Using Marketing Principles to Maximize Funding Effectiveness

Abstract

Community health programs are faced with increasing pressure to maximize effective use of scarce resources while improving access to care. In response to this challenge, one New Mexico program expanded outreach efforts and designated funds for marketing to get the word out about prenatal care. With a local marketing and advertising agency, they used the precepts of marketing as organizing principles to develop a communications plan. The result is a model for resource allocation driven by the input of a highly defined target group. It allows the planning team to focus on achievable goals, without being fragmented by the myriad of needs impossible to meet within the reality of limited funding.

“For every type of institution, there is always a potential set of relevant objectives, and the institution's task is to make a choice among them (Kotler & Andreasen, 1987).”