Hospital Positioning and Integrated Hospital Marketing Communications: State-of-the-Art Review, Conceptual Framework, and Research Agenda

Abstract

In the light of patient empowerment and channel fragmentation, hospitals struggle to target patients in their new role as active, knowledgeable consumers. As market differentiation via traditional marketing mix variables such as price is hardly achievable in healthcare, superior communication grounded on sound positioning is a more promising lever for competitive advantage. Yet, research on marketing-driven communication from provider to patient lacks synthesis and critical reflection. Drawing upon evidence from previous research, this article unites 62 articles from medical and social sciences covering aspects of hospital marketing communications. Derived from qualitative content analysis, findings on the effectiveness of specific communication channels and contents are portrayed. This article further uncovers the characteristics of four evolving archetypes for hospital positioning and illustrates the implementation of integrated hospital marketing communication strategy. The elaborated conceptual framework can be used as a managerial tool for tailoring hospital communications. The article closes by highlighting future research directives.

Keywords:

• healthcare
• hospital
• positioning
• marketing communication

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks her colleagues from the research group InnoTech4Health at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, as well as two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.