Marketing and the Health Care System

Marketing and the Health Care System
Student’s Name
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Marketing and the Health Care System
Introduction
Citing a significant player in the healthcare world, Medtronic, this paper will illustrate the critical role played by marketing in achieving their mandate. Medtronic is a healthcare provider focusing majorly on the manufacture of medical devices including pacemakers, diabetic management tools and many other medical devices and services involving medical devices.
The Impact of Marketing on Health Care Systems
Considering the fact that the primary mandate of Medtronic is the manufacture and delivery of medical devices, marketing of these products should be their primary focus in achieving this objective. The marketing strategies used, therefore have a significant impact on the annual turnover of the company. Without the best marketing for their pacemakers, for example, Medtronic would not have been on the list of top ten health care providers, worldwide. Marketing activities adopted by healthcare organizations have helped the public limited company build a solid reputation in the medical devices sector and earned them the confidence of many medical institutions and organizations over the years. Therefore, marketing helps in influencing customers to make purchases from a specific institution and helps in the development of a company’s reputation.
Moreover, such strategies have helped Medtronic rise and achieve a fifty percent share of the critical heart devices industry.

A few years after the founding of Medtronic, the founder Earl Bakken customized equipment manufactured by other companies then resold them as his own (Medtronic, 2010). This strategy saw the expansion of the company through the 1950s until its breakthrough with the development of an implantable pacemaker in 1960.
With the constant evolution of services and products developed for use in healthcare systems means that products get rendered obscure in short periods of time. This development is further fuelled by the constant advancements in technology. Therefore, for a company to remain relevant and competitive in the healthcare provision business, solid plans need to be implemented to achieve market dominance and relevance of their products and services (Feldstein, 2012). Such projects will include a great marketing strategy that will enable the said products and services penetrate the very competitive market.
Utilization of Products
Determining the market for a product first before its mass production is the most important thing to consider in ensuring the proper utilization of the said product (Feldstein, 2012). For example, a pacemaker is mostly going to be utilized in hospitals focusing on patients with heart problems. Cardiac centers should be the focus when tailoring a plan of action to capture a steady market for their products. Apart from providing a market for Medtronic products, such centers will also offer opportunities for the company to further improve their outcomes (Medtronic, 2010). Such partnerships between hospitals and healthcare providers will mean that the company will have access to heart patient records and data that will aid their research on new and better products (Feldstein, 2012). In 2014, Medtronic moved its headquarters from Minnesota to Ireland where the company now enjoys low taxation on their revenues (Medtronic, 2010). A reduction in the expenditure that was due to high tax rates in the USA now means that Medtronic has extra resources that can be utilized in research, developing and marketing of new products.
Preceding their movement to Ireland, Medtronic made its most significant achievement in its history that is the acquisition of Covidien. The acquisition of Covidien, also a significant player in the healthcare industry further stamped Medtronic’s supremacy and success (Medtronic, 2010). This acquisition saw not only further expansion of the company but also a new market for their products.
Marketing strategies by Medtronic
Medtronic set marketing and product goals that are specific to region or continent. The executives of the company consider factors that in clued the fluidity of new markets to determine how to come up with products that will be not only helpful but also affordable in markets where most of the population is below the poverty line. Such markets include Africa, Asia, and India. Such goals included the development of a pacemaker model that would be easily manufactured in China to satisfy the demand for the product in Asia.
Identification and selection of new target markets is another strategy used by healthcare institutions to further penetrate their products in new markets (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). The factors to be considered in targeting new markets including the identification of less competitive markets, Asia, and the Indian subcontinent is the perfect example of such a market. With only a few adjustments to earlier products, Medtronic was able to penetrate these markets.
Finding the points of difference between markets is also a great way to expand the reach of a product in new markets (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). Medtronic utilized this strategy to penetrate its new market in India, where the primary concern of the people when looking for a pacemaker was not the state of the art features but the functionality of the product. These state of the art features, in such a country with low-income rates, would render the product unaffordable and affect the ROI in that market (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). Pitching their products to recognized hospitals and cardiologists made it easier for their products to get the confidence of potential patients. The identification of Medtronic pacemakers with recognized cardiologists and institutions made it easier for the product to sell in the Indian market.
Ways That Medtronic Can Shape the Buying Decisions Of Its Customers
Investing highly in the advertisement of their products is an excellent way in which the company can influencing the decisions of their customers. A significant media presence is the best way of advertisement since the product will be able to reach audiences not limited to regions or continents (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). Additionally, an online presence and a way to buy the products online will be a boost for the company considering how the numbers of online purchases have risen in the recent past.
Tailoring of prices to the regions where they expect to sell their product is also a great strategy for achieving this objective (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). The prices in Asia should be a bit lower compared to the prices in Europe depending on the tax rates, inflation rates and GDP. Another great way to influence the decisions of the customers is adjusting and customization of products to meet the customers need (Kotler, Shalowitz & Stevens, 2008). Customization of the products will translate to the needs of the customer being satisfied further endorsing the brand.
In conclusion, the paper have discussed the marketing strategies adopted by healthcare institutions, as well as their role in or marketing on the same. To achieve the objective or marketing, healthcare providers need to adopt a feasible marketing strategy for their products, resources, and services. The role that marketing plays in ensuring the delivery of the said services and products is essential for the prosperity of such health care providing institutions. The paper has also illustrated the significant role that marketing plays in ensuring the prosperity of a health care provider in a very competitive health care system. It further analyzes, evaluates and provides a perspective on how to solve challenges involved during the expansion into new markets. Lastly, the paper has provided approaches that can be used by such a company to influence the penetration of their products through the markets.

References
Feldstein, P. J. (2012). Health care economics. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Kotler, P., Shalowitz, J., & Stevens, R. J. (2008). Strategic Marketing for Health Care Organizations: Building a Customer-Driven Health System. Hoboken: Wiley.
Medtronic (2010). Medtronic History | A company known for developing life-changing technologies. Medtronic.ie. Retrieved 28 January 2018, from http://www.medtronic.ie/about-medtronic/our-story/index.htm