Show Me the Money
Introduction and Alignment
Even the most brilliant information campaign will fail if there is no funding to support it. Like every department, marketing must compete for finite resources. Unlike other departments that see patients and, therefore, generate revenue (and, therefore, measurable ROI), marketing is not a revenue-generating business unit. The rationale for and allocation of funds must be compelling and precise.
Upon completion of this assignment, you should be able to:
- Develop a prototype budget for a marketing project.
Resources
- Textbook: Healthcare Marketing: A Case Study Approach
Background Information
The value of marketing to an organization is often not obvious. While the sale of consumer products can be boosted via discounts, advertising, and developing brand identity, healthcare is influenced by far vaster and more complex factors. You have seen how healthcare marketing can influence multiple stakeholder groups, regulators, and benefactors. Yet it is impossible to address every one of these groups through every available channel. Practical experience tells us there is never enough money to do everything we wish.
This assignment uses an exercise from the textbook to evaluate the factors that compete for marketing resources. Here, you hypothetical budget that prioritizes various communications and outreach modalities to build an effective marketing effort.
Instructions
- In the textbook Healthcare Marketing: A Case Study Approach:
- Read Chapter 13: Budgeting Basics.
- Answer Chapter Exercise 2 at the end of the chapter.
- Develop your answer as a two-page budget submission based on the example of Exhibit 13.2 in the textbook.
- Assume an overall funding line of $750,000.
- Rather than research the cost of specific items (for example, advertisement development, website hosting, etc.), allocate resources to indicate the relative importance of each item.
- Remember that the focus of the question is to maximize social networking capabilities. Based on the examples already reviewed in the workshops, what should be the predominant focus, the item(s) that receive the most funding? Why?
- When you've completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor using the Dropbox by the end of the workshop.