Brand revitalization is s strategy used to market a business and it is mostly implemented when a business reaches maturity where the profits have decreased and the business management is attempting to bring back the profits of the business. Moreover, product or business revitalization is mostly conducted due to various market forces that cannot be controlled, such as increased competition, when the customers taste and preference changes among others. Concerning Plaza health home services, there was a need to undergo brand revitalization because the one they had adopted was old fashioned and could not sustain the changing market forces. The hospital had been established within a short period; hence, here was no enough time to design an effective brand identity for the health facility. However, the health facility appears to have succeeded within the market because of word of mouth communication marketing in addition to the fact that they resorted to offering superior services as compared to their rivals. The management of the hospital resorted to the delivery of services in a comprehensive manner, going to great lengths to surpass the expectations of their clients and overshadow the services being offered by their competitors.
The health facility’s current marketing communication has been quite informal, since it has been using business cards, promotional brochures and signage’s to communicate their messages to its clients and to market their brand. Today, a large number of people are using mobile phones and the internet to access information, a trend that has resulted to businesses establishing their presence online in order to reach a large number of customers. However, Plaza Health Services, like most health facilities appeared afraid to go public, as it preferred its privacy by using old-fashioned marketing communication strategies, which only succeeded because of the high quality of services being offered. Promotional brochures and signage’s can only be accessed by customers within a certain locality and limits the growth of the business as compared to the use of the internet (Fortenberry, 2011). The health facility has a brand name that serves as an element of brand identity that reads, “Plaza Home Health Services,” which is widely known by the clients and changing it may lead to huge confusion. The other component that served as a brand identity was the company’s logo, which had text only, but an inclusion of a symbol in addition to attractive colours would make it more appealing to customers. The health facility has positioned its brand through the delivery of services in a comprehensive manner to the extent that the expectations of the clients have been surpassed. Additionally, the fact that the management established a compensation package that attracted the services of caregivers ensured only the best employees could be employed to work at the facility, translating to delivery of high quality services.
Swot Analysis
Health facilities face a range of market conditions that force them to implement a number of projects to earn competitive advantage and to be at par with needs of the patients and plaza home health services is no exception. The use of swot analysis is a strategic plan for business that aims at describing how they can best utilize their resources to accomplish the set goals and mission through the evaluation of the viability of the various projects that the business has implemented (Goldsmith, 2014).
Figure 1: Swot analysis
Importance of Benchmarking Brand Strategy
Plaza home health services is a facility that is still adjusting to the market condition considering that it has been in the market for only one year; hence, it is important for the management to be aware of what other facilities are doing in terms of their brand strategy. Achieving this can be done through benchmarking that involves the process of measuring and analysing the practices of a competitor within the marker as a way of improving one’s services (Moseley, 2009). In terms of market communication, the health facility needs to know how its competitors are increasing their awareness in the market. This will help it to know the effective methods and superior ones that can earn it competitive advantage. Identity is also vital in a brand strategy development considering that there are those common ones that clients identify with; hence, checking what competitors are using is vital to avoid duplication. Items such as the logo need to be unique, the symbols being used also need to be differentiated from those competitors, and this can only be achieved via benchmarking (Hillestad & Berkowitz, 2013). Brand positioning that involves setting a unique identity of the firm’s services in the mind of the customers is also vital for success. Hence, knowing how other facilities have positioned themselves will help in identifying a unique ground. Moreover, benchmarking the brand positioning of competitors will help to know how they are shifting their strategies in order to provide Plaza health services with a direction to take in order to remain viable.
John Hopkins health facility is one of the companies that have established themselves in the market and possess a great competition to any firm that would wish to venture into the health provision industry. In the recent days, John Hopkins hospital has been seen communicating its brand through social media where the services of the firm are shared online in addition to clients reviews among others. The hospital brands itself as affordable health provider as compared to its competitors in addition to offering comprehensive quality services facilitated by qualified personnel in the market (Berkowitz, 2011). Plaza home health services needs to adopt online communication to sell its brand like Hopkins because most patients are using the various online social services to interact and review services offered by health facilities. In terms of quality services, plaza health facility is moving into the right direction as it has also resorted into employing the best personnel like Hopkins.
Conclusion
Plaza home health facility intends to improve its presence in the market through brand revitalization considering that it is presently using a marketing communication strategy that is quite informal. The health facility boats of experienced and skilled workforce in addition to quality services but it has a poor brand identity, especially concerning the firm’s logo that needs improvement. As compared to John Hopkins hospital, plaza home health services needs to adopt online communication to sell its brand because most patients are using the various online social services to interact and review services offered by health facilities.
References
Berkowitz, E. N. (2011). Essentials of health care marketing. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Fortenberry, J. L. (2011). Cases in health care marketing. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Goldsmith, S. B. (2014). Understanding health care management: A case study approach. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hillestad, S. G., & Berkowitz, E. N. (2013). Health care market strategy: From planning to action. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Moseley, G. B. (2009). Managing health care business strategy. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
