For the purpose of accomplishing the task of this report, we have chosen, Mid Atlantic Diabetic Medical Centre. Diabetes is a major issue in countries and specifically in the United States, where the number stands staggeringly high at 25.8 million patients, which amounts to approximately 8% of the total population. The number of Type 2 diabetes still continues to increase at a staggeringly high rate. The most alarming factor is that around 79 million people are at a pre-diabetes stage which means they are at a very high risk of having diabetes in the near future. Apart from this, around 1 in 400 people below the age of 20 have diabetes, which is an alarmingly high rate.
During this period of time when diabetes is at an extremely high level; the development of diabetes centre and the initiative of Mid-Atlantic Diabetic Centre seems justifiable. Although diabetes still has no permanent cure it can cause significant damage in the patients. As a result of this, Mid-Atlantic Medical Centre has ample scope to meet the needs of these patients has help control the diabetes endemic to a certain extent. If they succeed in controlling the endemic to a certain extent it may help them in reducing the growth of diabetic patients in the future.
With the purpose of serving the diabetic patients, they have come up with comprehensive diabetic centres of excellence capable of handling even serious cases of diabetes. Apart from this, they are also providing adequate support to help reduce instances and cases of diabetes in the future. For this purpose, they are currently focusing on North Carolina and serving the diabetic patients living in that vicinity (Mid-Altantic Symposium, 2012).
Product, Price, Place and Promotion of Mid-Atlantic Medical Centre
Market strategy is a crucial component for any organization; even for a medical centre. Therefore, similar to any organization they also need to come up with their own marketing strategy.
If we analyse the product strategy then an increase emphasis is placed on 2 phases; during the first phase they focus on providing primary endocrinology related treatment and associated services to their patients. During this phase they also focus on educating the patients. They are also responsible for making the other people aware of diabetes and ways in which they can avoid having it. Apart from this, they also provide lab services, prosthetics, pharmacy as well as other behavioural therapies. In other words they are providing an all inclusive multi-speciality diabetic centre to their patients. They also have long terms strategic goals to expand their operations in other areas as well, which have greater amounts of diabetic patients residing in them (Rethinking the 4 Ps, 2013).
For the pricing of their services and products they shall rely on the existing reimbursement rates. The outpatients shall be billed according to the services which have been provided to them. Apart from this, the diabetic medicines will be priced as per the standard market prices for both self pay as well as those covered by insurance. In addition, the medications prescribed through the diabetic centre will be charged on a subsidized as well as a co pay basis.
Place has already been discussed as the 10 counties in which they currently hold their operations. They also intend to expand their operations in similar counties where the amount of diabetic patients is relatively high. This is because in areas where the concentration of diabetic patients is high, their prospects of serving more patients is also greater.
Promotion for Mid Atlantic Diabetic Centre was primarily carried out by investing $20,000 initially. This budget was primarily used to promote the excellence of the services and products provided by the diabetic centre. The main objective of the promotional strategies will be to establish brand recognition, increase the market for newer patients, increased market for the minority population, increasing the number of referrals of new physicians. Additionally, Mid Atlantic shall also use their website and also other forms of media outlets for the purpose of spreading and increasing their brand value. For a more target oriented marketing campaign they can always carry out diabetes awareness campaigns aimed specifically towards the diabetic patients making them better equipped to attract their targeted segment of patients. They can also carry out a range of fund raising and sponsorship events for the purpose of carrying out their promotional activities.
Target Market
The main target market of Mid Atlantic Diabetic Medical Centre are the 10 counties which are closest to their centre; namely, Wilson counties, Wayne, Pitt, Martin, Nash, Lenoir, Greene, Edgecombe, Beaufort and Craven. This is a strong area for them since around 31% of all diabetic related mortalities are associated with these 10 counties primarily. They are also further targeting the non white females and males living in these areas specifically.
If the barriers to entry is to be noted; is quite less for the Diabetic Centre in terms of the financial involvement. However, they do face tough competition from the other diabetic centres located nearby such as the Duke Medical Centre, Wake Medical Centre, Wayne Diabetic Centre and Minnie P. Stackhouse Diabetic Centre. Despite the presence of tough competition, they have also achieved a significant degree of success. For instance, they successfully created a program based on National Standards set for the Self-management education for those diagnosed with diabetes.
Apart from this, they have also successfully set up exclusive programs to cope and also detect chronic cases of diabetes and also continuous on-going screening to detect early cases of diabetes or those who are at an extremely high risk of having diabetes. Mid Atlantic Diabetic Centre is providing multi specialty care and also collaborative support to the patients in this regard. Another one of their success is the presence of state of the art clinic facilities readily available to their target market. They are also successful in meeting their internal goals of fulfilling the targets set for reducing the number of in-patients in their clinics and also the patient mortality rates of their target markets (Keller,2012).
Understanding the target market is absolutely imperative for the execution of a successful and profitable business model. Because until and unless the company identifies and understands the needs of the target market well, they will not be able to fulfil those needs well. Therefore, it is also important for Mid Atlantic Medical Centre to identify and then cater to the needs of the diabetic patients properly. By doing so they are more likely to have a profitable endeavour in the long run.
References
- Diabetes Statistics. (2012). Retrieved on 19th February 2013 from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/
- What is Strategic Marketing?. (2012). Retrieved on 19th February 2013 from http://www.griffinstrategicmarketing.com/griffin-strategic-marketing/what-is-strategic-marketing
- Proctor,T. (2012). Strategic Marketing. United States: Routledge
- Kotler, P. & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.). United States: Pearson Prentice Hall
