Aligning a Healthcare Organization’s Mission, Vision, and Values to Its Marketing Efforts
Any organization is dependent on marketing, and this includes healthcare organisations. Marketing is a crucial function for any organization. This includes healthcare organizations. In the healthcare industry, effective marketing is essential for creating awareness of available medical services and treatments, attracting patients, building relationships with them, and enhancing the organization’s reputation. However, marketing efforts must be aligned with the organization’s mission, vision, and values to achieve the desired results. The purpose of this article is to discuss how organizations in the healthcare industry can improve their efficiency by aligning their marketing with their vision, mission and values.
Mission, Vision, and Values of a Healthcare Organization
A healthcare organization’s mission, values, and vision provide its direction and reason for existence. They guide the organization’s decision-making, strategies, and actions, and they communicate the organization’s identity, culture, and goals to stakeholders, including employees, patients, investors, and the community. The mission statement outlines the organization’s core purpose, the vision statement describes the organization’s future aspirations, and the values statement outlines the organization’s guiding principles and beliefs.
The Community Tool Box (2021) states that a mission should address the questions Who we are? What are we? Who do we work for? What are we doing? Vision statements should address the following question: Who do we hope to become? Finally, a values statement should outline the organization’s guiding principles, such as respect, integrity, teamwork, and excellence.
Aligning marketing efforts with mission, vision, and values
Marketing efforts of healthcare organizations can be aligned with mission, values, and vision in several ways.
- Emphasizing the organization’s core purpose: A healthcare organization’s marketing efforts should reflect its core purpose, which is outlined in the mission statement. For example, if the organization’s core purpose is to provide affordable healthcare services to underserved communities, its marketing efforts should emphasize this purpose by targeting these communities and highlighting the organization’s commitment to providing affordable care.
- Communicating the organization’s future aspirations: A healthcare organization’s marketing efforts should also communicate its future aspirations, which are outlined in the vision statement. For example, if the organization’s future aspiration is to become a leading provider of innovative medical treatments, its marketing efforts should highlight its efforts to develop and implement such treatments.
- Upholding the organization’s guiding principles: A healthcare organization’s marketing efforts should also align with its guiding principles and values. For example, if the organization’s values include respect and empathy, its marketing efforts should reflect these values by showing respect and empathy towards patients and their families.
- Fostering positive organizational cultures: Organizations in the healthcare sector can align their marketing with their vision, mission and values, by creating a culture of positivity that is reflected within their statements. A positive organizational culture can help to build trust and loyalty among patients and employees and enhance the organization’s reputation.
Aligning marketing efforts with mission, vision, and values has many benefits
Aligning marketing efforts with an organization’s mission, vision, and values can provide several benefits, including:
- Enhancing the organization’s reputation: Effective marketing efforts that reflect the organization’s mission, vision, and values can enhance its reputation by building trust and credibility among patients and the community.
- Creating patient loyalty. By aligning its marketing efforts with the organization’s mission, vision and values, healthcare organizations can foster a connection with their patients, which encourages loyalty, and will also motivate them to come back for more services.
- Improving employee engagement: Marketing efforts that reflect the organization’s mission, vision, and values can also help to improve employee engagement by creating a sense of purpose and direction for employees.
- Improving organizational performance