Eager medical tourism suppliers try to sell services before taking the necessary time and effort to develop a well-defined medical tourism marketing & targeting strategy.
They often skip the step to identify the specific target referral sources, consumer personas, and needs for their product(s) assuming that they are selling services to "the world".
It's tantamount to showing up for an ambassadorial dinner or cotillion in dirty safari clothes and dusty hiking boots and then wondering why everybody stares out of curiosity, but nobody will dance with you!
Maria K Todd, MHA PhD
"How to Develop Your Medical Tourism Marketing Strategy"
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey - Guest Lecture (2010)
So often, medical tourism hospitals, clinics, and physicians decide to form some form of collaboration, inventory what they can sell, make a website that lists the features of their products and services, and set out to find sales partners (medical tourism facilitators) and websites that list medical tourism suppliers to send them referrals in exchange for the payment of referral commissions. Services comprise of various packages to address different medical conditions, different treatment approaches, myriad destinations, and the packages they provide are comprised identical to those one would find at other competing destinations: medical care, travel, food and accommodation. This basic approach hasn't really produced exceptional turnover anywhere, but the model continues to be copied just the same. To do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome is either borne of ignorance, stubbornness, or insanity.
Some early medical tourism market strategies included the leasing or licensing of a branded healthcare institution's name recognition, such as M.D. Anderson, Harvard, Cleveland Clinic, and others. The consumer quickly learns upon arrival that the name on the door does not match what's inside. As a result the consumer feels "duped" and loses respect for both the brand owner and the medical tourism provider.
looking for patient refeerrals,plz contact me in this mobile no-xxxxxxxxx
If you are seeking patient referrals, you need to develop a strategy to connect with referral sources and then implement it. Your message is rather inappropriate for this page. We are not facilitators. We are consulting strategists, and can help you to develop a “go to market” strategy, and provide you with the necessary forms and contracts to engage referral partners if you don’t have these at your disposal. Please contact us by phone or email rather than in public view if you would like to engage us for these and other preparatory services to enter health tourism.
Hi, I would like to discuss about the patient referral program. We are based at New Delhi, India. We are working for inbound medical travel. So with that reference please let me know how can we develop a strong market in the most required area.
Regards
Ms. Kaberi Niyogi
To “develop a strong market in the most required area” is not a question to be posed in a setting such as this. The answer to your question will only become evident after considerable fact finding.
The questions I would ask you to answer (not here as a discussion thread, but in a private consultation) are as follows:
What do you sell? To whom?
With whom do you compete?
What are your business objectives?
What is your brand message and value proposition? How does it differentiate you from competitors?
Why would customers be smart to choose you?
What could competitors copy in order to imitiate you? How can you prevent this?
With whom do you wish to partner? Why? What value does each partner bring to the another?
What unique programs have you decided to pilot to manage your business growth?
What services lines are candidates for your program? Why those and not others?
What are the shortcomings of your competitors?
How can you leverage them to your advantage?
Once you have answered those questions, I can apply my knowledge and experience to assist you. Without it, I would be giving an unsubstantiated response. We are consulting strategists, and can help you to develop a “go to market” strategy, and provide you with the necessary forms and contracts to engage referral partners if you don’t have these at your disposal. Please contact us by phone or email rather than in public view if you would like to engage us for these and other preparatory services to enter health tourism.
We have developed some unique approaches and models of medical tourism which are highly patient centric.We have patient centric treatment management process in place with highly personalised one to one focussed services resulting in best positive medical outcomes at affordable cost.
We would like to tap u.s. and u.k. market.currently focussing on this market online.
What can be the best strategy to target the u.s market.?
with regards,
Sharfraj Khan
[contact information redacted by website manager]
Dear Sharfraj,
To target the US and UK Market, you must
Begin with the “WHY” story of your business as it relates to your target consumers.
1. Why should US and UK consumers pay any attention to you? How does your story connect with them in some way?
2. Why is your offer unique and worthy of their consideration? How does your offer exceed all other offers so that yours is the only one that remains relevant after consideration of your competitors?
3. Why should they trust you? How will you reinforce that to trust you is the right decision?
Next, decide how you will connect with the consumer. A case management firm is not of any interest to facilitators or referring physicians, it is only relevant to consumers, so how will you connect with them. The strategy you develop must address this. If you don’t have a strategy, you don’t have a chance at business viability. If you don’t have a strategy and cannot develop your own or require assistance, you should hire someone with the knowledge and experience to help you develop and refine the strategy. If you are seeking free advice, we wish you the best in your search.