CASE3-MISSEDOPPORTUNITIES xCasestudy3
Running Head: MISSED OPPORTUNITIES 1
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES 2
Case Study 3-Missed Opportunities
Name
HSA 505 – Health Services Strategic Marketing
Tutor
31/05/2019
Marketing Strategies in Healthcare Industry
Introduction
Crestview Hospital is a profit-establishment that is strategically situated in Oakland, in the East South side of the United States
.
Briarwood Medical Center, on the other hand, is a non-profit organization in the healthcare industry. Both hospitals offer surgical among other general medical services. Currently, Crestview Hospital, which is a profit-making institution, is under competition from the non-profit organization, Briarwood Medical Center. The provided case study, ‘Missed opportunities,’ illustrates a marketing scenario whereby Crestview Hospital wants to have their advertising billboard adjacent to the other institution, Briarwood Medical Center.
This is a prime location since the billboard panels are situated on the main traffic strip. These panels are likely to provide numerous opportunities to market the medical center while offering an excellent investment. As a result, Briarwood Medical Center has been caught up in an endless struggle for market share against its competitor, Crestview Hospital. Whereby it is making every opportunity to win over patients. It is an opportunity that Susan Daniels, who is the Chief Marketing Officer at Briarwood, feels cannot be lost. Her request has however been rejected by the facility’s chief executive officer who has caused them to lose the billboards to their competitors. In line with the provided scenario, this paper will give an insight into the impact of actions in terms of merits and demerits by Crestview Hospital of placing its billboards adjacent to Briarwood Medical center. It will also provide the reaction of the community and customers on the billboard postings. Recommendation on the marketing communication strategy that the two institutions would employ will also be provided. The paper will also justify the fact that the Governing Board of both hospitals should employ a proactive role in the implementation and promotion of desirable marketing strategies. Finally, it will describe various marketing research tools that both companies can employ to promote effective marketing strategies.
Pros and Cons of the Placement of the Crestview Hospital Billboard adjacent to Briarwood Medical Center
Although the two institutions, Briarwood and Crestview, are similar in many ways, Crestview managed to separate themselves from their competitors through the placement of billboards. Buying the billboards that are adjacent to its competitors, Briarwood Medical Center was a strategic move. This was an opportunity to capitalize on a perfect opportunity for the institution. Through this strategy, the medical center is likely to gain a larger market share of the entire healthcare market, which is dynamic and competitive. However, this marketing strategy is likely to exhibit both shortcomings and merits in relation to the customers and community stakeholders.
The writing on the billboard, ‘The Best Medical Care in Oakland’ is a strategy to gain interest and loyalty from the general public concerning hospital services. The message puts greater emphasis on quality healthcare services provided by the hospital to give a patient the desired outcome and high efficacy while ensuring satisfaction and utility gain to all their clients. The billboard also gives appropriate direction to the right location of Crestview Hospital to those clients who are not aware of the institution’s exact location. When compared to Briarwood, Crestview is likely to benefit from increased traffic, considering Briarwood does not have a billboard to market the institution or give the direction of its location to potential clients. This will give Crestview Hospital an opportunity to benefit from increased traffic of clients since the provided information is likely to spread across. The Billboard has a huge, conspicuous, and eye-catching nature that helps to communicate the right information to the target group easily in a short time. This facilitates the easy circulation of information about the hospital to a greater base of clients who are seeking services that are provided by the hospital (Haywood, 2005).
Crestview hospital has managed to build a brand image considering the billboard is easily noticeable by passers-by. This helps to strengthen their presence concerning their products and services in the market since the message manages to get to several groups of people simultaneously (Hannington, 2016). In addition, the customized placement of the billboard helps the hospital to locate the advert in a strategic site that ensures easy reach of the target audience. Crestview has placed their billboard adjacent to Briarwood, which facilitates the capture of customers who are seeking medical services, which helps them to find their first stop in Crestwood hospital.
However, while the billboard is likely to bring the institution increased clients, it may cause the development of negative notions on the customers. Considering Briarwood Medical Center is a non-profit organization, it is clear that their main aim is to provide the best service to the community. On the other hand, Crestview Hospital is a profit-making company. Placing the billboard adjacent to Briarwood would negatively impact on their intentions since customers, and the large community would view their intentions as driven by profit rather than the desire to provide the best services. This would cause some of the clients to shift to the institution whose primary focus is to satisfy the needs of clients without extorting them. According to Shankar & Carpenter (2012), the cost associated with the erection of huge billboards and city levies are significant and may cause increased charges on the services provided which could result to added expenses on the hospital clients. High costs of healthcare services could cause its customers to seek cheaper and less costing services. As a result, most of the patients would find solace in Briarwood Medical Center, which would mean lost business for Crestview Hospital.
The reaction of the Community Stakeholders and Customers to Billboard Postings
The community stakeholders and customers would react to the billboard postings differently. Some would have an optimistic perspective that the billboard aims to inform them of an alternative while seeking medical care services. This would cause an increased response to the advertisement in which case most of them could try out Crestview Hospital. On the other hand, community stakeholders with a pessimistic view would view the billboard postings as a form of unhealthy competition whose main aim is to slice Briarwood’s market share. This could make Crestview to be viewed negatively as a competitor who is unmindful and one that lacks ethical conscious of various business undertakings in the healthcare industry. This would cause their profit-motivated intentions to be noticed because the commercial part of their services could be viewed as a non-welcoming message to both its customers and community stakeholders (Moorcroft, 2006).
Competitive Marketing Entry Strategies by Briarwood Hospital
In a bid to counter the message used in the billboard posting by Crestview Hospital, Briarwood should employ explicit marketing strategies. According to Sternkopf (2005), the decision to enter the market competitively could offer various options which could vary in terms of cost, risk, and the degree of control. This would entail the concept of various market entry strategies with the aim of choosing an appropriate marketing mix to countertrade. One of them could be to form a joint venture. Forming a joint venture with another business that is already established could be an effective strategy for Briarwood to gain entry into the market. The institution should identify a healthcare institution that is well established, possesses the necessary distribution framework, and has proper knowledge of the healthcare market. This way, less effort and capital would be required to make an impact in the industry. Pricing is another strategy that Briarwood Medical Center can employ to counter Crestview’s message. According to Mooiji (2004), this strategy would help the institution charge viable prices for the products and services offered.
Marketing Communication Strategies by Crestview and Briarwood Hospitals
Both Crestview and Briarwood health centers should apply particular marketing communication strategies to facilitate the development of brand awareness. According to Haywood, (2005), this could be achieved by making clients to translate the information of products and services to perceptions about the positions and attributes of the hospitals in the broader market. This means that the two healthcare institutions should use strategies that are highly positioned to forge a competitive edge and capture a greater market value in the healthcare industry.
The two institutions can employ the use of videos to drive engagements with their customers. With the availability of video sites among other social media platforms such as Youtube, the institutions should adopt the use of videos as a convenient strategy to communicate its products and services with its clients. According to Gordon, Russell-Bennett, & Lefebvre (2016), it can also develop videos to target different market segments, thus increasing leads and grow sales. The use of mobile marketing is another effective strategy that the two institutions could employ. Considering the current generation is into smartphones and tablets, the two health centers should develop mobile-optimized content to reach its customers. For instance, they can employ the use of branded apps to render data and services offered in the institutions to prospective customers. According to Lefebvre (2013), the ability to use various mobile payment services at different points of sale makes this form of marketing communication a reliable and convenient one.
Reasons for Implementing and Promoting Effective Marketing Strategies
It is essential for both institutions to implement and promote marketing strategies to facilitate the identification of a well-defined target audience. According to Harner & Zimmerman (2002), effective marketing strategies help an organization to reach its target audience easily. This is important because effective marketing strategies facilitate the identification of different customer tastes and preferences, trends, and expectations from the provider. It facilitates a vast conceptual understanding of the customer needs, which helps the service providers to attain utmost satisfaction and utility from their products and services. Also, this strategy helps to out-flank competition by identifying the institution’s best customer profile. This helps to create messages that differentiate the facility from its competitors (Szőcs, Shamma & Schlegelmilch, 2016). After the institutions have formulated an effective means of communicating with their customers in a language they understand, they create a difference between them and their competitors. This helps to unveil a decisive competitive edge in the industry.
Marketing Research Tools by Briarwood and Crestview Hospital to promote effective marketing communication Strategies
Crestview and Briarwood hospitals must employ the use of market research tools in order to promote marketing communication strategies. Sale promotion is one tool the two institutions can employ. This research tool relates to various short-term activities and incentives that are geared towards the purchase and sale of hospital products and services (Saunders, Barrington & Sridharan, 2015). According to Paley (2006), sale promotion initiatives help to create customer loyalty and to drive the usage of different services in the organization. Advertising is also designed with a motive to persuade potential clients to choose the institution’s products and services over other competitors (Raithel & Schwaiger, 2015). This entails making both products and services from the hospital that is known positively to a particular section of the public that is highly likely to purchase. Public relation refers to deliberate and sustained efforts that are aimed at maintaining and establishing mutual understanding between the public and the healthcare institutions. This strategy would help the two institutions to establish a mutual understanding with its customers, an aspect that would help to increase service delivery and to achieve the desired level of satisfaction among its competitors.
References
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P., & Beukeboom, C. J. (2015). A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, 58-67.
Gordon, R., Russell-Bennett, R., & Lefebvre, R. C. (2016). Social marketing: the state of play and brokering the way forward.
Hannington, T. (2016). How to measure and manage your corporate reputation. Routledge.
Harner, S. W., & Zimmerman, T. G. (2002). Technical marketing communication. Allyn & Bacon (Longman).
Haywood, R. (2005). Corporate reputation, the brand & the bottom line: Powerful proven communication strategies for maximizing value. Kogan Page Publishers.
Lefebvre, R. C. (2013). Social marketing and social change: Strategies and tools for improving health, well-being, and the environment. John Wiley & Sons.
Moorcroft, R. (2006). CORPORATE REPUTATION: The Brand & the Bottom Line. Manager, 23.
Raithel, S., & Schwaiger, M. (2015). The effects of corporate reputation perceptions of the general public on shareholder value. Strategic Management Journal, 36(6), 945-956.
Saunders, S. G., Barrington, D. J., & Sridharan, S. (2015). Redefining social marketing: beyond behavioral change. Journal of Social Marketing, 5(2), 160-168.
Szőcs, I., Shamma, H. M., & Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2016). The Impact of Corporate Philanthropy on Corporate Reputation: A Cross-National Comparison. In Thriving in a New World Economy (pp. 293-293). Springer, Cham.
.
by QS
Submission dat e : 30- May- 2019 01:4 4 PM (UT C- 04 00)
Submission ID: 1137 958958
File name : CASE_3- MISSED_OPPORT UNIT IES.do cx (31.4 4 K)
Word count : 2093
Charact e r count : 1197 0
35%
SIMILARIT Y INDEX
7%
INT ERNET SOURCES
5%
PUBLICAT IONS
35%
ST UDENT PAPERS
1 27%
2 1%
3 1%
4 1%
5 1%
6 1%
7 1%
8 1%
9 <1%
Case study 3
ORIGINALITY REPORT
PRIMARY SOURCES
Submitted to Strayer University
St udent Paper
Submitted to Australian Catholic University
St udent Paper
journals.sagepub.com
Int ernet Source
anzmac.wildapricot.org
Int ernet Source
Submitted to University of Hertf ordshire
St udent Paper
Submitted to University of Brighton
St udent Paper
Submitted to Grand Canyon University
St udent Paper
www.coursehero.com
Int ernet Source
Submitted to Nottingham Trent University
St udent Paper
10 <1% 11 <1%
Exclude quo tes Of f
Exclude biblio graphy Of f
Exclude matches Of f
Submitted to University of Auckland
St udent Paper
Pantea Foroudi, Keith Dinnie, Philip J. Kitchen,
T. C. Melewar, Mohammad M. Foroudi. “IMC
antecedents and the consequences of planned
brand identity in higher education”, European
Journal of Marketing, 2017
Publicat ion
- Case study 3
by Janae Perry
Case study 3
ORIGINALITY REPORT
PRIMARY SOURCES
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
