CEOs' View of Marketing: Cloudy with a Chance of Opportunity

The good news
Now if you're feeling down on yourself for assuming leadership values your team when these results hint that they might think of marketing as the black sheep of healthcare hierarchy—don’t. All signs point to CEOs needing marketing leadership’s help more than ever as they prepare to build their business and increase market share in the months and years ahead.

When we asked CEOs how they will fuel financial growth over the next five years, two of the top four responses directly relate to marketing. The top answers were expand outpatient services (71%), start or increase promising business lines or facilities (57%), launch a strategic marketing campaign for an existing market (46%), and launch a strategic marketing campaign for a new market (34%).

"This should be good news," Bevolo said. "Organizational leaders seem to be saying they're going to be turning to marketing to help move the organization forward."

Marketers may have a chance to jump in beyond marketing campaigns, too. In fact, more than 75% of marketing executive respondents say they are "sometimes" or "always" involved from the first stages of product or service development. And if you're not, try to get your foot in the product development door now—the practice is universal in the consumer marketing sphere and healthcare organizations are beginning to catch on.

Though some of these results are sobering, there is definitely opportunity out there for marketers who are willing to seize it.

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