Question

Topic: Student Questions

Marketing Plan For Walk-in Medical Clinic

Posted by Anonymous on 11/5/2006 at 1:16 AM ET 250 Points
Hi All,
Can anyone suggest ideas or resources for creating a marketing plan for a walk-in/urgent care medical clinic which will be joined with a regular family practice component. That is my specific need, but even hospital or medical practice plans might be useful. Is there a classic or 'bible' for marketing healthcare services?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by wnelson on 11/5/2006 at 10:19 AM Accepted
    There is no such thing as a classic or a "bible" for marketing any product or services, as you are looking at it. Any "cookie cutter" approach is basically worthless because it either fits one specific case and therefore isn't relevant, or it is so general that it's ineffective. Marketing is a process, for which the first part covers the analysis and strategy, leading to the right marketing activities and plan to fit the situation. Thus, you have marketing professionals who get paid for this.

    Below is an outline of the marketing process. If you need some more on this, please click on my name above and it will take you to my profile. There, you will find a link to my website. Click on "Marketing" and the process is explained in more detail.

    MARKETING STRATEGY
    The strategy consists of two steps - analysis and direction setting

    • analysis
      • Customer and Market
        • who are your customers?
          what are their needs?

        • what are the influencers in the part of the decision process - those words and images that affect the emotional part of the decision making process?

        • what media do they go to to find out about your products and services to satisfy the intellectual part of the decision process?

        • how would you divide these customers into segments so you can focus on the segment that best matches your capabilities to satisfy their needs?

      • Competitors
        • what are their strengths and weaknesses?

        • how well do they satisfy the customers' needs and where do they miss?

      • Your Company
        • what are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?

        • what are your core competencies - what do you do better than anyone else in the industry?

        • what are your unique selling points (USPs)

    • direction setting
      • Competitive Actions
        • how can you leverage your strengths to exploit your competitors' weaknesses?

        • how can you make your weaknesses into strengths?

        • how can you recast your competitors' strengths into weaknesses?

      • SWOT Actions
        • look for actions where strengths align with opportunities - these are the "base strategies" and you should spend most of your time/resource executing these actions

        • where weaknesses align with threats, develop actions to overcome the weaknesses - these are "survival strategies" - spend much time and resources here.

        • where weaknesses align with opportunities, develop plans to overcome your weaknesses and these become "expansion strategies." Use your "leftover" resources here.
          where strengths align with threats, develop plans here and monitor - these are "defensive strategies"

      • Product/Service Strategy
        • Given your customers' needs, your core competencies, your unique selling points, and your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, develop a product/service strategy to take advantage of your strengths to satisfy customers' needs better than your competitors

      • Position Statement - develop a statement for guiding your marketing activities:
        • Placement within a market segment – In which segments does the product/service play?

        • Placement of the product relative to other products/services categories and application – What are upstream and downstream in the supply chain with respect to the product/service? Is the product/service high value or low value with respect to other product/services used by the customers?

        • Placement versus competitors' products/services – How well does the product/service satisfy the customers’ needs versus the competition?

        • Placement of the product/services in terms of features and benefits - Is the product/service high performance or basic in features and benefits? What is the value proposition for the product/service versus the competitors?

        • Placement in the sales channel – How is the product sold by whom to whom?

        • Placement in the minds of decision makers and influencers – For those who make the “buy” decision, is the product/service critical or a commodity? Does it represent a major determiner for success and therefore involved in a major part of their daily activities for buyers and influencers?

      • Brand Strategy - Develop brand rules (this will help you look professional to combat this Goliath):
        • Name (both company and product/service)

        • Logo

        • Product/service characteristics - colors, features, quality

        • Packaging and packaging characteristics (colors, font styling, logo and logo placement)

        • Tag lines

MARKETING PLAN
  • Develop goals for your marketing efforts - usually revenue, profit, or market share goals

  • Develop activities to support your goals and that are aligned with the ways that your customers find out about products/services like yours.

  • Develop action plans with who/what/when; develop metrics; and measurement methods for each activity so that you can measure your progress to plan

EXECUTION
  • weekly review your action plans formally

  • Monthly review your marketing plan - goals versus actual - take actions to bring it into alignment.

  • Quarterly, review your marketing strategy to take into account any market environment changes



I hope this helps.

Wayde
  • Posted on 11/5/2006 at 10:50 AM Author
    Wayde,

    Thank you. I'm new to this site. I am realizing that the student portion seems to be a bit problematical for you experienced folks.

    The outline that you gave me is a wonderful, clear synthesis of what I've been taught and will help me.

    I was just hoping that there might be some "typical issues with healthcare" resource. For example, quality perception matters more than in many other industries: "low-cost leader" would be hard to sell. Etc.

    Or is that off-base?
  • Posted by wnelson on 11/5/2006 at 11:25 AM Member
    Jerry Seinfield says, "You know, somewhere there's the WORST DOCTOR IN THE WORLD..."

    Rather you are a student or not, my advise is the same: If you want to understand what customers think, it is best to go ask the customers versus asking marketing experts. Since an urgent care clinic isn't nanotechnology - almost everyone has a need and experience - finding a group of people to talk to and do some "focus group" work shouldn't be too difficult or expensive.

    Versus asking, "is there a good marketing plan I can coopt," ask things that get at the needs customers would have in an urgent care clinic. If you follow the outline, you'll get at the stuff you're looking for from the customers directly. Do secondary research - go to the library and find articles on urgent care facilities - search "patient needs for urgent care facilities." This will get you started for knowing what questions to ask.

    As a "consumer," what I look for in an urgent care facility:
    • Convenience - I don't want to go to the next state and I don't want to wait hours and hours.

    • Takes my insurance

    • Low co-payment - or at least lower than the ER (cost IS important, relatively speaking)

    • Skill - I don't want a doctor whose degree is from Aruba Correspondance Medical College

    • Extended hours
      • - I need an Urgent Care facility at midnight or on a Sunday - not when I can get into my doctor


    BUT...I'm a sample of one. You have about 379 more to go before these things become statistically significant. And this is only the needs. You have the competition to look at yet and then the urgent care facility itself to identify USPs.

    Wayde
  • Posted on 11/5/2006 at 11:58 AM Author
    Wayde,

    Thanks -- I'm starting to 'get' it. I am a mom with (formerly) small children and many 'fun' visits to great clinics and a few "doc-in-a-box" types. Kids NEVER get sick on a 9-to-5 schedule!

    I can't do big research, but I can sure ask friends, etc. It'll be more than many in my Ops Mgt class will do. (Don't ask why this is for Ops Mgt...)

    Truly, thanks for taking the time to respond to me. (Your website is awesome!)

    --Pam
  • Posted by wnelson on 11/5/2006 at 12:17 PM Member
    Pam,

    THAT'S the idea! You are getting it. Every "big" marketng research project starts with asking a "few." You have to know a little so you know what to ask the "masses." And in your report, you can always point out that you have completed a "pilot sample," designed a survey, and a further action to take is launch the survey. 380 samples makes your error no more than 5% with a confidence of 95% (this is good if your market size is infinite - so your results would be more significant than this). Also, most of your Ops Mgt class won't step in the library - especially if they are Gen Y. Many think all answers are on the web. Go to the library and make friends with the research librarian. She/he can be a great ally. You can, perhaps, find someone else's reseach and use that as a starting point for your plan. Good luck with your plan. You know how to find me if you need me!

    Wayde
  • Posted on 11/5/2006 at 3:04 PM Author
    Randall & Wayde,

    Thank you very much.

    I will be coming here often. I am getting a joint MBA/MHA and think marketing healthcare is where I want to go. But a joint curriculum doesn't give any room for electives, so I have taken only one markeing class. But I loved it, and my group got an A+ on our project (marketing disposable diapers in India) from a very tough prof.

    I thank you for the help and the friendly welcome.

    --Pam
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