PruCare
The Prucare is a managed care plan that is entering a new metropolitan area aiming to meet the consumers’ needs with the delivery of quality health care services. The decision came about after extensive marketing to identify market opportunities (Somu, 2012). The Prucare marketing team needs to develop strong promotional strategies to position the organization with the current clients and also the prospective new clients. Advertising through television and print media offers an effective way of attracting innovators at this introductory stage of the product lifecycle and get a speedy adoption of the services to the prevailing market (Dijkstra & van der Bij, 2002).
Online communication through social media websites, direct marketing, and engaging in contests are efficient promotional strategies to build service awareness and educate potential clients about the excellent quality and unique services at Prucare. Other mutual promotional strategies that Prucare marketing team can engage in are direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations, and after-sale services. The after-sales services will involve contacting the clients by telephone or through the mail after getting the Prucare services. The strategy puts the importance of clients’ satisfaction, consequently building their confidence with Prucare services (Somu, 2012).
HealthStop
The services of HealthStop, an urgent care clinic, have entered the maturity stage of the product lifecycle. This is evidenced by the slow rate of sales growth due to the entry of competitors offering similar services (Somu, 2012). The management team of HealthStop needs to secure its market share to maximize the profits. The process will involve enhancing the service features within the clinic and differentiating them from the competitors. The competitors’ effort of getting to the level of HealthStop service has triggered an urgent focus on the dominance of the market share (Dijkstra & van der Bij, 2002).
The HealthStop needs to refine the uniqueness of its services and place a value proposition with strong service differentiation and positioning. Service differentiation and positioning include targeting a new market niche to deliver HealthStop services, offering new and branded services, and partnering with complementary service providers (Somu, 2012). The strategy will differentiate the HealthStop services from the competitors, resulting in improved quality of services. Moreover, service differentiation and positioning minimize the risk of decline of HealthStop due to a resultant increase in revenue generation. The management of HealthStop may consider appointing a team of experts that will conduct research and development studies to come up with new services ideas to replace the maturing services (Dijkstra & van der Bij, 2002).
Community Hospital
Community Hospital, a 234-bed facility with 7 pediatric beds, is experiencing a decline in its service delivery. The probable reasons for the decline in service delivery in the Community Hospital are the introduction of more innovative services in the healthcare industry, and changes in the clients’ preference (Somu, 2012). In this situation, the Community Hospital needs to rejuvenate the scheme offering the services through the addition of new features and the establishment of new mechanisms of delivering the services to maintain the services being delivered to the clients. This will be possible through a cautious understanding of the hospital clients and the competitive market (Dijkstra & van der Bij, 2002).
The stiff competition may contribute to lowering the cost of the hospital services to be relevant in the market. Additionally, hospital management may seek to improve or change the channels of services in the existing competitive market. The Community Hospital management may need to carefully consider the need for continuing offering the services in a situation the hospital cannot compete efficiently. The development of a marketing research plan will help to determine the status of the market demand (Somu, 2012).
References
Dijkstra, L., & van der Bij, H. (2002). Quality Function Deployment in Healthcare:
Methods for Meeting Customer Requirements in Redesign and Renewal. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 19(1), 67-89.
Somu, G. (2012). Marketing Strategies in Healthcare. International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 3(6), 76-89.