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Sophia Blake

Professor Workman

English Composition 1201

16 February 2022

Writing in a Community: Medical Marketing in Dayton, Ohio

An organization would not be able to flourish without a solid marketing campaign.

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of a business whether it is a small or large one.

Each field has marketing teams that work to ensure the company’s services and products are

being made known to the public. Medical marketing for example, is how medical establishments

not only advertise care centers and products, but also health information. While knowing what

marketers provide, it is also imperative to recognize how they provide to a community. In this

article, the focus will be how medical marketers at Kettering Health Dayton advertise themselves

through community outreach.

The goals of this discourse community are to create advertisements for healthcare

facilities and products, as well as expanding health communications to a wide-reaching audience.

This includes spreading awareness of health-related conditions, treatments, how people can take

positive actions towards their health, and how to seek treatment within the healthcare system

(Pedriquez, Daleska).

Medical marketing is a relatively new division of healthcare organizations. According to

“Marketing Health Services”, by Richard K. Thomas, marketing techniques used today first

originated in the 1970s, although it had not become a common practice until the late 1980s.
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There were, however, earlier forms of marketing that preceded modern ones. These included

providing information about the company through public relations events, creating newsletters,

establishing relations with the government, hosting educational seminars, and endorsing

community affairs. Interacting with the local community was how health institutions promoted

themselves. However, it only promoted their businesses and did not necessarily promote ideas

about health. Medical marketing got its start as an idea proposed by Philip Kotler and Sidney

Levy, professors at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with their 1969 article,

Broadening the Concept of Marketing. In this article, they challenged whether marketing could

only be utilized for physical products, or if it could be used to promote corporations, individuals,

and information. This idea was further encouraged by Scott McStravic, who established

healthcare marketing as a separate profession, and Roberta Clark, who worked alongside Kotler

to integrate marketing into healthcare. By the early 2000s, medical marketing was established as

its own department (Thomas 6-8).

Medical marketing does not include only one occupation; it requires multiple. Marketers

work in teams of people; each assigned a different role. According to KNB Communications, an

advertising agency in Stamford, Connecticut, the typical marketing team consists of a media

relations specialist, social media account manager, marketing coordinator, graphic designer, and

specialized content writer. Media relations specialists formulate how medical centers will

interact with media outlets, such as social media platforms, radio, newspapers, websites, and

more (“How to Build and Effective Media List”). Social media account managers create

promotions and update company information (“Should you Pursue a Career as a Media Relations

Director?”). Marketing coordinators make plans for ways to increase patient numbers, negotiate

with insurance companies, and make contracts with other facilities (“Healthcare Sales/Marketing
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Coordinator”). Graphic designers construct logos and infographics for the company, and content

writers author what will go on their website, social media, and more (“How to Become a Content

Writer”).

The types of writing used within this discourse community are media lists, digital

marketing campaign checklists, and marketing plans. Media lists are primarily used by media

relations specialists. The purpose of a media list is to compile the information of people and

organizations that could promote and represent the business. Digital marketing campaign

checklists are used by social media account managers, as well as the other members of the group.

Checklists include tasks that each group member must complete to keep company information

professional and up to date. Marketing plans are used by every member of a marketing team. The

plans detail what the business’ goals and objectives are, how they will be fulfilled, and by what

time they will be achieved.

Within the medical field, media lists not only provide promotional benefits, but help

connect to other organizations. This in turn creates more community outreach.

When analyzing three sample lists, there were seven common features: names of

organizations, names of individuals, their occupations, contact information, their location, and

social media accounts. Those who were listed were journalists and bloggers (“How to Build and

Effective Media List”). However, there were differences in the types of people and information

listed. In the second list (Dragilev, D., “Media List Examples”), articles recently written by the

bloggers and journalists were included. In the third list (Jantsch, Ellen), influencers on Instagram

were recorded, along with the number of followers, likes, and comments they receive.
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In the second sample list, its defining characteristic was its inclusion of recently written

articles. This suggests that businesses will want to know what they write about, if they can write

about them, and can do so well in a timely and consistent manner. In the third sample list, the

details of Instagram influencers were documented. This implies that companies will want to

know if the influencers endorsing them are able to reach a wide enough audience. The main

purpose of media lists is to locate individual people who have the ability to promote businesses.

However, for medical marketing, other organizations are listed as contacts. When looking

at Kettering Health Dayton’s contacts, they are partnered with the Gem City Market, Ohio

University, and SICSA. This is different from other businesses in that they are not partnered with

other organizations. The reason medical facilities could be partnered with other organizations is

community outreach. This goes back to early forms of medical marketing, where the way

healthcare centers would promote themselves was through networking with the community.

While supporting the local community is necessary, it also helps to advertise Kettering Health

Dayton.

Media lists within the medical field demonstrate the importance of healthcare marketing.

Not only in online or television advertisements, but within the community. The medical

establishment has shaped media lists to include partnerships as a way to provide valuable

services while promoting themselves at the same time.

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Work Cited

Communications, Knb. “KNB Communications :: About.” Knb Communications,

www.knbcomm.com/about. Accessed 17 Feb. 2022.

Donda, Bart. “How to Build an Effective Media List (w/ Tools and Examples).” Prowly

Magazine, 13 Sept. 2021, prowly.com/magazine/media-list-building.

Simon @ DMI. “What Skills Do I Need to Be a Social Media Manager?” Digital Marketing

Institute, 27 Oct. 2021, digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/what-skills-do-i-need-to-be-a-

social-media-manager.

Site built by: Salary.com. “Salary Wizard- Do You Know What You’re Worth? | My Benefits

Tool and Benefits Calculator.” Salary.Com,

www.salary.com/tools/benefits-calculator/healthcare-sales-marketing-coordinator.

Accessed 17 Feb. 2022.

“Digital Marketing Project Work Checklist Template.” Venngage,

venngage.com/templates/checklist/digital-marketing-project-work-checklist-42548c57-

72e6-4122-8630-4ae7daa6a16c. Accessed 17 Feb. 2022.

Dadi, Chandrima. “Should You Pursue a Career as a Media Relations Director?” The George

Washington University Online Degrees, 21 Oct. 2020, gspm.online.gwu.edu/blog/should-

you-pursue-a-career-as-a-media-relations-director.

“How to Become a Content Writer | CV-Library.” Career Advice, 18 Nov. 2019, www.cv-

library.co.uk/career-advice/start/career-guides/how-to-become-content-writer.

Pedriquez, Daleska. “Create a Healthcare Marketing Plan [+Templates].” Venngage, 19 Nov.

2021, venngage.com/blog/healthcare-marketing-plan.
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Thomas, Richard. “Marketing Health Services, Fourth Edition (4).” Marketing Health Services,

Fourth edition, AUPHA/HAP Book, 2020, pp. 6–8.

Kotler, Philip, and Sidney J. Levy. “Broadening the Concept of Marketing.” Journal of

Marketing, vol. 33, no. 1, 1969, pp. 10–15. Crossref,

https://doi.org/10.1177/002224296903300103.

Jantsch, Ellen. “13 Ready-to-Go Growth Marketing Spreadsheets Startups Can Use to Boost

Productivity.” Tuff, 1 Sept. 2021, tuffgrowth.com/growth-marketing-spreadsheets.

Dragilev, Dmitry. “Media List Examples: How To Build A Media List That Gets You Press.”

Criminally Prolific, 28 Jan. 2022, www.criminallyprolific.com/media-list-examples.