Marketing situation analysis and strategic planning for NHS clinical services

Abstract This paper illustrates the processes needed to ensure the necessary information is available to prepare a marketing strategy for your clinical service of choice. This is often described in marketing publications as a 'situation analysis' or 'marketing audit'. The situation analysis will lead to the identification of the organisation's key strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats it faces. The second part of the paper illustrates how to identify marketing objectives and subsequently select generic marketing strategies for your chosen clinical services. Once analysis and determination of strategy have been completed, the next stage of the market planning process should be identifying specific marketing activities to support the chosen generic strategy. However space does not allow further elaboration on this process here. While this paper is intended as a simplified guide for acute NHS trusts, the marketing processes described can be applied to the marketing of clinical services in general, whether in the public or private sector.