Abstract

Background: Marketing strategies are viewed as an investment in many corporate entities, often used as tools to maximise shareholders' returns. Objectives: The study aimed to assess the extent to which certain factors affected marketing activities and expenditure impact scheme performance. Methods: The study entailed a univariate analysis of factors that affect marketing activities and expenditure and their impact on scheme performance. The review period of the study was the 2019 expenditure data reported by medical schemes in South Africa. Results: The results indicated that restricted schemes spent significantly less on marketing than open medical schemes in 2019. Similarly, very large and large schemes spend more on marketing fees compared to medium and small. The number of benefit options also attracted a higher marketing expense for medical schemes, with more than four benefit options attracting more elevated levels of marketing fees.