The 4 P's of Marketing

Hamric, Hansen, Tracy, and O'Grady (2014) explain that marketing for advanced practice nurses (APNs) can be separated into two different areas (p. 539). One of these areas is the APN marketing themselves in order to obtain employment (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 539). The second area is the APN becoming an entrepreneur and marketing their business to the community and other health care professionals (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 539).

The four P's of marketing refer to product, price, place, and promotion (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540). Hamric et al. (2014) describes product as the service provided by the APN and the APN themselves (p. 540). I feel that this is a very interesting idea that the APN themselves could be considered a product. I have never thought of myself as a product before, but Hamric et al. (2014) further explains that by having the APN being considered a product helps the customer realize the value of APNs (p. 540).

Hamric et al. (2014) explains that "Price is the amount of money that an individual will be asked to pay for the product being offered" (p. 540). APNs help control costs in health care by providing preventative care, which reduces admissions of preventative illness to hospitals (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540). Furthermore, APNs provide care at a more cost-effective price than physicians do (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 539).

Place refers to the location that the product is available (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540). Hamric et al. (2014) describes examples of places an APNs services can be accessed, as hospitals, classrooms, clinics, and virtual spaces (p. 540). I find it interesting that virtual space is considered a "place". As virtual spaces continue to expand, like our very own virtual classroom experience, I feel there will be even more opportunities for APNs to reach more people.

Chang et al. (2001) defines promotion as communicating to the market what the value of the product is (as cited in Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540). APNs can promote their services by providing education to their patients (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540). Additionally, APNs can promote their services by launching marketing campaigns (Hamric et al., 2014, p. 540).

I feel that all of the 4 P's are closely intertwined but the product is at the fore front. There must be a price assigned to the product, a place for the product to be available, and the product must be promoted. Without a product, there would be nothing to market. This being said, I feel the APN must have a solid foundation in order to be marketed successfully.

References

Hamric, A. B., Hanson, C. M., Tracy, M. F., & O'Grady, E. (2014). Advanced practice nursing:an integrative approach (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier/Saunders.