HSA 505 Assignment 1 Essay

This paper pertains to the marketing of Health Care Services and provides the steps and history of marketing in health care and the effects of marketing on the health care delivery system from 1950 to 1990. It introduces the health care consumers and their role in the marketing process as well as the factors that influence consumer behavior. These factors influence the success of marketing in health care. It also provides the requirements for successful marketing and current techniques and strategies used by health care organizations.

However, in light of its organizational problems, the situation surrounding HCCH has many opportunities.  First, increased funding looks promising; as $875 billion dollars has of late been approved with the Affordable Care Act to challenge the unacceptable status quo of health care in all of America.  Second, HCCH is in a good position to be repositioned- meaning that HCCH’s core values of service, equality, and trust are important values to its stakeholders and will only better be reinforced through an effective rebranding.  The rebranding itself is of course the third opportunity as the professional advice sought generated enlightening ideas and will guarantee a quality solution. By leveraging these opportunities and strategically managing and mitigating its problems, HCCH has the potential to create a viable marketing plan that will help keep it moving towards its organizational goals.

The womens health clinic has a variety of ways in which they can segment its market. One base is sociodemographic segmentation. The women’s health clinic might ascertain a specific communication strategy geared to the needs of its patient’s age group. The clinic can base their services on gender; which in this clinic it would be women and they could offer pap smears, and mammograms. Another way the women’s health clinic can segment its market is psychographically through social class. The clinic can post advertisements (billboards, commercials, flyers, and brochures) directed to particular social classes in the area that would appeal women to utilize their services. A third major way the women’s health clinic can segment its market is by usage segmentation. To attract new patients who

| A disease or condition that affects a greater than expected (normal) number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time is referred to as an ____.Answer

The healthcare system in America started as a predominantly volunteer system where patients were required to pay little to nothing for treatment. Since it began, the healthcare industry has seen tremendous changes that have transformed it into a business entity which has operations like financial management, strategic planning and functional specialties to keep the industry viable. The industry is one of the largest in the country employing 15 million people with a projected increase of jobs with 3 million jobs annually. As the healthcare industry continues growing, services and personnel are changing, and various dynamics are coming into play to accommodate changes (Smith, Saunders, Stuckhardt, & McGinnis, 2013).

In this paper I will be playing the part as a chief operating officer (COO) and I am responsible for a 15-bed Emergency Room (ER). In this scenario I am facing many complaints within the last year regarding inadequate care, poor Emergency Room management, long wait times, and patients being sent away because of lack of space, staff, or physicians to provide appropriate care. I am asked to (1) Thoroughly diagnose the root causes of the complaints about the clinic, (2) thoroughly devise a strategic plan for overcoming the problems associated with the current Emergency Room, (3) thoroughly justify how the “Good

In order to identify the functional areas for improvement would require some kind of survey that would be sent to the patients after discharge from the hospital. Yet, another way would be having someone speak directly with the patients admitted or awaiting services to understand how they feel and their perception of care. A

Marketing has become so prominent in health care today because the health care system is more and more resembling a business. There are many functions to be performed and many complex and sophisticated skills involved. There has been so much growth and competition that health care is advertised and marketed like any other product.

A brand portfolio is all the lines and brands that a company offers. The four brand roles in a brand portfolio are flankers, cash cows, low-end entry, and high-end prestige (Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 123).

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

First of all, a strong brand can be seen as the condition for organisations to expand products, offer more service, and introduce new products (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Secondly, a strong brand can lead to growth marketing communication effectiveness (Keller, 2009). ‘To build a strong brand, the right knowledge structures must exist in the minds of actual or prospective customers so that they respond positively to marketing activities and programs in these different ways.’(Keller, 2003, p. 140) Furthermore, Kay (2005) asserted that the strong brand can be seen as a resource of management, which make brand extension easier and useful to build distribution network. Companies are not treated by the intermediaries (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Moreover, companies are comparatively easier to change price if they have strong brands. As Henderson, et al (2003) said, a strong brand can allow for premium pricing even still remain loyalty customers, which help companies to survive in the intensive competitive market.

Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are experiencing a remarkable transformation in their business models directed from numerous influences that are projected to ultimately turn the industry around. Pressures include providers troubled with the quantity of services they are responsible for, to providers who concentrate on presenting high-cost services that give emphasis to sustaining healthy populations (Dunn & Becker, 2013).

The brand hierarchy tree is an organizational diagram with both horizontal and vertical components. The horizontal component reflects the sub-brands endorsed brands that are located under the ‘brand umbrella’ whereas the vertical component “captures the number of sub-brands that are needed for individual product-market entry”. (Aaker, 2009)

This report aimed to make comparison between a successful and a less successful brand portfolio. I have chosen Apple as a successful brand and Nokia as a less successful brand. Apple is a renowned brand name all over the world, and the products of Apple are so popular among the electronics lovers. Consumers recognize the Apple brand as a symbol of trust as well as reliability. Apple is a U.S based company, and now by revenue it is the largest information technology company in the world which is approximately 233 billion. In 1976, the company was established by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. On the other hand, the brand name of Nokia has lost its credibility recently. Nokia is a Finnish multinational information technology company. About ten years ago, the products of Nokia were so popular in Europe, Africa, and Asia. However, in recent times Nokia has lost its market share significantly. People have less faith

When people go to a store in order to buy food or commodities, they are faced with a problem of a wide choice of goods because nowadays there is a huge range of different producers. Moreover, all of them try to be recognized on the market by creating a significant image. As a result, companies create own brands. According to American Marketing Association (2013), a brand is “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Also, the process of creating connection or association between emotional perception of the consumer and company’s product with target of creating distinction and building loyalty has known as a brand management (Hislop, 2001). For