Question

Brand Stretch Spectrum, Market Product Grid, and Lateral Marketing Strategy

• Assess the importance of evaluating newly developed health care products in order to determine whether the products should carry existing brand names or whether they should be assigned new brand names. Suggest realistic branding strategies needed for marketers to evaluate newly developed health care products or services. Provide support for your rationale.
• Use the Internet to research the product offerings of a local health care organization. (Note: These offerings are often found on the health care organizations homepage.) Based on your knowledge of your local region, consider the potential markets for these products. With this information, construct a Market-Product Grid for your selected health care entity. With the grid, you should, at a minimum, analyze the resulting market-product combination. Determine whether or not the product offerings that you selected are consistent with the perceived selections of the given health care entity. Explain your rationale.
• Assess the value of target marketing as an effective health care marketing strategy. Appraise the degree to which vertical and traditional segmentation help marketing managers use target marketing strategies. Support your rationale with at least two (2) specific examples of target marketing within a health care organization with which you are familiar.
• Evaluate the impact of lateral segmentation in encouraging marketing managers to look broadly at markets in order to identify previously overlooked opportunities. Provide at least one (1) specific example of quality initiatives within a health care organization

Answer 1

PRODUCT EVALUATION

Product evaluation is a kind of evaluation where in the evaluator views and scores the final product made and not on the actual performance of making that product. It is concerned on the product alone and not on the process. It is more concerned to the outcome of the performance of the learner. It also focuses on achievement of the learner. Product evaluation focuses on evaluating the result or outcome of a process.

Product evaluations will help you to stay ahead and and will bring you data with invaluable knowledge about your customers needs. Product surveys provide you with a valuable basis so that you can: Customize products or services so that your target audience / customers gets what they prefer.

BRANDING STRATEGIES

• Social Media for Health and Wellness

Regardless of whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers on your social channels, you need to ensure that you have a consistent social media schedule which includes both paid and organic advertising to really drive your brand’s voice.

You can really get some big wins from social media if your team can think of innovative ways to grab users’ attention, whether your preferred channel is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or even Reddit (yes, if you offer good advice on Reddit it can really pay off).

• Use Video To Connect with Your Audiences

Video content has literally taken over the internet, with the Cisco Visual Networking Index reporting that 82% of all IP traffic will be video-based, and live videos will account for 17% of that by 2022.

Don’t just throw up any old video, however, you need to ensure that it’s not only optimized for your audience in terms of how it appeals to your target market but how they will be accessing it. Also, always ensure at a minimum it’s shot in 1080p HD (preferably 4K).

• Use Health-Focused Micro-Influencers on Social

The days of an uber-famous celebrity telling us to buy X, Y, and Z brands of protein shake or green tea are dying out.

Why? Because they’re not exactly ‘real’ people.

We know companies have paid them thousands of dollars to shove their product in our face and we have definitely become far more aware and defensive about it.

Enter micro-influencers.

Yes, they’re still in the business of making some revenue for advertising products, but, because they come from a more close-knit, usually well-engaged community, their followers trust what they have to say far more than they can trust the likes of Kylie Jenner promoting hair growth pills. A 2018 study carried out by socialpubli noted that the engagement rates of a micro-influencer are 7x that of those with millions.

• Be Authentic with Your Wellness Brand

Though the word ‘authentic’ can be a little overused these days and become a little cliché, it doesn’t mean that authenticity shouldn’t be strived for when building a brand; especially in the health and wellness industry.[1]

For example, one brand that killed it with their branding was NYC based SoulCycle back in January of last year when they literally decided to say ‘Screw Resolutions’ and, instead, take a more realistic and healthy approach to life’s goals.

• Storytelling for Health and Wellness

Storytelling is a trend that is set to stick around, so be sure to include it as part of your strategy. It’s also easily done within the health and wellness sector, as no matter what your business does, it’s likely that some kind of transformation may have taken place. Your brand can tell its story through different mediums, whether it’s written content, video, or even before and after pictures.

We live in a world where we want to feel connected to other people and even businesses or brands. We want to hear a ‘real’ voice behind the brands and see how they differentiate from others.

Targeting specific emotions you want to elicit upon people hearing of your brand is a great way to work out how you will position your storytelling. Facts are great but they can be a bit of a bore and cause instant disconnection (unless, of course you’re doing pharma marketing — where facts are a strict legal requirement). So instead of reeling off statistics, talk about how your product affected one person in particular, even get them to tell the story.

PRODUCT OFFERING IN HEALTHCARE

Health products are defined as those substances which gives energy or makes the person healthy. Because of the current competitive environment, health care providers (hospitals, HMOs, physicians, and others) are constantly searching for better products and better means for delivering them

Here are the most recommended health products for 13 categories.

Cough, cold and allergy
Cold remedies: Cepacol
Oral antihistamines: Claritin
Oral decongestants: Sudafed

Diabetes health
Diabetic neuropathy Products: Capzasin
Diabetic multivitamins: Nature Made
Oral glucose products: Insta-Glucose

Diagnostics
Blood sampling devices/lancets: OneTouch
Blood pressure monitors: Omron
Peak flow meters: Omron

Eyes, ears, nose and throat
Contact lens solutions: Opti-Free
Saline nasal moisturizers: Ocean
Sore throat liquids, sprays and strips: Chloraseptic

First aid
Adhesive bandages: Band-Aid
Topical antibiotics and antiseptics: Neosporin
Sun burn relief: Solarcaine

Oral care
Cold sore treatments: Abreva
Toothpaste: Crest
Therapeutic mouthwashes/oral rinses: Listerine

Pain and inflammation
Headache products: Advil
Migraine headache products: Excedrin Migraine
Anti-inflammatory products: Advil

Pediatrics
Children's cough and cold combinations: Children's Dimetapp
Infant formula: Enfamil
Children's sore throat products: Chloraseptic Kids Sore Throat Spray

PRODUCT-MARKET MATRIX

  

The four main categories

Market Penetration (existing markets, existing products):
Here we market our existing products to our existing customers. This means increasing our revenue by, for example, promoting the product, repositioning the brand, and so on. However, the product is not altered and we do not seek any new customers.

Market penetration seeks to achieve four main objectives:

• Maintain or increase the market share of current products – this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling
• Secure dominance of growth markets
• Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors; this would require a much more aggressive promotional campaign, supported by a pricing strategy designed to make the market unattractive for competitors
• Increase usage by existing customers. For example by introducing loyalty schemes.

A market penetration marketing strategy is very much about “business as usual”. The business is focusing on markets and products it knows well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on customer needs. It is unlikely, therefore, that this strategy will require much investment in new market research.

Market Development (new markets, existing products):

Here we market our existing product range in a new market. This means that the product remains the same, but it is marketed to a new audience. Exporting the product, or marketing it in a new region, are examples of market development.

Market development is the name given to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its existing products into new markets.

There are many possible ways of approaching this strategy, including:

New geographical markets; for example exporting the product to a new country

• New product dimensions or packaging: for example
  • New distribution channels
  • Different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments

Product Development (existing markets, new products):
This is a new product to be marketed to our existing customers. Here we develop and innovate new product offerings to replace existing ones. Such products are then marketed to our existing customers. This often happens with the auto markets where existing models are updated or replaced and then marketed to existing customers.

Business Diversification (new markets, new products):
This is where we market completely new products to new customers. There are two types of diversification, namely related and unrelated diversification. Related diversification means that we remain in a market or industry with which we are familiar.

The diversification can be divided again into horizontal, vertical and lateral diversification.

• The horizontal diversification is the extension of the production programme.
• The vertical diversification is the sales stage stored by products pre order.
• The lateral diversification is the sales of completely new products, which within the range of the technology and marketing in no connection.

TARGET MARKETING – Establishing Target Customers

Your marketing budget is going to be most effective when it reaches your selected target market. The benefit of target marketing is simple—efficiency. Solid target marketing is a method to more efficiently reach your customers*. Target marketing is a better use of your most valuable resources, i.e. time and money, to generate additional revenue.

Who do you consider will benefit the most from your products and services? Think of the people and their most common characteristics and attributes. One of the best ways to identify your target market is to look at your existing customer base. Who are your ideal clients? What do they have in common? If you do not have an existing customer base, or if you are targeting a completely new audience, speculate on who they might be, based on their needs and the benefits they will receive. Investigate competitors or similar businesses in other markets to gain insight.
Four Ways to Identify Target Markets

Use these four category areas as you collect information to identify and define your target market:

1. Geographics: The location, size of the area, density, and climate zone of your customers.
2. Demographics: The age, gender, income, family composition and size, occupation, and education of your customers.
3. Psychographics: The general personality, behavior, life-style, rate of use, repetition of need, benefits sought, and loyalty characteristics of your customers.
4. Behaviors: The needs and wants your customers seek to fulfill, the level of knowledge, information sources, attitude, use or response to a product of your customers.

Focus on Benefits

One of the marketing fundamentals is focusing on benefits. This perspective is critical to target marketing. Establishing an intimate understanding about the needs and wants of your desired target market is critical. How will your customer benefit from using your services or products?

What tangible or intangible benefits might customers realize, and is it possible to quantify these benefits? What is your customer really buying? This much is certain: No one wants to buy surgery! Or dentistry! Or physical therapy! Or invasive procedures!

People purchase services and products (including healthcare services) to realize one or more of the following life-improvement benefits:

• Pain relief
• Productivity
• Abilities
• Confidence
• Appearance
• Personal relationships
• Peace of mind

Basically, you all sell the same product – a happier life. At least, that is what your customer wants to buy.

The Target Market Profile

The target market process allows us to break down these groups of people so we can better understand how to reach them. One way to do this is to create a target market profile. Here is an example of a target market profile:

1. Geographics:

• Lives within the ZIP codes 000-000

2. Demographics:

• Married.
• Between the ages of 21-35.
• At least one child.
• Condominium or home owner.
• Education experiences beyond high school.
• Earning a combined annual family income of $50,000 or greater.

3. Psychographics:

• Values time and considers it their single most limited resource.
• Excited about accepting and using innovative ideas and products.
• Consistent Web users. Prefer the Internet over magazines and newspapers for information they trust.
• Increasing resources invested into safety and security issues.
• Beginning to plan for their future.

4. Behaviors:

• They are leaders in product selection and respond to the opinions of the “industry experts” when making purchase decisions.
• This group will first look to the Internet to acquire this information.
• They defend these decisions under most any circumstance and will adamantly “sell” those that ask why they use the product or service and why they made the choice they did.
• This group can be a powerful, unpaid sales force resulting from the referral network they build and use.

Target marketing allows you to reach, create awareness in, and ultimately influence, that group of people most likely to select your products and services as a solution to their needs, while using fewer resources and generating greater returns.

The more detail you know about your “ideal” customers and clients, the better you will be able to make them aware of your products and services, and how to purchase them through you.

Target Market Strategies

A marketer can select a single market or many markets to target its efforts to. The target market strategies can be divided into three types depending upon the number of target markets.

Multisegment Marketing

Multisegment marketing refers to the practice of targeting more than one market segment. Some companies market the same product to different segments differently, while some manufacture different product lines to cater to different market segments.

For example, selling auto parts to auto manufacturers and other finished products to the end-user is a multisegment marketing strategy.

Concentrated Marketing

Concentrated marketing refers to the practice of directing every marketing effort to a single segment of the market. For example, selling auto parts only to auto manufacturers is a concentrated marketing strategy.

Microtargeting

Microtargeting is a relatively new targeting strategy which involves isolation of the markets and collection of as much data as possible to target them in a personalized way. This strategy was used in the recent U.S. presidential elections.

Target Market Analysis

The target market analysis starts with yourself. You have to focus on the 5 W’s of your potential customers to select the most beneficial target market for your business.

• Who: Start with questioning yourself about who is going to buy your product. Are they children, teens, millennials, or baby boomers? Are they males or females? Are they service classed or self-employed? What’s their yearly income?
• What: What type of products and services do they buy now and what do they expect from it? Does your product fits their requirements?
• When: When do they buy the product? Is it daily or rarely? When do they use the product?
• Where: Where do they live? Where do they use the product?
• Why: Do they buy it because it’s their need, or is it a luxury product for them?

Once analysed, you can differentiate the profitable segment from the non-profitable ones. Once you’ve segmented the market select the perfect market segment for your business if it fulfils the following characteristics.

• Big Enough: Is the market segment big enough to make you profits in the present as well as in the future?
• It is still growing: A big market today can be a dead market tomorrow. Always analyze the growth statistics before moving ahead and choosing the segment as your target market.
• Not Many Competitors: Having some competitors might be beneficial for your company. But having a market full of existing established players isn’t a good market till the time you have an exceptionally well product to position yourself differently.
• Your Product Can Fulfill Their Need/Want/Luxury: Does your product has all that it takes to fulfil the needs of your target customers?