Introduction
Effective marketing strategy is necessary for ensuring that a new product or service is well communicated to the target segment. With that, this report presents a summary of a marketing strategy for a walk in clinic. The report describes the product, the consumers, the impact of outside agencies and regulators, anticipation of the changing market and the importance of the marketing strategy.
Marketing strategy
Product Information
Service Description
The proposed service is a walk in clinic focusing on the urgent care services such as laboratory testing, sutures, x-rays and removal of foreign bodies. The Clinic will be based in New York mainly targeting the urban population.
How to market the service
Given the nature of the service, the clinic will be marketed as a differentiated brand seeking to provide quick access to the urgent care services.
How the marketing is different
The brand will be marketed as one that seeks to enhance treatment success with a set target on minimum repeat procedures as well as quick billing and payment processing.
Value of the service to consumers
As a brand seeking to minimize the treatment success and providing updated payment and billing systems, the patients can expect to spend less time in the clinic. That will also ensure that patients cost of treatment is minimal hence promoting their welfare and making the clinic a brand of choice compared to the competitors (Doyle & Stern, 2006).
Consumers
Differentiation of healthcare access options
With advanced technology driving entry into the healthcare market, consumers have access to various healthcare programs including the government sponsored and the private sectors services. There is also access to various insurance products as well as payments that determine the choice of the service providers. In that respect, the clinic will seek to ensure adoption of a variety of the payment methods. Also, the urgent care consumers demand quick service that will require the clinic to be able to maintain a high patients’ turnover and effective treatment. That will require having qualified and efficient physicians that can ensure quick service and minimal repeat treatment processes for patients.
How consumers communicate the healthcare access options
Healthcare consumers have access to several communication channels regarding the services access and options. That includes the traditional media such as the healthcare journals. The communication also entails word of mouth referral considering the service satisfaction.
Implications of healthcare information communication when sharing information
Considering that healthcare provision entails various stakeholders such as the pharmacies and physicians, there will be a need to partner with the other service providers such as the pharmacists and physicians who can refer customers to the clinic through a word of mouth (Arthur, 2011).
Impact of outside agencies
Impact of government of the healthcare access
The government is a key stakeholder in the healthcare industry considering that is responsible for providing primary healthcare to the public through the public healthcare institutions. In that respect, the level of funding that the government provides the public healthcare will determine how effective the public government owned institutions will be in competing with the private sector healthcare providers such as the proposed walk in clinic. Further, government policies regarding aspects such as healthcare insurance will determine the number of people seeking the health care service from the private sector institutions (Arthur, 2011).
Impact of regulators
Effect of health care reforms on healthcare services
The government agencies regulating the market play a key role in determining how consumers access healthcare. That is through policies on payments as well as healthcare service standards.
How the reforms will affect the target audience
Given the regulatory reforms, the consumers could get alternative payment methods that require the clinic to continue adopting the new payment methods.
Reforms effect on how to market to the target consumers
In view of the reforms on healthcare service communication, service standards as well as payments, the clinic will continuously seek to maintain contact with customers through continued communication that ensures the consumers are aware of the clinic’s adherence to the new regulations as well as the compatibility of the clinic’s system with the new payment methods.
Anticipation of the changing market
How consumers’ options for healthcare are changing
The advance in technology and changing government policies are key factors that are likely to impact the options that the consumers have to healthcare access. With that, possible changes in payment and billing methods are likely to be impacted by the two factors hence require effective planning to maintain the clinic’s relevance (Arthur, 2011).
Maintaining the service relevance to consumers
Given the4 anticipated change in the market, the clinic will seek to maintain its service and products relevantly through continued innovation. With that, application and adoption of advanced technology will be key to ensuring that the clinic offers services that meet the consumers changing expectations regarding healthcare access as well as information communication (Doyle & Stern, 2006).
Importance of the marketing strategy
Reason all the factors are necessary to the marketing strategy
All the above factors are importance in designing an effective marketing strategy considering that the nature of the product and consumers and the service being offered determines the value proposition as well as how well it can be communicated. With that considering, all factors that are likely to impact the healthcare access and the consumers are crucial in determining the most relevant marketing strategies (Kotler & Keller, 2006).
Conclusion
Given the analysis and the marketing strategy, it is clear that the walk in clinic is a differentiated concept that seeks to deliver added value to the consumers. With that, the marketing strategy identifies the most suitable approaches to communicating to the target segment considering the impact of the various stakeholders including the regulators and other agencies.
References
Arthur, D. (2011). U.S. Healthcare Reform and the Pharmaceutical Industry: Working Paper 12-015 September 14, 2011. Massachusetts: Harvard Business School.
Doyle, P. & Stern, P. (2006). Marketing Management and Strategy. New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P. & Keller, L. (2006). Marketing Management. 12th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
