Needs Identification for Hospital Digital Marketing Design: How Deep Is Your Empathy?

Abstract

The application of digital marketing has been widely used in the business world today, including in hospitals. Not only for promotion, but digital marketing can generate customer awareness of a product or brand and can increase the brand image and reputation of a product or brand. The design thinking method can identify the needs of customers and companies more deeply and comprehensively. By implementing empathizing and defining stages, hospital digital marketing can be designed to involve customers and fulfil their needs. Hospitals need to implement a digital marketing strategy to convey information about health services offered and programs promoted. This study aims to identify the level of need in designing digital marketing strategies for hospitals with design thinking methods, particularly in empathize and define stages. This study uses a qualitative approach through the empathize stage, which includes observation and interviews with both customers (current patients) and hospital employee. Next, the data obtained is processed and analyzed using empathy maps and personas, then grouped in affinity diagrams to understand the needs in designing digital marketing strategies for hospitals.