Health marketing

Health marketing is a multidisciplinary field of public health practice. This innovative approach draws from traditional marketing theories and principles and adds science-based strategies to prevention, health promotion and health protection. Drawing from fields such as marketing, communication, and public health promotion, health marketing provides a framework of theories, strategies and techniques that can be used to guide work in public health messaging, health behavior change, and health services delivery.

Definition

Health marketing is defined as creating, communicating, and delivering health information and interventions using customer-centered and science-based strategies to protect and promote the health of diverse populations.

Principles

Health marketing involves the application of marketing principles and practices to the field of public health. It is a multidisciplinary practice that combines traditional marketing techniques with public health and health promotion theory and principles.

Strategies

Health marketing strategies include the use of the 4 Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. In the context of health marketing, the product can be a physical product, a service, information, or a behavior change. Price refers to the cost of the product, both monetary and non-monetary. Place refers to the distribution channels used to deliver the product to the target audience. Promotion refers to the communication strategies used to inform and persuade the target audience about the product.

Applications

Health marketing has been applied in a variety of settings and for a variety of health issues, including tobacco control, obesity prevention, and HIV/AIDS prevention. It has also been used to improve health care services delivery and to promote health behaviors.

Challenges

Despite its potential, health marketing faces several challenges. These include the need for more research to better understand the effectiveness of health marketing strategies, the need for more training and capacity building in health marketing, and the need to address ethical issues related to health marketing.

See also

• Public health
• Health promotion
• Health communication
• Marketing
• 4 Ps