A marketing approach to nursing administration--Part 2

Marketing has been defined as effectively managing exchange relationships with an organization's markets or constituencies[1]. To apply a marketing approach to nursing administration, an awareness of all divisional relationships that involve the exchange of values must be developed. The interactions of the nursing division with the larger health care organization, patient population, medical staff, community, and other markets are very complex. Identifying markets with similar needs, preferences, perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors is essential because each segment requires different marketing strategies, tactics, and goals. After defining present and potential markets, the nurse administrator must ask what is valued and exchanged by each segment. A marketing information and research program can provide the data necessary to analyze the needs and preferences of the nursing markets as well as the nursing organization's capabilities and deficits. Part 1 concluded with a description of the qualitative and quantitative phases of a marketing information program. Part 2 explores the management phase, in which research information is translated into strategies and tactics designed to meet the needs of identified market segments. Potential problems the nursing administrator may face in implementing a marketing approach are discussed.