On Which Platform Does the Offline Marketing in Medical Tourism Take Place?
Since medical tourism now has turned itself into a large, independent industry that plays a key role in the economic landscape of many countries, many in the industry have naturally focused their efforts on marketing aspects. Regulated pricing and governmental branding and investments both play a vital role in the development of medical tourism. However if the results of these efforts is not marketed properly for the potential customers, then all effort is lost. Therefore, due to the dependency of the initial two stages on marketing, it can be considered the most vital stage for the continued maintenance of medical tourism. Marketing itself is divided into two categories: Online marketing and offline marketing. The former, as the name suggests, takes place on the internet and makes up for the greater part of medical tourism marketing. Today however we will explore offline marketing and its aspects in medical tourism.
The most important thing for any medical tourist is always the quality of medical procedures in the destination country
Offline marketing itself is divided into two otter smaller categories, advertisement and quality marketing. The latter is usually performed by medical tourism facilitator companies and occasionally by destination counties and hospitals. Quality marketing however is not advertisement in and of itself, and is usually performed by executive physicians in the destination country and directly correlates with the quality of their performance as performed for previous patients. Today we will evaluate and examine the methods and the role of offline marketing in medical tourism.
Abiding by International Standards
The First entry on today’s list is part of quality marketing measures and is one of the most important pre conditions for success in medical tourism. The most important thing for any medical tourist is always the quality of medical procedures in the destination country. These strategies are comprised of having proper medical infrastructure, expansive medical education programs and creating strong relations between hospitals, medical facilities and investors.
This will in turn increase the number of observed standards in medical centers and leads to increased numbers of medical tourists coming to the country. Destinations in which medical centers are accredited by prestigious international organizations (the most famous being the Joint Commission International) are considerably more successful in attracting medical tourists.
Foundation of International Offices by Hospitals and Facilitators
The establishment of international offices and branches will increase the size of the medical tourism network of the destination country relatively well. These offices are generally founded by medical tourism facilitator companies. However, hospitals occasionally utilize to this method as well.
Related Articles: The Importance of Medical Tourism Facilitators
Most of the time the processes of research by medical tourists takes place online, but a foreign medical tourism facilitator company having an office in the destination country will attract medical centers and medical tourism specialists of the host country. This will in turn lead to international cooperation in medical tourism. In addition, the presence of branches of these companies in the destination country and their physical availability, leads to a sense of additional security among the customers of these companies.
Billboard and TV Advertisements
If you’re a regular TV watcher, especially a consumer of more popular programs such as sports, you are definitely familiar with tourism ads of different countries. Nowadays most of these ads are ordered by medical tourism facilitator companies. Turkish medical tourism agencies for example regularly air medical tourism ads globally with a particular focus on their Arab audience. Other than this, there are increased volumes of tourism and medical tourism ads that are displayed on billboards placed alongside sports pitches. These ads are mostly ordered by governmental sectors.
A bus in downtown London bearing ads for tourism on Bermuda Island
Countries that employ this method the most are Brazil, Turkey, and ASEAN states like Thailand and Singapore. With the rise of online streaming platforms, Cable TV is losing more of its young audience, with the majority of it audience now being made up of older demographics. This demographic is more vulnerable to diseases and often more financially secure, therefore they will pay more attention to medical treatment abroad. This makes TV and billboard ads a very efficient method of directly reaching out to a large part of the potential customer base.
Reasonable Pricing, High quality and Word of Mouth Advertising
Obviously, low prices directly lead to more medical tourists. Countries that lower the price of their services while maintaining high quality are increasing the number of their incoming health tourists every day.
In the past, Western countries and the United States were unrivaled in attracting medical tourists. With the advancement of medical science in countries with lower currency power, this monopoly is gradually disappearing.
Due to the low value of their national currencies, these countries have the power to significantly lower service prices against stronger currencies of countries of origin. This leads to competition and greatly increases the number of incoming tourists.
Customers in these countries pay a low price for services relative to their own currency and receive quality services. These low prices, however, is relative in nature and is a satisfactory profit in relation to the national currency of the destination country.
Satisfied tourists eventually return to their home country and indirectly contribute to the marketing and promotion of the destination country by recounting their positive experience, which in turn leads to the creation of potential customers in the future.
Appearing in Medical Tourism Conventions and Exhibitions
Exhibitions and conventions may not be as influential in the public opinion of the health tourism industry as other entries on today’s article, but among the facilitators that make up a large part of the day-to-day trends in medical tourism, these annual events take priority.
Every year, the inventions and achievements of the medical sector, along with the creative innovations of the facilitators, are exhibited and evaluated in such exhibitions. For example, at the International Exhibition of Health Tourism in China, more than 600 world-renowned hospitals and medical tourism facilitators participated and attracted more than 95,000 visitors.
After these exhibitions, the top companies and hospitals usually find their way to more success in the medical tourism industry. Meanwhile, the more avid followers of medical tourism also pay special attention to the contents of these exhibitions and play an important role in determining the trends of health tourism after these exhibitions.
The exhibition will also lead to international relationship[s and groundbreaking collaborations between the medical sector and healthcare entrepreneurs. Collaborations that are reflected in the media are part of the health tourism marketing of successful countries in this industry.
Article by: Parsa Khaknezhad
