Project Report

submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirement for the

Training programme in PR and Corporate Communication

(Marketing tools)

By

Divyangna

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Declaration

I hereby declare that this project report on “Analysis of PR and Corporate Communication as effective marketing tool” which is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the Training Programme in Marketing Department, is the result of work carried out by me, under the guidance of Mr. Sonal Pahwa, Deputy General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh, Delhi.

(Divyangna)

Acknowledgement

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I take immense pleasure in thanking Mr Sonal Pahwa , DGM Marketing & Sales

for having permitted me to carry out this project work.

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Internal Guide, Ms. Isha Bakshi ,

Officer, Marketing & Sales for her able guidance and useful suggestions, which helped me in

completing the project work, in time.

Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my beloved parents

for their blessings, my friends/classmates for their help and wishes for the successful completion

of this project.

Divyangna

Abstract

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Marketing is about satisfying the needs and wants of the customers which helps each organization to gain the competitive advantage over its competitors. According to Berkowitz,(2006,p. 3) ,”marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.”

Therefore, the marketing concept means that a health care company must make a profit by serving the needs and the wants of customer groups and by delivering the right health care. At this point, it is good to mention that central to this definition of marketing is the focus on the consumer, whether that is an individual patient, physician, or organization such as a company contracting for industrial medicine. This also leads to the key ingredient of marketing that leads to consumer satisfaction.

Furthermore marketing is about satisfying the patient with right health care services and right medical products at the right place with the right promotion, distribution and pricing strategies. Therefore in order to apply the meaning of marketing in this competitive health care market place, marketers need to understand the concept of marketing management and specifically the concept of marketing plan.

Healthcare marketing is big business. It is also extremely competitive, whether physicians compete for patients in the same community or big pharmaceutical manufacturers make drugs for diseases that affect many people.

Large or small, the challenge for healthcare marketers is to determine the best strategies to accomplish annual sales and growth goals for their businesses that are based upon those companies' prevailing market rankings. The media is filled with prescription drug ads because advertising is a powerful marketing tool at play in the healthcare industry.

Successful businesses, no matter what industry they're in, are not accidental. Lots of hard work and energy goes into the planning process. The health care industry is no different. The 4 Ps of marketing is used as an analysis tool to help determine which combination of advertising channels will be employed to meet the promotional objectives of one's marketing plan.This includes looking at a specific product and strategically planning the placement, price and promotion around it. Using variations of these elements helps the business reach multiple consumers within their target market.

Table of Content

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S.no Title: Subtitles Page no.

1 Introduction: About FortisAbout Healthcare IndustryEvaluation of MarketingObjectives of MarketingWhat is Healthcare PRNeed of PR

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2 Materials & Methods 13-23

3 Results: Survey SWOT Analysis

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4 Suggestion 30

5 Conclusion 31

6 References 32

Introduction

About Fortis

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Fortis healthcare has been established with a vision to become a global leader in the field of integrated healthcare.It is one of the fastest growing integrated healthcare providers with multi-vertical presence that touches millions of lives across 10 countries including Australia, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Fortis Healthcare has multi-vertical presence in emerging markets in different healthcare verticals ranging from primary healthcare, day care specialty healthcare, hospitals, dental clinics and diagnostics. Today, its combined network comprises over 75 hospitals with more than 12,000 beds, 580 primary care centers, 188 day care specialty centers, 190 diagnostic centers and a talent pool of over 4,000 doctors and 23,000 employees making it amongst the largest integrated healthcare delivery networks in Asia Pacific. Among its assets, Fortis Healthcare International owns Quality Healthcare Ltd, the largest primary care network in Hong Kong; Dental Corporation Pty Ltd, the largest dental care network in Australia and New Zealand; Fortis Specialty Hospital, an under construction specialty hospital in Singapore; a stake in 350 bed Lanka Hospitals Corporation, Sri Lanka’s largest super specialty hospital, and the largest private pathology diagnostics laboratory in UAE; and holds majority stake in Hoan My Medical Corporation, one of Vietnam’s largest private healthcare provider groups.

This integration unlocks multiple synergies in growth, talent, medical verticals and cost efficiencies. Its ability to service a wider spectrum of patient population also gives it a unique proposition as a healthcare provider of choice in the region. Its large pool of experienced clinical and managerial talent, under the guidance of a strong global management team, helps to cross-pollinate knowledge and capabilities across the enterprise.

Chairman Fortis Healthcare

Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, brings to the residents of National Capital Territory, a Multi Speciality hospital focused on delivering cost-effective medical care at par with international standards. A blend of professional talent, cutting-edge technology and comprehensive services, Fortis, Shalimar Bagh offers advanced care in the discipline of Gastroenterology and offers advanced treatment for disorders of the liver, biliary tract, pancreas and other common Gastro Intestinal (GI) diseases.

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About Healthcare industry

The healthcare industry is one of the most vital and rapidly developing industries in the world. Each year billion worth of investments go into clinical and pharmaceutical R&D and marketing. The sector is vast and diverse with doctors, patients, pharmaceutical companies, universities, governments and healthcare professionals involved in the distribution, discovery and advocacy of the products. Healthcare Public relations & Corporate communications play an important role in introducing, building confidence, opening up a good market share and bringing to people innovative clinical remedies. Healthcare communications agencies worldwide are working to help the stakeholders of the medical field and healthcare sector to be heard, informed and market products.

Benefits are the reason people select healthcare products and services over another.

Features are simply a factual statement about our product or service, but benefits provide the answer to the question that every patient wants to know, which is “What is in it for me?” Patients need to understand the value, as they are paying out-of-pockets.

Evaluation of Marketing in Healthcare

The influence of healthcare consumerism today extends to every professional working in the healthcare system compelling providers to respond to consumers' evolving expectations, which are mainly based on choice, control, convenience, and customer service. Healthcare is now purchased from a wholesale and retail-oriented marketing model. Earlier, healthcare organizations did not need to market their services. The providers operated in semi-monopolistic environments. There was an almost unlimited flow of customers, and revenues were essentially guaranteed. This situation began to change. Increasing choice for consumers opened the door to

competition. Healthcare organizations began to appreciate that to sustain in this new 'bad' world, they would have to introduce modern business practices into the healthcare arena and adopt concepts and methods long established in other industries. This led to the concept of direct marketing.

Unfortunately, in the early years healthcare professionals did not like the amalgamation of the words healthcare and marketing. Many misconstrued marketing for advertising, and, advertising on the part of health services providers was considered inappropriate. Though prescribed marketing activities became common early on among healthcare organizations like

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pharmaceuticals, medical equipments and medical supplies, targeting physicians and employers, marketing campaigns targeting healthcare consumers i.e. patients were relatively rare. Healthcare service providers had long resisted the incorporation of formal marketing activities into their operations. Nevertheless, physicians, hospitals and other healthcare organizations had been 'marketing' themselves under the facade of public relations, physician-relationship development, community services, and other activities, but few health professionals equated these with marketing.

The use of marketing techniques has proliferated. Modern healthcare programmes, such as freestanding diagnostic centers and rehabilitation clinics, began using marketing as a means of luring patients from the already established sources of care. Healthcare marketing, however, initiated as an unstable concept. The marketing professionals that healthcare imported from other industries failed in their effort to adapt existing marketing techniques to healthcare uses. Marketing healthcare was not the same as marketing a soft drink! While few methods and techniques could be transferred untouched from other industries, most approaches had to be

customized to healthcare. Furthermore, experienced marketers from other industries were not familiar with the healthcare market and, were therefore unable to appreciate the need for long-term initiatives in this industry.

The formal recognition of marketing as a suitable activity for healthcare providers represented an important milestone for healthcare. Healthcare organizations then saw the daybreak to a flurry of marketing activities and got into creating aggressive campaigns. Medical professionals using jargon like 'the market' along with 'angioplasty', 'arteries' and 'vitamins' became more common. The term 'marketing mix' is now heard commonly in boardroom discussions housed in the same building complex where patient care is provided, emphasizing on the 4 P's of Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Today, the industry has matured into a sophisticated and

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competitive field, meeting the needs of knowledgeable consumers who are making their own healthcare decisions. The industry is now being compared to the hospitality sector, and is labeled as a service industry.

The acceptance of marketing by health professionals realized the need for the establishment of marketing budgets and the creation of numerous new positions within the organizations. This culminated with the establishment of a marketing department with its' own budget and staff. Positions like general manager and director for marketing came into existence in many organizations with responsibilities of contributing to the bottom line, just like any other department.

The evolution of marketing in healthcare has been slow and is still an ongoing process. After years of reluctant acceptance, and constant nervousness between those who enthusiastically accepted marketing as a function of the healthcare organization and those who tenaciously resisted it, marketing has now become reasonably well established as a legitimate healthcare function. Though the industry still suffers from a lack of standardization when it comes to marketing, healthcare marketers now have a much better understanding of the market and their 'target audience'. New approaches have been developed specifically for the healthcare market and reasonably sophisticated market research techniques have been put into place.

Objectives of Healthcare Marketing

Profit is often the major objective of healthcare marketing, as is the case with any other business. However, other factors affect healthcare marketers, because the healthcare industry is heavily regulated by the U.S. government. In addition to traditional marketing objectives of increasing sales, healthcare marketers must also comply with regulations set forth by federal agencies.

Preference for Brands and Services

Gaining preference for a brand or service is a major objective of healthcare marketing. Pharmaceutical companies develop marketing and advertising programs to generate preference for over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications. Physicians compete to gain preference for dental, obstetrician, and other healthcare provider services. Hospitals compete to market and gain preference for their expertise in treating patients in areas such as pediatrics, optometry, podiatry and cancer. Generating preference for brands and services is most often achieved through advertising campaigns.

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Customer Retention

Customer retention is also an important marketing objective. A pharmaceutical company might develop a marketing program that provides users of medications with free samples or coupons to make sure that they maintain loyalty to their brands. A drug store might offer a customer loyalty program, drive-thru prescription service or other measures so that consumers continue to purchase medications and healthcare products at their stores. Customer retention marketing efforts are often executed through direct mail programs, coupons, and loyalty programs.

Patient Education

Patient education is growing as a marketing objective. Companies are increasing efforts to better educate consumers about medications, including how to take them and what to avoid when using them. Physicians are incorporating patient education as a part of their prescribed treatments, such as providing exercise recommendations to maximize weight loss efforts. Equipment manufacturers for diabetes monitoring devices and oxygen are including patient education as a part of their marketing efforts for the patient, rehabilitation service providers, and at-home caregivers. Patient education is also important to comply with government requirements and prevent insurance and legal liabilities.

Government Compliance

Many companies in the healthcare industry must comply with guidelines and standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Social Services (HSS). These federal agencies set standards for what a company can market and advertise. FDA and HSS requirements are most prominent in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, many television commercials include disclaimer information that it is either spoken by an announcer or appears as written copy. Disclaimers often notify viewers of potential side effects of a medication. Instructions inside boxes of medications also include lengthy descriptions of potential reactions and risk factors. This information is required by the FDA. Companies must have FDA approval before they can advertise or sell OTC or prescribed medications.

What is Healthcare Public Relation?

Public relations are an important part of how companies and businesses and individuals get their ideas and image out to the public.

PR in healthcare plays an important role. Healthcare PR’s responsibility is dealing with the communications that take place within and around a healthcare institution.

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For a person who is in health care PR, their day to day activities would include speaking with and liaising with doctors and nurses but also with the administrative staff of a hospital. This kind of position needs a person who has outstanding communication skills because if one thing were to get lost in translation there could be dire consequences.

Even within healthcare PR there are a number of different jobs that need to be done. While it is a job based on communication, not all of that communication is verbal.

A PR person might, for example, be responsible for the hospital's weekly internal newsletter. They might also be responsible for putting together information that would help market the hospital.

Health care public relations are in charge of handling the internal and external communications for a health care facility. They interact with physicians, nurses, managers, administrators, and patients, and therefore must have excellent communication skills. Some of their responsibilities include writing for internal publications such as newsletters, handling calls from the media, as well as writing and creating various material that promote the services offered at that facility. Public relations specialists may also be called upon to prepare marketing plans that highlight various aspects of an organization. The most important function of this position is handling all communications with the public. They may organize events between the organization and the public, or they might prefer to correspond by publishing press releases. Public relations specialists must be highly organized and be prepared to deal with a variety of situations. They usually work 40-hours a week, but this can vary due to deadlines or an unforeseen crisis involving the health care organization. Individuals interested in health care public relations should be detailed oriented, be able to cope with high levels of stress, and be able to handle a heavy workload.To generate response from prospective patients, medical practice marketing should focus on the benefits of the healthcare services and products. Since people don’t by features….they buy benefits.

Need of PR

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Public relations are essential in every sphere of trade and business. The healthcare industry comprises of a considerable amount of a country’s GDP. It is ever growing and is consistently useful for people at large. The healthcare industry of UK contributes goods and services worth billions of pounds each year to the global market. Healthcare PR helps companies, individuals and organizations to present their ideas and image to the public with the right spirit and through the right channels. The healthcare industry affects our everyday lives and impacts many who suffer from illnesses and are looking for recent developments in medicine and innovative technology. Even the finest ideas will not yield results in the absence of successful healthcare PR.

Corporate positioning, product positioning, media relations, presentations and conference support are important in conveying ideas to the public and to sell products.

Healthcare PR gives you and your products the exposure you deserve to gain recognition and to sell. Many seek the help of a healthcare PR agency to stay in the market in the face of heavy competition from pharmaceutical companies. Leaving your media relations to specialists in the field will provide you with the necessary recognition for you and your brand locally and internationally. The PR agencies in this sector also handle issues and crises that you might face from trial failures to product withdrawals. From the smallest companies to pharmaceutical giants, a healthcare PR agency will prepare you from the very first step of product introduction to franchise positioning. They also train your staff for a more confident company PR approach and strategies.Almost all pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, patient groups and national health services require the services of a healthcare PR agency to represent them to the masse

Materials & Methods

Materials & Methods which I worked on, for doing Corporate communications and maintaining Public Relations were:

Communication Collaterals (flyer, news letter, hoardings, standees etc) Stories relating to Women’s Health, Tobacco day. Interviewed Dr. Pramod Kumar. Assisted Mam Isha on regular CME’s Doctor’s day Celebration

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We planned our activities from April to June.

MARKETING ACTIVITIES (April., 2012 – June., 2012)

Major Campaigns/Activities

1. Active promotion of Centres of Excellence at prominent Metro Stations of North Delhi

2. Adaption & maintenance of 3 leading medians in Shalimar Bagh, with prominent Fortis branding

3. Hospital direction signage done on NH-1 for guiding patients coming from Karnal/Panipat/Sonipat to Fortis SB

N ew Medical Programmes

1. Day Care Programme launched

Talent Hiring

1. Dr. Ramesh Garg hired as Consultant, Gastroenterology

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2. Dr. Sanjeev Madan hired as Sr. Consultant, Internal Medicine

Article for women’s day

HEART DISEASE AND WOMEN

The myth that heart disease is a “man’s disease” has been debunked, the rate of public awareness of CVD (Cardio Vascular Disease) as the leading cause of death among women has increased from 30% in 1997 to 54% in 2011 (as per the AHA Guideline 2011).

Time has changed radically women are no longer only playing their traditional roles of a housewife, a mother or a daughter. She is instead taking giant strides in the pursuit of her dreams. There is hardly any domain left where women are not involved. Owing to this change in attitudes and the increasing demand for a better status in life coupled with the stress of family & work alike, women of today are neglecting their health, which is a matter of grave concern.

CVD has too long been neglected in the women’s health arena. In actuality, it causes 8.6 million deaths in women, each year, making it their number one killer. Each year, 55 000 more women die of stroke than men, and before 75 years of age. Stroke accounts for a higher proportion of CVD events than CHD (coronary heart diseases) in females, whereas the ratio is the opposite for males (as mentioned in AHA Guideline 2011).

From the Dept. of Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh

• Asian women are least aware of heart disease as the leading cause of mortality in women (American Heart Association rapid access journal report).

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• 69% of women who die suddenly have no prior history of coronary artery disease.

• Women often deny, ignore, or do not notice symptoms. Often by the time symptoms typical to CAD occur in women, heart attack is fully formed and early warning signs are missed therefore outcomes are poor.

Women have unique risk factors for stroke such as pregnancy, hormone therapy and have a greater prevalence of hypertension in older ages which is a major risk factor for stroke. After 65 years of age, a higher percentage of women than men have hypertension, and the gap will likely increase with the continued aging of the female population. There may be different benefits and risks associated with interventions to reduce stroke risk compared with men.

They are more likely to have the following symptoms –

• Fatigue• Shortness of Breath• Indigestion, Upper Abdominal Pain or Nausea• Pressure, fullness or a squeezing pain in the center of the chest, which may spread to the neck,

shoulder or jaw.• Arm Pain (Especially the left arm)

According to prevalence survey of CHD, carried out in a north Indian town involving a house-to-house clinical and electrocardiographic examination of all the 2,030 persons above the age of 30 years residing in the area, 62% per cent of the men and 88% of the women had clinically silent CHD.The prevalence of CHD increases with age, socio-economic status, the sedentary nature of occupation, and with hypertension. To prevent heart diseases women should -

• Be physically active• Don't smoke or use tobacco• Eat a healthy diet• Get regular health screenings

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Tent Card

I designed a tent card,to distribute among the internal as well as external doctors.

Thank you card

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This was to be presented to the blood donors, as a token of thanks.

Delivery Packages (flyer)

This was to be distributed internally as well as externally.

Invitation card

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Vertical Hoarding

This was to be placed internally as well externally.

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News letter

This was to be distributed among the referral doctors.

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Results

For measuring the effectiveness of our marketing, I prepared a questionnaire, and interviewed around 50 patients in the OPD.

Marketing Survey

Name:

Age:

Sex:

Profession:

Q.1 Have you ever been to Fortis Shalimar Bagh before?

Yes No

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Q.2 If yes then do you know the following about Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh:

o Locationo Specialties availableo Doctors available

Location Specialities Doctors available0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Series1

Q.3 From where did you get to know about Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh?

o Newspaper o Radio o Hoardings o Bus Queue Shelters o Metro Feeder Buso Websiteo Others

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Newsp

aper

Radio

Hoardings

Bus Queu

e Shelt

er

Metro Fe

eder

Bus

Web

site

Others0

10

20

30

40

50

Series1

Q.4 How often have you read /saw them?

UsuallyVery rare

Q.5 Have you ever attended “free health check up camps” organized by the Fortis Shalimar Bagh? If yes then did you find them beneficial?

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YesNo

Q.6 Do you think the ad which you have read /saw was informative and has benefited you?

Yescant say

Q.7 How would you define Fortis as a brand?

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GoodVery GoodExcellent

Q.8 Would you like to come to Fortis S.B again? And will you recommend Fortis to your near and dear ones?

Almost, all of them to whom I interviewed were satisfied to a great extent, but there were very few who were not satisfied and had “expensive” as their quotient.

Conclusion

As per the survey, we can conclude that our marketing activities are reaching to the target audience; we only need to highlight our Team of Doctors since they are our USP, and are supposed to be known by the audience.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths

We are a Brand. Our highly qualified Doctors. Our wide reach.

Weakness

We are expensive.

Opportunities

Our upcoming units. Use of international new technologies.

Threats

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Competition. (Max, Jaipur Golden etc) Highly aware public.

Suggestions

I’ve come up with few steps that one can take to ensure their medical advertising materials are benefit laden.

 First, Understand Your Target Market

You need to learn everything you can about the types of patients you are trying to attract to your practice. More importantly, you want to be sure that you are targeting the right type of patients to begin with. Once you understand the demographic and behavioral buttons of your target patients you will be able to better identify the features that will lead them to choose your practice over many others.

Second, Step into the Shoes of Your Prospective Patient

Oftentimes if you are doing your own marketing you are too close to your medical practice to perceive it the way a prospective patient would. This is why you must make an extra effort to look at your practice as a stranger would, and refrain from making any assumptions. From this different perspective, consider the features you’ve identified and ask, “what results will I have with this product or service?”  These “results” will lead you to your preliminary benefits.

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Conclusion

Healthcare professionals now appreciate their existence in a service industry and have in fact extended the marketing fundamentals to 7 P's, the additional ones being People, Physical Evidence and Process. A core of healthcare marketing professionals have now emerged along with the tools necessary to plan and implement marketing initiatives with background on the factors that drive marketing approaches and consumer behavior in healthcare. Marketing departments and marketing budgets are under increasing scrutiny in today's healthcare organization. Developing and implementing a communications and public relations program that meets the needs of both the hospital and its diverse stakeholders is increasingly gaining popularity. From planning and executing an advertising campaign to analyzing patient satisfaction data, the evolution of healthcare marketing has been quite dramatic over the past few years. Physician referral 'cuts' have now been replaced by sophisticated terms like 'revenue sharing mode' and 'patient care' by 'customer focus'. Healthcare organizations are now using various means and tools for marketing their ‘product’. Electronic media, digital media, print media, television, radio are just few of the many options healthcare providers are now opting for. Hoardings and billboards now don't just carry your favorite actor selling a car or toothpaste, but also a doctor-patient relationship.

It is now believed that when market planning, market research, and marketing communications come together to achieve planned strategic objectives, organizations succeed. Today, healthcare marketing appears poised to play a greater role in the new healthcare environment

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References

Company’s corporate brochure. Company’s website. Primary data (personal dairy, interviews) Google.

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