Marketing Planning

Abstract

Marketing planning may be defined as the development of a systematic process for promoting an organization, service, or product. Until the 1980s, healthcare providers typically did not engage in formal marketing activities. Unlike sectors of the industry with a history of marketing planning, organizations involved in patient care initially resisted marketing. The introduction of competition increased the interest in planning, and provisions in the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated community plans for not-for-profit hospitals. Marketing planning most directly relates to some type of customer and, for that reason, this is the most externally oriented of the various plans. Marketing planning is often, although not always, shorter in scope than other types of planning, reflecting the fact that it is typically more narrow in its focus than other types of planning. The intent of most marketing plans is to affect change in consumer knowledge and behavior, placing inordinate emphasis on evaluation.