Since graduating college, you have worked in the promotion department at the headquarters of a national hospital chain. Because of your excellent record, you’ve now been given a high-profile, challenging new job: manager of promotion for Mercy Health, an old city hospital extensively renovated and upgraded to compete with suburban health care institutions. It won’t be easy, as your budget is tight. Moreover, you’ve learned that patient and revenue numbers at Mercy haven’t increased despite months of advertising its state-of-the-art acute care facilities as well as its innovative, award-winning Wellness Center. Right off the bat, you must make a fundamental and tricky choice: What is the correct promotion objective? Your past experience has been with brand-new hospitals, which clearly need promotion to build awareness that they exist. But this institution isn’t new, so you could reasonably focus either on stimulating demand, or on encouraging trial.
Demand stimulation might be appropriate if prospective patients—or referring physicians—aren’t clear about how Mercy Health stacks up against competition. You must think about the feedback from previous advertising: Did it succeed in differentiating your product?
Encouraging trial would be the better choice if people know how Mercy compares to alternatives but must be nudged to act on that knowledge. Dr. Wills, your medical advisor, reminds you that this approach could be particularly effective with physicians who routinely refer patients to other hospitals and need some incentive to change their habits.
Which objective should you choose?
Encouraging trial
OR
Stimulating demand