To dispel a common misunderstanding: Marketing is NOT selling, and it is NOT advertising per se. Rather, Marketing can be best described as: The process by which companies/organizations engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return. In other words, Marketing does not revolve around “selling” the product or service to a customer but rather causing the customer to “buy” that product or service, thus benefitting both the marketer and the customer. 

Every single product/service we choose to buy or use involves the marketing process. We evaluate choices and make our decision based on the best fit possible of the benefits offered. 

Now we must explore why Health Services offerings are unique from the perspective of Marketing. Rather than singular customer points of decision, we have multiple stakeholders to the purchase or usage decision – the patient, their family, the physician, the place of service delivery and in the publicly funded sector, the government. All these stakeholders must be carefully considered and uniquely marketed to. Overlay upon this, the evolving nature of healthcare consumers in Canada – they are wiser, more discerning, better educated about their health issues, and far more demanding than ever before. More and more, they are recognizing that they do in fact have choice in terms of health resolution, point of delivery, and physician delivery. 

The harsh reality, as well, is the ever-increasing financial burden being placed upon The Canada Health Act, which bears out within provincial budgets and product/service choices. The answer is not so easily stated that more publicly-funded services should be privatized, but rather that healthcare in Canada must be delivered in the future better, more efficiently and safer – with the backbone of this being innovation, engagement, research, sound strategy, positioning, positive mutual impact – i.e. HEALTH SERVICES MARKETING. 

• PhD or Master’s level education in a related field; 
• Experience in leadership development, people development and business development in a healthcare setting; 
• Experience in teaching leadership education and marketing at a graduate level. 

Course instructor for a professional-stream graduate course. Responsible for course design and assessment of student outcomes. Must be accessible to students outside of classroom hours.