More than 300 directors of community mental health centers responded to a survey concerning their marketing training and the marketing activities in which their centers had been engaged. Formal marketing training was found to be in the backgrounds of few of the respondents. The majority had not been engaged in a listing of marketing activities.
This article outlines three methods of mental health marketing--formal, intermediary, and interactive. It discusses advantages and disadvantages of each method. These approaches are particularly good for public, non-profit agencies and individuals in contacting the private sector. The need for flexibility and marketing mix is emphasized.
A changing environment which includes increased competition and changing philosophies of providing mental health services reflect an increased need for an information gathering instrument to provide the foundation for developing strategic plans in mental health organizations. The initial step in the planning process is collecting and systematizing the data necessary to the organization's functioning. A marketing audit specifically designed to encompass the special problems encountered in the mental health organization is presented in this paper.
Modern management theory accepts that people work for many reasons and to fulfill many goals. People want to survive and succeed and, given the opportunity and the skills, they will. Health professionals seek some of the higher goals. They want to serve their fellow man without being a servant. They want to succeed by providing relief to the suffering; such success must, by necessity, be exceptionally sweet. When human lives are at stake, the word "important" is truly defined. To a health professional, advancement can be an organizational promotion or it can be a professional achievement. In either case, how he/she succeeds will depend on what he/she does. He/she must perform well against a yardstick that grows constantly due to the advances in medical science. He/she must also realize constantly that what he/she performs on is a human being, and must be treated as such. He/she must keep technically able without losing his/her ability to deal in human relations. This study has shown that the health professional accepts the importance of these concepts.
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