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A family therapist's guide tomarketing: Misconceptions, truths,and implicationsLee Michael Williams aa Department of Child Development and Family Studies , PurdueUniversity , 523 Russell Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907Published online: 13 Jun 2007.

To cite this article: Lee Michael Williams (1991) A family therapist's guide to marketing:Misconceptions, truths, and implications, The American Journal of Family Therapy, 19:3, 206-214,DOI: 10.1080/01926189108250852

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A FAMILY THERAPIST’S GUIDE TO MARKETING: MISCONCEPTIONS, TRUTHS, AND IMPLICATIONS

LEE MICHAEL WILLIAMS

The application of marketing is no longer confined to private business, but is becoming increasingly popular in the social services area. The application of marketing principles to the marriage and family therapy field is also promising. Yet many therapists are hesitant or resistant to a marketing approach because of the misconceptions that abound about marketing. This paper describes what marketing is and is not, and applies a marketing perspective to relevant issues within the mar- riage and family therapy field.

Marketing is no longer confined to businesses that sell laundry soap and the like, but is being applied to social issues and causes (Novelli, 1986). For example, marketing principles have been used to promote parent education programs (Levant, 1987) and contraceptive use among teenagers (Marsiglio, 1985). Other articles have described how marketing principles can be applied to issues in the social work field (Fine & Fine, 1986; Lauffer, 1986; Stoner, 1986; Yankey et al., 1986).

Family therapists are also interested in marketing at both the individual and collective level. At the individual level, family therapists in private practice are interested in how to market their services to attract clients. On a collective level, family therapists are interested in using marketing to help establish marriage and family therapy as a legitimate provider of psychotherapy services.

The present author believes that a marketing approach has significant promise when applied to the marriage and family therapy field. This belief is grounded in over five years of business experience working with a major corporation noted for its marketing excellence. Yet many

Appreciation is expressed to Dr. Fred Piercy for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Lee Williams, M.S., is a doctoral student in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, 523 Russel1 Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

The American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1991 0 BrunnerIMazel, Inc.

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A Family Therapist’s Guide to Marketing 207

marriage and family therapists are either hesitant or resistant to consider- ing a marketing approach for family therapy due to the frequent miscon- ceptions of marketing that exist. Therefore, this paper was written out of the belief that many marriage and family therapists could benefit from a better understanding of what marketing truly is (and is not). A market- ing perspective will be illustrated by applying it to relevant issues within the marriage and family therapy field.

THE MARKETING PHILOSOPHY: WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT

Much of what is assumed to be marketing is in reality not. For example, a common misconception equates marketing with selling or advertising a product. Although promotion or advertising plays a role in marketing, it represents only a small part of the whole marketing process. In fact, ”the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous” (p. 64), according to Peter Drucker (1974), a leading management theorist. Another miscon- ception is that marketing is manipulative and self-serving. A true market- ing approach is driven by trying to meet the consumer’s wants and needs, rather than focusing on the seller’s needs (Bower & Garda, 1986). Still another misconception of marketing is that it is simply a set of prescribed techniques. Marketing is much more than a set of techniques. To truly understand what marketing is, one must understand the philos- ophy behind marketing.

The philosophy behind marketing is to be customer oriented (Bower & Garda, 1986; Kotler & Andreasen, 1987). A customer-oriented ap- proach to marketing focuses on providing a product or service that meets the consumer’s wants and needs. This customer orientation is important to all the organization’s efforts, including designing the product, pricing, distribution of the product, and how it is promoted.

To better understand the modern marketing approach of being cus- tomer oriented, it is helpful to contrast it with other orientations, such as a product or sales orientation. Both the product and sales orientation are centered primarily on the organization and what it wants to offer, while the customer orientation is centered on what the customer wants or needs (Kotler & Andreasen, 1987). In the product orientation, the product is designed based on what the organization thinks is good for the consumer, rather than directly assessing what the consumers’ wants and needs are. In the sales orientation, the focus is on selling to the consumer what the organization wants to make. In contrast, a customer orientation will first assess what the consumers’ wants and needs are, and then will specifically design the product or service with the consum- ers’ wants and needs in mind. If the product or service successfully meets the consumer’s wants and needs, the product should practically sell itself with little need for promotion (Kotler & Andreasen, 1987).

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208 The American Journal of Family Therapy, VoI. 19, No. 3, Fall 1991

THE BENEFITS OF CUSTOMER-ORIENTED MARKETING

A frequent question is how far one should go in trying to meet the consumer’s need. The unstated fear behind this question is that if one goes to great lengths to meet the consumer’s need, one’s own needs will not be met.

However, the strength of customer-oriented marketing is that it places both the consumer and the marketer in a win-win situation. The con- sumer wins by having a product that meets his or her needs. Marketers win because they have developed a very successful product that sells well because it meets the consumer’s needs. In fact, Peters and Waterman (1982) note that the most successful corporations in America closely fol- low a customer-oriented approach in doing business.

Naturally, there will be ethical and pragmatic limitations on how far one can go in meeting the consumer’s needs. For example, marital thera- pists who define the marriage as their therapeutic consumer may feel it is unethical to promote the relationship at the expense of an individual’s welfare (Jacobson, 1983), particularly when dealing with issues such as domestic violence. Likewise, no therapist can be available 24 hours a day to meet every consumer’s need for convenience; nor can a therapist be an expert on every problem. The key point here is that the marketer attempts to go as far as possible in meeting the consumer need within pragmatic or ethical limits.

IMPLEMENTING A MARKETING APPROACH

Three major tasks in implementing a marketing approach are: 1) con- ducting the marketing audit; 2) segmenting the market; and 3 ) defining the marketing mix (Yankey et al., 1986). Continually evaluating the mar- ket and the product’s in-market performance are also important (Novelli, 1986).

Conducting the Marketing Audit

Conducting a complete marketing audit looks at four parts: 1) an exter- nal analysis; 2) a competitive analysis; 3) a consumer analysis; and 4) an internal analysis of the organization (Novelli, 1986; Yankey et al., 1986).

An external analysis looks at the key factors in the environment that will dictate the opportunities and constraints within the market. Im- portant factors may include legal, political, social, economic, or techno- logical factors (Yankey et al., 1986). For example, state licensure or certi- fication of family therapists could be an important legal and political consideration. An important social factor has been the increased divorce rate over the past two decades, which in turn has created the need for specialities in divorce therapy and remarried families. The growth of Health Maintenance Organizations and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are important economic factors; while technological advances in

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A Family Therapist’s Guide to Marketing 209

medicine continually change the way many illnesses (for example, schizophrenia and depression) are treated.

The competition is another major force shaping the market and should be analyzed. Both current and otential com etitors should be consid-

the competition is. Family therapists compete not only with other mental health professionals, but also directly or indirectly with self-help books, cler y, and the local bartender.

sumer’s wants and needs. In a consumer-oriented ap roach, marketers do not assume they know what is good for the public, Eut carefully study the consumer’s wants and needs. Qualitative research, such as focus groups or interviews, are often used to explore what the consumer needs

as are quantitative le, the Ameri-

can Association for Marital and

their attitudes and needs toward marriage and family therapists (”Know About MFT,” 1988).

ered. One should also keep a su P ficiently broa B definition of who or what

T a e goal of the consumer analysis is to clearly understand the con-

are (Greenhalgh, 1986; Kotler methods, such as surveys (Greenhal

a survey of organizations that

need that matches well

Market Segmentation

In trying to meet the consumer’s need, one can rarely be all things to all eo le. One solution to this problem is to segment the market (Kotler & I $ n reasen, 1987). In other words, the market is divided into certain roups or segments based on some important characteristic(s) or need(s).

Froducts or services are designed specifically to meet this segment’s unique needs. For exam le, Procter and Gamble makes several bar soaps

segments. Market segmentation often results in a competitive advanta e

needs of that segment. is that the

&rge enough to support a specialized product. For example, a large community could support a therapist who specializes in eating disorders or some other speciality, whereas a small community might not.

Defining the Marketing Mix

(Ivory, Zest, Camay, an t; Safeguard, to name a few) to appeal to different

because the product is more compelling by virtue of being tailored to t a e

One possible disadvantage with marketin market segments represent only a portion oft

opulation. Therefore, a marketer must

Havin defined the consumer or market segment (along with the wants

ing mix is composed of the four Ps: Product, Price, Placement, and Pro- motion (Yankey et al., 1986). The product may be a tangible object or a

and nee f s), one must define what the marketing mix will be. The market-

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service such as therapy. Obviously price includes monetary costs like hourly fees, but may also include other costs, such as the time required for therapy or any possible stigma attached with going to therapy. Place- ment refers to how, where, and when the product or service will be delivered to the consumer. A therapist who offers therapy only during normal business hours has made a decision on placement. Promotion refers to how the product’s or service’s benefits will be communicated to potential consumers. Promotion can be achieved through a variety of means such as communication on a person-to-person level or through mass media.

A consumer orientation should be reflected in all elements of the mar- keting mix. Just as the product should be designed with the consumer‘s wants and needs in mind, the placement and price of the product can also meet important consumer needs. For example, the time and place in which therapy is offered may be important selling points for potential clients. The product’s key benefits to the consumer should be clearly communicated through promotion, rather than resorting to hard sell tactics such as scare tactics or false promises.

Continual Need for Evaluation

The in-market effectiveness of the product or service is continually evaluated so that adjustments or improvements can be made. Existing offerings may need to be upgraded or new offerings developed to keep pace with the changing market. For example, MFT training programs may want to modify their programs to help marrige and family therapists to take advantage of recent EAP opportunities (Smith et al., 1989).

A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY THERAPISTS

This section further illustrates a modern marketing approach and shows how it can be beneficially applied to several areas in our field.

Therapy-Establishing a Private Practice

Although this example cannot provide a complete description on how to start a private practice, it should illustrate how a modern marketing approach can be applied to building a private practice. Many therapists may recognize that they have intuitively used many of these ideas in building their practices.

A therapist starting a practice should first conduct a marketing audit of the community. An external and consumer analysis would study the community in terms of: 1) economic factors such as income levels, occu- pational mix, and unemployment rates; 2) geographic factors such as population size, density, and whether the population is increasing or declining; 3) demographic factors such as age, sex, family size, and family life cycle; 4) social factors such as education levels, religion, race, ethnic

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backgrounds, and social class; and 5) psychographic factors such as life- styles, values, and attitudes (Conlee, 1990). This analysis should help the therapist identify the unique needs of the community. For example, a community with a large retirement population will require a therapist with a strong background in later-life issues, whereas a community of young professionals probably needs a therapist familiar with dual-career issues.

The therapist also needs to conduct a thorough competitive and inter- nal analysis. The therapist should consider how many competitors there are (Is the market saturated?), and what type of services they provide (Is there a noticeable absence of a particular type of service?). What do other competitors in the community charge for therapy? Where and when do they make their services available? How does the competition promote their services? What are the therapist’s strengths, particularly relative to the competition? If the marketing audit is successful, the therapist will be able to identify and target a community need that fits nicely with his or her strengths. For example, a therapist with a strong background in divorce therapy is well positioned to target a community need for divorce media tion.

After the marketing audit, the therapist should write a clear statement of what need(s) will be targeted. At this point, the therapist should decide whether to target a specific segment of the total market (and determine if the segment is large enough to support the practice). For example, a therapist in a large city may choose to focus the practice on counseling infertile couples, a service no other therapist in the area offers.

The therapist is now ready to put together the marketing mix to target the consumer need. In addition to tailoring his or her services to meet the consumer need, the therapist should define the price and placement relative to the consumer need. For example, the therapist should find an office that is easy to locate, offers adequate parking, and is safe. Based on the competitive analysis, the therapist can set a competitive price for therapy. The therapist can also begin to promote his or her practice consistent with the needs statement. For example, the family therapist who has defined the practice around being the community resource for infertility can give workshops on infertility to the community to promote the practice.

If the marketing mix is done well, there may be little need for extensive promotion once the practice is established. Ideally, previous clients will provide the therapist with a steady business through referrals. The con- tinual need for extensive promotion may signify the therapist does not have the right marketing mix in other areas.

Other Therapy Applications

The marketing philosophy of being customer centered is not confined to starting a private practice, but can be applied in other areas in clinical practice. For example, Morrison (1979) states that therapists who follow a consumer-oriented approach to therapy will involve clients from the

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beginning in defining the problem and developing strategies for problem resolution. Morrison’s recommendations make sense, but can be very difficult to do in practice. One reason for this difficulty is that clients often have difficulty expressing their core need. For example, a client who “wants” to commit suicide is in reality expressing a solution (sui- cide) to an underlying need (feeling despair over life). In this case, the therapist would help the client identify and deal with the underlying need. Clients are also sometimes “resistant” to change, leading some therapists to use strategic interventions. However, the therapist may have caused the resistance by not developing a good therapeutic contract with the client (Anderson & Stewart, 1983). Therefore, a careful effort to be consumer oriented in the contracting phase may reduce or eliminate client resistance, preventing the need for a heavy reliance on strategic methods.

Morrison (1979) also believes therapists who follow a consumer-ori- ented approach will continually evaluate the success and failure of their therapy or interventions. For example, a therapist might routinely give a questionnaire or instrument to assess client satisfaction with therapy. Follow-up interviews with clients could also provide important ideas for improving clinical skills and services.

Research

Family therapy research is another area in which a marketing perspec- tive could be applied. Although clinicians would seem to be logical con- sumers of clinical research, family therapy research has been criticized for its lack of relevance to clinical practice (Olson, 1976; Schwartz & Breunlin, 1983; Wynne, 1983). Similarly, research often fails to assess the needs of the consumers for which interventions are targeted. Although numerous studies have addressed the effectiveness of various marriage preparation programs, little research’has directly assessed the needs of engaged individuals, the primary consumers of these programs (Schumm & Denton, 1979; Williams, 1990). This reflects a product orien- tation, whereby the researcher assumes he or she knows what is best for the consumer.

A marketing perspective suggests the first step in any research should be to define explicitly the consumer(s) of the research and their needs (Williams, in press). For example, more work could be done to assess the needs of the clients services are targeted toward. In the case of marriage preparation, directly assessing the needs of engaged individuals revealed important areas that were not addressed in the literature (Williams, 1990). A better understanding of client’s needs will in turn help in developing more effective interventions.

A marketing perspective would also emphasize the importance of the specificity question for family therapy research: What therapy will be most effective with which populations under which circumstances? (Gur- man & Kniskern, 1981, p. 748). The specificity question is really a ques- tion of market segmentation. In marketing segmentation, one seeks to

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find what is the best intervention for a particular market. Advocates of the specificity question may well be seen as emphasizing the need for market segmentation.

Marketing and Communication

Lastly, a marketing perspective can be useful any time we are trying to communicate to others through writing, presenting, teaching, or even simple conversation. Good presenters and writers have always given us good marketing advice by encouraging us to consider who our audience is and what their needs are. Although many of us do this to some degree already, a marketing approach makes a more conscious and concerted effort to be customer centered. For example, writing an explicit ”needs” statement rather than the “purpose” for a paper is helpful when follow- ing a marketing perspective. The purpose often states what the writer wants to say (which often reflects a product rather than a consumer orientation). A clear and explicit statement of the need can help the writer critically assess whether the paper truly addresses that need.

CONCLUSION

In many ways, the marketing idea is quite simple. A modern marketing approach encourages us to work harder at identifying and satisfying the consumer’s needs. To the extent we are successful in meeting the consumer need, we will have a product or service the consumer will truly desire and buy. In this manner, marketing provides a win-win scenario for both the consumer and the marketer.

However, marketing is like a diet-simple to layout but difficult to follow. To be faithful to the marketing approach, we must avoid the temptation to automatically assume we know what is best for the con- sumer. Instead, we must make a more conscious effort to identify and meet the consumer need. Like a diet, marketing requires a great deal of discipline, and will not be successful if followed in a haphazard fashion.

Family therapists may need to adopt a customer-oriented marketing approach in the future in order to survive. In a monopoly, the consumer has few choices. However, as the number of competitors goes up, the number of choices (and power) of the consumer grows. This, in turn, requires organizations to be more responsive to the consumer need. Those who are not responsive to the consumer need will not be competi- tive and will ultimately not survive. In a similar manner, the psychother- apy field has expanded to include several professions. Therefore, the ability of marriage and family therapists to stay competitive will be di- rectly dependent on how well we continue to meet the changing con- sumer need. The beauty of marketing is that both family therapists and their consumers will profit from a customer-centered approach. What is good for the future of family therapy will also be good for its consumers.

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