Chapter 6: A Rural Perspective on Marketing Services to Older Adults

Abstract

SUMMARY In the scarce resource environment of rural communities, social workers have a special obligation to both embrace and contribute to the human service agency's marketing campaign. This chapter begins by clarifying the differences between goods and services and then develops a profile of the older adult as health and social service consumer. The unique features of rural older consumers are considered and approaches to segmenting a rural agency's target population are reviewed. Such concepts as outshopping, segmentation, destination marketing, and virtual servicescapes are considered as are the “Four P's” and the “Four I's” of marketing services. An organization-wide marketing philosophy is strongly encouraged in rural human service organizations.