Introduction
The focal point of the paper is to evaluate and analyze the marketing strategy of Veterans Affairs (VA) Loma Linda Healthcare System – Diabetic Clinic. For this purpose, the four Ps (product, price, place, promotion) and importance to the success of the organization would be discussed. Furthermore, the relationship between the organization’s marketing and its partnerships would also be evaluated. The paper would also determine the target market, including demographics, psychographics, and data from the general area in which the organization is located. The explanation would also be provided in terms of understanding the target market and its vital role in a successful marketing plan. Veterans Affairs (VA) Loma Linda Healthcare System – Diabetic Clinic is located in San Bernardino Counties and Riverside. It is targeted towards providing care to veterans. It is part of a huge chain of community services.
Four Ps
One of the marketing strategy components is the 4Ps, but some authors make it 5Ps or 7Ps, to make an effective marketing strategy. These are Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and added is People, which refers to Process, Physical evidence, or environment.
The marketing mix variables are usually considered as internal variables over which a manager has control and makes decisions (albeit influenced by customers, competition, and other external uncontrollable factors).
Product
In the marketing mix, the product is service: healthcare or skill training to employees of firms who are already members of the labor force and the new members are to be provided or serviced. Healthcare is service. And the new service is some form of specializing skills: for the “old” employees to improve their knowledge in their respective offices or work area, and for the “new” employees to enhance their basic knowledge. This is what the knowledge-based economy needs: employees with continuing education, or who are continuously acquiring the skill to be applied to their jobs. The core product is healthcare service and offers could be in the form of discounts, scholarships, study-now-pay-later plans, and so forth. Many schemes can be offered to entice prospective patients, and they are applying them now.
Promotion
Advertising and promotion are parts of the marketing mix to lure prospective students to take up further education or training from educational institutions. These are one of the primary tools in the marketing mix being employed in the situational aspect in VA.
Advertising is a paid form of non-personal communication about an organization and its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, public transport, outdoor displays, or catalogs. (Jobber and Lancaster, 2003)
Repeatedly said here is the popularity of this form of marketing mix being done all over the US. Added to this is the popularity of the Internet where websites of the various healthcare sectors, and even firms, are ‘artistically’ enticing prospective patients to take the opportunity of enhancing and enriching their health to improve their life. The spread of the Internet or the so-called cyber world is such that it looks like a new world in itself. All over the Net are commercials, propaganda, and advertorials targeting prospective students. The use of the Internet can also enhance lifelong healthcare through virtual learning, or the virtual clinic.
The effects of advertising can be great for the VA healthcare institutions targeting prospective patients. First, mass media like television, radio, newspapers, are effective means of media for advertising. They reach a wider audience, even to the furthest corner of the US. Then, there is the Internet, a new, revolutionary means of communication which can also reach a wider audience, a global audience, but more specifically, the young demographic who have made known the Internet craze. All over the Net, businesses and organizations can post whatever they want to advertise and inform their segments, at a very low cost, sometimes free.
Price
The price customers are prepared to pay determines the level of demand for a product or service which affects the prosperity of the marketing company and the company’s competitive position in the marketplace. Price levels have far-reaching implications for the national economy. They influence wages, interest rates, and government policy (Lancaster and Reynolds, 2002). Price is not the only factor that affects demand, although in some situations companies have achieved similar levels of service, product quality, and promotional support and it has become the major element of product differentiation. However, such companies have usually made major marketing efforts to reach such a state of similarity. Price is a key element in the marketing mix and thus relates directly to the generation of total revenue.
There are different types of selling and capitalizing on this particular aspect of marketing, there are inside order-takers, delivery salespeople, and outside order-takers, among others. Implementing the marketing concept requires more than paying lip service to the ideas inherent in the concept. As stated in the marketing strategy portion of this paper, firms or educational institutions have to apply the marketing tools in their strategy to entice or lure prospective patients to enroll in their facilities. To become operational and of real value to a company requires that the discipline of marketing contributes what might be termed a technology of marketing. By this, we mean that management requires the development of a set of tools (techniques and concepts) to implement the marketing concept. (Berkowitz, 2006) VA is successful because it follows the principles strictly.
Place
The accessibility of the partner centers is a great help for the institution in the context of Place under 4Ps. The website reports, “The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930, to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 domiciliaries” (USDVA, 2008). As a result, the institute can be reached from any part of the country with much ease.
Partnership
The accessibility of the patients is the greatest advantage of the institution and the partnerships involved are its greatest possessions. It could be taken into account that even if the institution is found to be in a state of the financial crisis with other aspects in a comparatively better shape, it would be a logical conclusion for the have partnerships to go for a direct help but from the perspective of the helping company, it would be their best bet to negotiate the whole matter in a holistic format as in case of the reverse situation the helper would get the help. Therefore it is more of a choice of parties with an individual perspective that is to be taken into account.
Target market
Marketing Strategy indicates the specific markets towards which activities are to be targeted and the types of competitive advantages that are to be developed and exploited.
The strategy requires clear objectives and a focus in line with an organization’s corporate goals; the “right” customers must be targeted more effectively than they are by its competitors, and associated marketing mixes must be developed into marketing programs that successfully implement the marketing strategy. In this case, the “right” customer and demographic are appropriately addressed, but to some extent, there is an over-emphasis on the matter. Indeed, it is true that everyone can be a prospective student in the lifelong learning environment, but the ‘rush’ and the overwhelming process of advertising and promotion seems not right. In any case, the marketing tool is not in question.
As part of the recipe, advertising and promotion therefore as marketing tools to lure prospective students to study or acquire lifelong learning or continuing education, is not enough. There have to be added ingredients to the recipe. A marketing opportunity arises when the right combination of circumstances occurs at the right time to allow an organization to take action towards reaching a target market. An opportunity provides a favorable chance or opening for the firm to generate sales from identifiable markets. (Jobber and Lancaster, 2003) The attractiveness of marketing opportunities is determined by market factors, such as size and growth rate, as well as competitive, financial, economic, technological, social, ecological, legal, and political factors. (Jobber and Lancaster, 2003) These factors affect the market but are stimulating too; healthcare institutions, like VA, are urging and enticing prospective patients to act and enroll in the facilities available. Moreover, the size and growth have reached such a proportion; that strong competition can be felt in the environment. The growth and ongoing competition are also affected by other factors like financial, economic, technological, social, ecological, legal, and political factors.
References
Berkowitz, E.N. (2006). Essentials of health care marketing (2nd ed). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Jobber, D., and Lancaster, G., (2003). Selling and Sales Management. (Sixth Ed). London: Pearson Education Limited.
Lancaster, G., and Reynolds, P., (2002). Marketing Made Simple. London: Butterworth-Heinemann Publications.
Smith, P. R., and Taylor, J., (2004). Marketing Communications: An Integrated Approach. (4th Ed). London: Kogan Page Limited.
USDVA. (2008). History. Web.