments.
What are the implications of marketing to the general public rather than targeting specific segments of the market?
When marketing to general public, rather than targeting the specific segments of the market, the marketing efforts and investments or resources needed are far higher to create the same impact as it would have been created when marketing efforts are focused on smaller market segments. Hence, the impact created is far less what could have been when no particular market segmentation is done.
How much thought was given to measuring the effectiveness of the campaign going into the initiative?
Not much thought was put into measuring the effectiveness of the marketing campaign, as the case states:’ the idea to study the campaign’s impact had not been considered earlier, and a belated evaluation effort was mounted to determine the extent to which the campaign had achieved the desired effect.’ If the campaign’s impact was started being measured just after the airing of the ads started, SBH would have identified that there is no specific impact happening, hence they could have changed the content of the ads or stopped the campaign, and worked on other marketing options.
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