Internal marketing: A competitive strategy for the long-term care industry

Administrators, directors of admissions, and corporate offices of nursing h omes must become better marketers to survive sweeping changes in the indust ry. An essential part of their marketing effort has to be what is termed "i nternal marketing." internal marketing consists of an effort by the organiz ation to train and motivate its employees to provide better service. Intern al marketing must precede conventional marketing campaigns if the latter ar e to succeed. Negative staff attitudes will affect quality of care, and neg ative word of mouth communication by patients and staff to the community wi ll negate the effects of the marketing campaign. A survey by the authors sh ows that education and advancement of nursing assistants has been neglected . They recommend the internal marketing efforts focus on those nursing assi stants. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.