IIPM's Latest NewsToday, brand Fortis is offered back to its patients even after they have been discharged. This also helps to grow customer loyalty. The patients are contacted a month after they are discharged. A formalised research model has been built, that gets feedback from the patients who have been discharged about three months back. “Many a time the results show how certain departments are doing better, and that helps us understand which department can deliver better services, so that negative reactions to the brand are taken care of,” justifies Mazumdar. When questioned about the ‘simplicity’ of the print ads (one of which has a doctor and a female patient, with minimum ad-words), Mazumdar defends, “It’s all about that emotional connect with the Indian consumer. We have kept it very simple because we want people to read it very easily, even as they are driving by.” Indeed, Fortis has managed to present the relationship between the doctors and the patients differently through understanding of the consumer psyche as Mazumdar states, “Our campaigns are run based on consumer insights. Many responses in the past have shown that while the doctors are good, they are found to be ‘cold’. Our visuals are about the trust that patients have in Fortis. ‘How do I communicate my support for my proposition’ is what has been kept in mind in the most recent campaign. And this is a clear differentiator as compared to most groups.”
Fortis is also exploiting media vehicles, which are not heard of much in the field of healthcare provision. “We have also run radio advertisements with very clear messages… We have taken three arrows on patient care and expressed it on radio. It is still running on radio. What we are fundamentally doing in our campaign is that we have been trying to use consumer insights in our efforts.” Talking more about above-the-line marketing efforts, the key media vehicles that Fortis is exploring is print and radio. But there is another first from Fortis, that many in even the medical community are oblivious to – that of online marketing. “I have parked aside a good sum of money for my online social networking activities to capture younger audience who are more tech-savvy. We just started using Facebook. We have actually designed an application that monitors all your healthcare symptoms. So you can update your status anytime. The other one is on Twitter where we have created blogs, which lead the users onto our websites…” The basic idea is therefore clear – engage all possible communities. But don’t greater marketing acts call for higher charges to be levied on the consumer front? “Not at all. The fact is that when we advertise, we do not charge higher fees to make up, we simply make up on the scale,” affirms Mazumdar. While speaking about how Fortis has continuously leveraged the Escorts brand, he confirms, “Escorts is a very powerful brand. In fact, when we took it over, it was a much bigger brand than Fortis, and we didn’t want to do away with the brand. It gave us scale, respect and notice in one shot! So we aligned it with the Fortis network that gave us the needed brand building synergy…”
Fortis is currently not on television. The rationale as Mazumdar gives is, “It’s only now we are getting on a national reach. Without such scale, the cost-to-return basis doesn’t make sense.” Fortis has also started something new, whereby if there is a new kind of surgery, it is beamed across to many doctors and patient groups. ‘Friends of Fortis’ is another campaign wherein the patients get to meet the doctors, and thereby the patients become Fortis’ brand ambassadors through word-of-mouth marketing.
From the first hospitals in Punjab to the first one in the NCR region at Noida to the acquisition of La Femme (an all feminine niche clinical arm) and Escorts, the Fortis network brand is one force to reckon with; and for now, Mazumdar does not hesitate in voicing out his disbelief in the oxymoron called Medical Marketing!
For more articles, Click on
IIPM Article.
Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of
IIPM,
Malay Chaudhuri and
Arindam chaudhuri (
Renowned Management Guru and
Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click HereOutlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam ExposedDon't trust the Indian Media!IIPM ISBE ProgrammesFollow Arindam Chaudhuri on TwitterIIPM B School on Twitter
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAONIIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) ProgrammeIIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
