But today, the consumer is very sophisticated in selecting a health care payer, and it is the payer who presents options to the consumer. That means you, as a practitioner, have to demonstrate your effectiveness - you have to market yourself. In the book, Veeder outlines a series of steps human services practitioners and organizations can take to develop marketing strategies. She also discusses other components of a marketing strategy, like assessing the organization's understanding of its goals or determining the range of clients served and their specific needs and characteristics, and addresses areas such as public relations and outreach, budgeting and ethics. Contrary to what one might think, Veeder says, the task of marketing is not anathema to the ethos of the social worker.
Marketing is research, which is certainly an area with which social workers are well-acquainted.
Marketing also is communication, and that too is familiar territory for social workers, who deal with many different groups of people on many psychological levels. Veeder followed her own advice in conceiving Marketing Human Services . She surveyed 24 human services administrators and managers, including Graduate School of Social Work Admissions Director William Howard, on what would be the most useful information a book on marketing would contain. She asked them questions relating to their own views on, and experiences with, marketing. Veeder also interviewed three CEOs from for-profit organizations for their insights on marketing.