The Nature of Marketing in the Public Sector.

In the public sector much of the marketing related activity is concerned with the satisfaction of customers
despite the fact that frequently there is no direct or even indirect form of competition. Marketing may have
a broader role to play in the public sector by having to satisfy the needs of different and sometimes
conflicting interest.

The definition of marketing is the management process responsible for identifying anticipating and satisfying
stakeholder requirements and in so doing serves to facilitate the achievement of the organization’s
objectives.

According to Kotler and Levy (1969) they supply two types of products. First the product as physical products
or services that takes part directly to the exchange. Second, the product as the idea of the public service,
through the quality perceived of the product. Government sells their political action by selling services and
ideas to public rather citizens.

For example, Ministry of Health

i. Encourage and assist individuals to remain healthy

ii. Provide equality of entitlement to health services
iii. Provide a wide broad range of services of high standard
iv. Provide equality of access to these services
v. Satisfy the reasonable expectation of its users
vi. Remain a national service responsive to local needs

Hence to serve these purposes, the MOHQL needs marketing. In the past/ present, many hospitals began
facing and are still falling admissions, low occupancy and long wait. Hence many hospitals are turning to
marketing and beginning to focus on offering certain specialties while others focused on serving the special
needs and preferences of individual patients.

Marketing mix in government and public sector.

The marketing mix in the public sector is defined as the service marketing mix. The service marketing mix is
also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral part of a service blueprint design. The
service marketing mix consists of 7 P’s as compared to the 4 P’s of a product marketing mix which is
shown in the Figure…… below.
 Figure … : Product marketing Mix with the additional 3 Ps.

Figure…. : The 7Ps marketing mix.

Simply said, the service marketing mix assumes the service as a product itself. However it adds 3 more
P’s, people, physical environment and process, which are required for optimum service delivery. All of
these factors are necessary for optimum service delivery.

Product.

The product strategy is one that enables to make the exchange more valuable.

The product in the sense of social marketing does not include physical offerings but also services and ideas.
The aim of the public sector is to ensure the citizen gets good service and good value for money which aims
at developing long term relationship. Example MOHQL has to decide which vaccines and outreach programs
give highest immune coverage. The product policy talks about safety, credibility, security and continuity
values which belong to the national interest. Hence marketing will help to make people aware of the services
government is offering. Hence increasing the trust that the public has in the government will help establish
long terms relationship.

Price.

Second element of marketing mix is Price Policy. For example Monetary Incentives can be used to encourage
young people to join the Police Forces or Military duty or monetary disincentives to influence citizens not to
do something example discouraging littering, as published by the Ministry of Environment and sustainable
development. Hence without marketing, the public will not be able to know the reasons why people are
being fined for committing such act. Hence with a proper means of communication the citizens will be aware
that these laws are being put forward to protect the environment which is degrading nowadays due to a
high level of pollution.

Place

Place or distribution is the activity that ensures that products get to customers when and where they want
them. Hence in case of intangible offerings, suitable, adequate and compatible distribution and response
channels have to be chosen through which information or ideas are delivered to customers. Government
and public sector organizations have to ensure the accessibility of their offerings for their target segment.
The market of public and government sector is represented with spatially dispersed customers. The
distribution channel has to respond to the mission of the public service. It means finding a balance between
services to all citizens without reducing accessibility to isolated citizen, especially for those individuals who
are disabled or have to overcome language barriers. Hence this aims to create maximum citizen convenience
by a continuous and mass distribution by interactive methods such as workshops, conferences organized by
the MHOQL – “Caravane de Sante”. When deciding about the distribution channel it is important to have
logistics to decide upon which site is best or how can the service to be distributed is closer to the public. For
example looking at a site for new hospital facility or educational institution, this can be done through
logistics to reap maximum benefits.

Promotion.

In order to sustain and create a demand for an offering, the potential benefits have to be communicated to
the clients. Communications is the process of transmitting messages with the objectives of making the
organizations products/services attractive to target consumer. The communication of the image of public
service has an impact on the consumer perceived values of the government policy – MOHQL – promotional
activities are primarily for operational purposes :- attracting patients, carers, donors; explaining to them
what services are available and how to use them. Internal communication include- recruiting staff,
motivating and training. Another example of benefit in the sector would be the transportation service. Public
transport marketing promotes local transport services by working with bus operators and large companies
to develop effective marketing of the transportation system. The public benefits because of the fact that the
government has made an attempt to make transportation easier by advertising the services
available. On the other hand, people would use public transportation more often leading to new services and
developing existing ones to be more efficient

People

People are one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. In case of service
marketing, people can make or break an organization. In the government it is important that management
should get their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer service with a focus towards customer
satisfaction. It is important to note that services are provided by the employees of the sector. Hence the
organization has to market the service to its employees. In other words, internal marketing should be
done. Hence employees act as contact personnel with the customer. They play an important role in
marketing the services. It is important that employees appreciate the services before marketing it to
others. According to Gongroos, the objective of internal marketing is to develop motivated and consumer
conscious employees. As in Mauritius, there has been a great misunderstanding concerning the service of
the government by the public. Complaints arise due to the fact that at certain times, people who call at the
certain ministries has a perception that the government workers do not want to help them but they rather
feel disturbed by the calls or presence of the public. Hence it is important to train the people in the
service sector to have a better approach to the public. Hence this will create better relationships and
hence change the mindset of the public towards the government service. As a result people will be more
likely to cooperate in situation of difficulties for example long queues at the hospital.

Process

Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer. This is very important in
hospitals or educational centers where consulting is going on. The process adopted should be well
established, at the right time involving the right people. Nowadays this is not usually the case at some
hospitals. In order to obtain certain information about files, either the wrong people are assisting the
public or the files are missing. A proper process is important to be established to reduce stress on the
citizens and improve effectiveness and efficiency. One side the work will be done more quickly reducing
queues and excess stress and on the other hand the citizen too will be satisfied.

Physical Evidence

The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element. As said before, services are
intangible in nature. According to Shostak, “a physical object is self-defining, a service is not.” Hence in
the government service, the marketing task is all about defining the services what it cannot define for
itself. The physical evidence refers to the physical environment, facilities and atmosphere. Physical
evidence can indeed support the marketing program, by providing adequate service to the public and
influencing his perception. It can make the service tangible. Communication can also be used to make the
service tangible. These can help in making the message tangible while the physical evidence can make
the service tangible. The figure below shows the components of physical evidence.

Physical Environment
 Ambient Factors Design Factors. Social Factors

 Air Quality  Aesthetics  Appearance; behavior;

 Quality of Scent  Colour; Materials used; number of service
shape; style of personels.
 Degree of circulation
accessories  Quality and quantity of
 Layout; Comfort. other personels.

Figure … : Physical Evidence

Several times, physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing. Imagine a private
hospital and a government hospital. A private hospital will have plush offices and well-dressed staff.
Same cannot be said for a government hospital. Thus physical evidence acts as a differentiator. In
Mauritius for example, there have been several complaints being done on radios concerning some buses
not in good conditions for use as transport. These complaints have been done because these buses are the
only buses doing a particular route for example from Floreal to Port Louis. It is a bus which comes at a
certain interval of time around every 30 minutes. So if somebody needs to go to work in the morning he
has no other choice than to travel in this bus. Hence the public are being forced to travel in buses where
there are cockroaches or some buses’ roofs are leaking during rainfalls. Hence it is important to take the
physical factors into consideration. These factors not only affect the national population but also the
tourists also. Nowadays it is increasingly seen that tourists coming to Mauritius like to travel by bus to be
closer to the Mauritian culture. In this case, it is important for the government to take initial actions
concerning the physical aspects of public transport throughout the island. Hence people would use
public transportation more often leading to new services and developing existing ones to be more
efficient.