Public Sector Marketing: A Report on NHS Marketing Strategies

This report provides an analysis of public sector marketing, with a specific focus on the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The introduction defines public sector marketing and its significance, highlighting the importance of effective marketing strategies for governmental businesses like the NHS. The main body delves into practical marketing cases, exploring strategic marketing processes such as identifying objectives, environmental scanning, and SWOT analysis. It examines social and psychological aspects of consumer behavior, market segmentation (demographic, psychographic, behavioral, and geographic), and target marketing. Additionally, the report covers customer types, industrial goods marketing, and brand management within the context of the NHS. The report concludes that effective marketing is crucial for public sector organizations to promote their offerings, retain customers, and achieve their long-term objectives. The content explores the marketing strategies and challenges faced by a large public sector entity like the NHS.

Public sector marketing

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Practical cases from the course....................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Public sector marketing could be defined as the marketing which is focused by
governmental businesses for the purpose of spreading awareness about all the products that are
offered to the customers. It is highly focused with the articulation and formulation of solutions
for the relations and exchange which is taking place between the customers and government. It is
very important for all the public companies to make sure that they are able to market all their
products in systematic manner (Ali Alremeithi, 2017). One of the largest public organisation in
UK is NHS which was founded in year 1948 and since then it is working for welfare of the
society. Present essay will be focused with this entity and other public companies for analysing
the marketing activities that are performed by them. Some of the points that will be discussed in
this report includes discovery of marketing, strategic marketing processes, discussion of social
and psychological aspects, market segmentation and target marketing, categories of consumer
and industrial goods etc. Additionally, coverage of brand management is also covered in this
essay.
MAIN BODY
Practical cases from the course
Marketing could be defined as the activities which is performed by businesses for the
purpose of spreading awareness about different types of products that are sold in the market. It is
very important for all the businesses to make sure that effective strategies for marketing are
formulated by them as it can help to meet all the future goals such as higher brand recognition,
value and image. If a business will not be able to market the services or the products that are sold
in the market, then it may result in losses for business. NHS is one of the largest public sector
companies which are operating business for benefit of society. In order to sustain in the market,
it is very important for such entities to make sure that they are able to perform effective
marketing related activities (Ayyagari, Parahoo and Harvey, 2018).
Marketing is the analysis of all the efforts which are made by businesses for the purpose
of spreading awareness about all the products and services that are sold in the market. It was
discovered centuries ago because in every era it was required to attract large number of
customers. Apart from this, it was also needed to make sure that the plans that are formulated by
the businesses for future are executed in systematic manner or not. As NHS is a large company
1

and does not need any recognition but it is also required for it to make efforts to market itself so
that it can sustain in market for long run. The entity markets health of individuals because it is
the main concern which is focused by the entity while formulating operation strategy. The entity
assures that it communicates with all its stakeholders with the help of effective strategies of
marketing. Some of them are staff members, patients, GPs, service providers, doctors,
commissioners etc. With the help of proper and effective marketing it tries to stay connected
with all its stakeholders so that the market share could be secured by it. Marketing helps the
entity to satisfy the customer needs because it facilitates to determine expectations of clients and
meet them properly. If an entity like NHS will not be performing all the operations
systematically then it may affect the satisfaction of clients.
Strategic marketing could be described as the process of analysing, developing,
controlling and implementing the strategies that are formulated by marketers for assuring success
of business. It is very important for all the businesses to make sure that all the long as well as
short term objectives are met successfully. There are various types of strategic marketing
processes that takes place within the organisations like NHS (Bianca, Bacali and Lakatos, 2016).
First strategy is identifying objectives and determining mission. With the help of it success for
future could be assured because all the strategies will be formulated on the basis of them. This
process facilitates organisation to assure the attainment of long term objectives that can facilitate
development of business. Second process of strategic marketing is conducting environmental
scanning of market in terms of trends and competition. By using it NHS tries to formulate
effective decisions for future so that it can attain competitiveness within the industry. The entity
is also focused with market trends which is facilitating it to establish a positive market image as
it is following all the latest market trends that helps to meet all requirements of clients. Some of
the processes that are also related to strategic marketing includes SWOT analysis, budget for
marketing etc. With the help of SWOT analysis NHS tries to analyse all the weaknesses,
strengths, threats and opportunities. It helps the organisation to analyse the changes that are
required to be made in business to sustain in the market.
For all the entities that are operating in public sector it is very important to make sure that
they are focused with social and psychological aspects of behaviour feature. It is the analysis of
mentality of customers as well as the requirements of society. NHS is one of the largest public
sector companies which are carrying out operations for betterment of society and in order to
2

sustain in the market for long run it is very important for it to analyse these behaviour features.
By analysing it, NHS assure that it formulates effective strategies for attainment of all the long as
well as short term business goals. All the market places have diversity because mind set of
customers changes according to their cultures. It is very important for all the entities like NHS to
make sure that they are able to analyse diversity in the marketplace in which business is operated
because it can help to formulate effective marketing strategies (Boenigk and Möhlmann, 2016).
The main factor which is resulting in changes in mind set of customers is culture. In every
country culture varies according to the environment of the country. There are various similarities
and differences across cultures because in every country different cultures are followed. For
example, NHS is operating in US and UK and the culture of both the nations is very different.
One of the major difference in the culture is related to lack of social interaction. In UK the
interaction is very huge on the other hand in US the interaction is very low. Due to this, NHS
have to formulate different types of strategies for marketing. There are various similarities in the
cultures of US and UK and it is related to standard of living and concern for medical facilities.
Both the nations are highly focused with these factors and it help NHS to formulate effective
strategies for making sure that it meets expectations of its clients.
Market segmentation could be defined as the process of segregating the market in
different parts on the basis of customers. There are four different types of segments that could be
focused by businesses for the purpose of segmenting the clients and targeting them. These are
demographic, psychographic, behavioural, and geographic. All of them could be used by entities
according to their choice and the offerings that are made by them to the customers. While
selecting the segment it will be very important for all the entities to make sure that they are able
to segregate the market place properly so that large market area could be captured. The market
segment which is focused by NHS is geographic in which it offers its services in different
countries so that the individuals can get the health care services (DiMartino and Jessen, 2018).
Apart from this, the entity also pays attention towards demographic in which income level of
individuals is focused as NHS is working to provide health care services to all the people who
are not able to afford them. The market segmentation is facilitating the entity to perform all its
operations systematically. Target marketing could be defined as the technique which is focused
by businesses while selecting specific group of customers to market the products and services.
The target market is the sub set of whole market which is selected by the enterprise to sale their
3

products. The target market of NHS is the individuals who are not able to afford the health care
services so that a healthy life style could be provided to them. In order ort achieve this aim the
entity is working hard and facilitating poor people to make sure that they get all the required
health care services.
Customer is the person who buys the good and consumes it. It is very important for all
the businesses to make sure that they are able to get detailed information about expectations of
them so that effective marketing strategies to attract them could be formulated. There are various
types of customers that are required to be focused by all the entities so that effective marketing
strategies could be developed (Fine, 2017). These customers are potential, new, impulsive, loyal,
discount etc.
All the individuals who are the target of the company and can become part of business
are known as potential customers. These are such individuals who are not yet part of organisation
but there is possibility of that they can become part of business in future. New clients are the
fresh customers for business who just bought products or services from business. It is very
important to retain these individuals to increase market share. All the customers who can make
the buying decision instantly are known as impulsive customers. It is very important for
businesses to make sure that if such type of customer is buying their products then it should be
retained in future. A client who looks at the value of product but does not buy it at the full price
is known as discount customer (Kolovou, Kutsikos and Bithas, 2019). These types of individuals
look for extra information on the conditions of market and then they choose the specific time
period when the price of product will be low so that it could be bought at discounted price. The
individuals who do not get affected by external and motivating factors such as lower cost are
known as loyal customers. These types of clients facilitate businesses to carry out all the
operations smoothly because they remain loyal to the brand and buy same products. In NHS all
these types of customers are focused while formulating marketing strategy so that the long term
vision could be accomplished.
Industrial goods could be defined as the items that are used by businesses for producing
other goods so that a final product could be manufactured. Some of them are raw materials like
timber and cotton, consumables or suppliers such as oils and lubricants, accessories like power
generator etc. In order to market such types of products it is very important for entities to bear
the bridge between seller and buyer. The main source of marketing for such goods is network
4

and online marketing. Both the techniques can help to market all the industrial goods
(Salamoura, Ntamposis and Gaki, 2020).
Brand management could be defined as the function of marketing in which different
types of techniques for assuring the increment in perceived value of the product. In NHS it is
focused by the entity for making sure that loyal customers are retained by the enterprise. Proper
management of brand resulted in higher awareness about the organisation all around the world
(Seliga, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that marketing is the process of
promoting all the offerings that are made by an organisation to the customers. There are various
types of factors that are focused by entities to market the products or services. These are process
of strategic marketing, discussion of social and psychological aspects of behaviour features,
market segmentation, target marketing, categories of customers etc. Apart from this, industrial
goods, the way in which all of them should be marketed and brand management are also required
to be focused while marketing goods or services.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ali Alremeithi, S. F., 2017. The Effect of Using Social Media Marketing on Customer
Engagement in the Public Sector: The Case of the Zakat Fund.
Ayyagari, M., Parahoo, S. and Harvey, H. L., 2018. Marketing of Public Services. Economic
Analysis. 51(1-2), pp.60-78.
Bianca, B. O., Bacali, L. and Lakatos, E. S., 2016. Public Marketing: A Strategic Tool for Social
Economy. Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research. 11(1). pp.13-21.
Boenigk, S. and Möhlmann, M., 2016. A public sector marketing model to measure the social
and environmental values of public strategies: An empirical study on a green public
service. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing. 28(2). pp.85-104.
DiMartino, C. and Jessen, S. B., 2018. Selling school: The marketing of public education.
Teachers College Press.
Fine, S. H., 2017. Marketing the public sector: Promoting the causes of public and nonprofit
agencies. Routledge.
Kolovou, V., Kutsikos, K. and Bithas, G., 2019, September. Beyond Digital Government: the
Role of Internal Marketing in Public Sector Innovation. In International Conference on
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (pp. 539-XX). Academic Conferences International
Limited.
Salamoura, M., Ntamposis, V. and Gaki, E., 2020. The Implementation of Internal Marketing in
Public Sector Organizations: The Case of Job Satisfaction at Chios Police Department.
In Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism (pp. 861-870). Springer, Cham.
Seliga, R., 2017. Public sector marketing in Poland. In Public Sector Entrepreneurship and the
Integration of Innovative Business Models (pp. 214-237). IGI Global.
6