Health marketing

Health Marketing is a discipline that employs traditional marketing techniques and research-driven strategies to protect and promote the health of diverse communities. This multidisciplinary field blends elements from public health promotion, marketing, and communications to deliver vital health information to the public. When employed by the public sector, it promotes public awareness of preventive measures, health promotion initiatives, and health protection services. When used by the private sector, health marketing can increase market awareness of a new treatment or therapy, both at the provider and consumer levels.

Health marketing helps health-focused organizations and services gain visibility and reach for their initiatives, such as new medical advancements, health insurance plans, or community health programs. It uses the classic marketing mix's "4Ps"—product, place, promotion, and price—in a health context. In the context of health marketing the 4P's would correspond to:

• "Product" could be a specific health service, procedure, or program.
• "Place" implies how and where these services or programs can be accessed.
• "Promotion" involves strategies to raise awareness and demand for these services.
• "Price" includes monetary cost and non-monetary factors, either charged directly to the consumer or to a government or NGO program.

Despite its critical role, the term "Health Marketing" is less commonly used within the field of public health. Alternatives like "Social Marketing" or "Integrated Marketing Communication" are more prevalent, referring to the use of marketing principles to craft effective health communication strategies.