To whom will we market?: Marketing must be targeted and carefully planned in order to be useful. While providing general information to the community could be effective in developing awareness of your Telehealth capabilities, targeting people who could most benefit from the services can go much further toward developing usage in those areas. This targeting should identify both external and internal patients.  

What will be our message?: Once you know who your prospective audience is, it’s necessary to develop the message that will attract them into your program. That message will be different for each patient group, specialty offered, the remote site you serve, or could be generic to promote the Telehealth system.  

How will we reach our target audience?: If your target audience doesn’t read the newspaper, print ads would be a waste of time and money. If they don’t listen to radio, broadcast ads won’t perform as desired. You will need to know your audience and learn which medium is appropriate for gaining their attention.  

What is our marketing budget?: There’s a cliché in the advertising industry that goes, “advertising doesn’t cost; it pays.” That’s true as long as the advertising is properly targeted (proper audience selected), properly constructed (the right message), and properly distributed (the right medium), but those choices all depend on the marketing budget. Your organization must set aside enough of a budget to reach the right people, and do so economically and effectively. Without clear budget guidelines, your marketing efforts could under perform or “break the bank.”