Please reply to each part with 150 words a piece

Part 1

The rising cost of healthcare in the United States is a crisis that the money-conscious millennial generation is not buying. With the heavy influence of technology and the higher expectations for quality and affordable healthcare, health insurance companies are having to adapt to the changing market by adopting marketing strategies that reach this ever-growing consumer base.

With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, access to affordable health coverage was accessible to a more significant number of people. According to Young Invincibles, a lobbying group that spreads information about health coverage in America stated that the millennial generations had the highest rate of uninsured. At the same time, post-ACA saw a 45% decrease in the number of uninsured millennials (Schultz, 2017). According to the Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, millennials spend around eight hours a week on social media, making social media platforms the primary source for news, entertainment, influence, and advertisement for the target market (Leonhardt, 2015).

In addition to social media marketing, creating mobile-friendly access to information and accounts encourages the younger generation to stay connected. With a heavy reliance on smart devices for information, research, and applying to various services, it is essential for health insurance agencies to create mobile-friendly websites, apps, and software that allows the younger generation to connect on the go. Providing a mobile site that consumers can use to research and compare plans, speak to live agents, and complete the application process, will bridge the gap between the millennial generation and the seemingly out-of-reach health insurance coverage.

Overall, the ability of health insurance companies to “meet” their audience and at the market level will ultimately determine its success in signing up for the younger generation. Whether it’s influence from a social media campaign or the company’s mobile-friendly application, the more in touch a company is with the market’s user-trends, the better its ability to attract a specific audience. Health insurance companies must take advantage of advancements in technology to reach newer members of the population.

Reference

Leonhardt, J. M. (2015). Tweets, hashtags and virality: Marketing the affordable care act in social media. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 16(3), 172-180. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.cecybrary.com/10.1057/dddm…

Schultz, S. (2017, June 23). Reports & Briefs: What’s Happened to Millennials since the ACA? Unprecedented Coverage & Improved Access to Benefits. Retrieved January 6, 2020, from https://younginvincibles.org/whats-happened-millennials-since-aca-unprecedented-coverage-improved-access-benefits/.

Part 2

Here is the truth, and even the young adults know this to be true, anyone can get the common cold, and many try to fight it off with over the counter (OTC) medicines. As outlined and explained about by Fink (n.d). “Adults know that colds are self-limiting and seldom serious.” It is important we understand who we are marketing the insurance plan for, even with encouraging the young healthy to enroll there are different markets within this age group, the young single and healthy individuals will have different position on insurance needs than young healthy married couple with or without kids, or even a young induvial with children. Each story is unique, not only within the healthcare industry having significant changes, these alone are hard to keep up with as a consumer, but each patient has their own needs and expectations of healthcare and insurance.

With the primary target for marketing being to the millennials we will be forced to make sure the marketing catches their attention, it not we will need to adjust the plan and reline. As we know the young adults are the typical consumer targeted for insurance and especially not the healthy consumer. As this generation is explained by Cartwright (January 24, 2018) “These are tech-savvy individuals who can easily find out any information that they want with a simple Internet search, and they are much more connected than previous generations. When you have identified young adults as your target audience, you understandably need to find an effective way to reach out to these individuals. More than that, you need to grab their attention and convince them to make a purchase.” Again, this is the time of the of technology, which means as a company we need to get social within social media. Media marketing will be the primary focus. Hitting all the major social media sites with advertising not on the insurance but the importance of insurance of all ages. While this plan with hit most of the marketed audience this will not hit all of them, or be a repeat message, because of this we will have many back up marketing’s, for multiple touches, to include an email marketing plan, this plan can include not only consumers but also employers. We want to make sure we are having our current consumers use google reviews and rate the service, young adults today watch reviews, young adult consumers, simply want things immediately and online offers that, to include an online search engine search and reviews. I would also like to hire a professional blogger weekly to hit on the topic subjects of the target consumers, not only current issues but true healthcare issues, how to plan for unexpected, when it happens. Maybe even have guest bloggers on a regular basis, that have the personal experience in the same age group of the unexpected, from healthy to critical ill, or healthy to dealing with a lifelong diagnose.

We as a company understand how to reach the young adults, but the information we give them is the most important, understanding getting no one at any age wants to get hurt or sick, but unexpected things happen, and sometimes medical events do occur, and this is how we need to sell the importance of having a strong health insurance plan is for any individual. As a company we need to address the true cost of unexpected medical cost, we will need to explain the cost of a accident, surgery, life-long medical diagnose, and critical illness. Showing the true cost of these medical issues, and how insurance helps pay for some of those unexpected costs. The financial protection insurance can provide with the unexpected and many times ongoing large medical bills., this is the advantage we want to market for health insurance, as well as with young adults being the target and them thinking many health issues are for the aging, we will include young adults in our marketing with medical issues, allow for them to talk about the unexpected, how it affected them, having both sides with insurance and without insurance coverage. When using peers in marketing it is a critical instrument to be able effectively meet our target audience. We must develop with the trends for the consumer, and in order to do that it is important to understand what the future holds, examine the past, present and to calculate the future expectations in patients and healthcare.

Resources

Cartwright, Helen. (January 24, 2018) Marketing to Young Adults: What Factors to Consider. Retrieved from: http://blog.staylisted.com/marketing-to-young-adults

Fink, Jennifer.(n.d).5 Differences Between an Adult’s Cold and a Child’s Cold. Retrieved from: https://healthguides.healthgrades.com/managing-the-household-cold/5-differences-between- an-adults-cold-and-a-childs-cold.

Part 3

Marketing is a form of marketing that is specialized, it is marketing that focuses on accumulating and gathering information on potential patients or customers of different groups with common needs, and market to the group as a whole understanding that the group should or will respond to a similar marketing program. Because segment marketing has different components, it is important for a healthcare corporation to know t markets in several ways, as outlined Tarver, E (May 24, 2019) “Geographically by region or area, Demographically by age, gender, family size, income, or life cycle, Psychographically by social class, lifestyle, or personality and Behaviorally by benefit, use, or response.” To ensure healthcare being able to get its objectives marketing access positive to the right patients. Tarver, E (May, 2019) also speaks about the general ways to identify different market areas “homogeneity, or common needs within a segment, distinction, or being unique from other groups, and reaction, or a similar response to the market.”

Within the city of Auburn Hills, Michigan the average population is young professionals, college graduates, early 30’s, married with 1 child, average family size is 3 within the area, it is a young family area. However, it is Michigan and it cold during the winter months, with that average daily temperature 20 degrees, snowfall higher than the national average, and sunshine hours very limited during the day, this makes it hard for families with small kids to get out of the house in a safe environment with other younger families, in a warm safe surrounding. As a healthcare system, it is important to let the community understand that a system acknowledges the issues of young families.

Because young families, professional or not, do not typically do not have extra money, all events will be at low to no cost for the communities, remembering that the community is the future of the healthcare organization. It is important to remember that relationships can help build patient loyalty. Community events at healthcare locations allow for the community to see the organization, and events at outside locations allow for the community to see a different form of commitment to the community from the healthcare system. Because the holiday system is always extremely busy for all families, waiting until mid-January to start monthly community events allows for families to need some more activities for the January, February and March winter months.

During the month of January at an indoor play place will be a family day, for the first one will be at Peppa Pig World, admission will be covered for a family of 4 for set hours at the center. The cost of entry will be a collection of winter outerwear for a donation.

During the month of February a outing, at the local ski lodge in Auburn Hills, will allow for some family time with sledding, make snow angels, family snowball fights, because even when there is no natural snow, the lodge makes snow, along with this for inside warm-up time there will be homemade hot cocoa, snacks, and craft. The cost of entry will be a collection of cans food because the food banks are running low again after the Holiday months.

During the month of March, we will prepare for spring with a meeting for families and elderly, mixing the pairs, with lunch and craft of making pinecone bird feeders for hanging outside. For the first year will try to coordinate this with an assisted living home, such as the American House. Each family will be asked to bring an adult coloring book, crossword puzzle, or an item for a resident of the home.

All events will be marketed in the community and within the healthcare system itself. All information will go to staff members and be advertised around the system for the current patients to see. Each event will be marketed within the location to be held also; each location will post for all 3 events. Advertainments will be placed within all ambulatory offices, especially pediatrics offices. Advertainments will also be placed within local pre-school, private and public as private school enrollment is higher than public within the area. Advertainments will also be done on all social media sites, this is a generation of highly educated, technologically driven savvy parents, so marketing communications within the social media platform is a strong network. Special advertainments will also be done with marketing materials to be given at each event, from hats, gloves, mugs, bottles, shirts, sweatshirts, and bags, these items will have not only the healthcare labels but also all dates of events to promote the next event. Marketing actively that appeals to the younger professional family with activities and healthy ideas that are fun.

The important part of this is it will all be run by healthcare staff, with all departments present. The healthcare staff will run all the events, management will be on-site to interact with the community. These events are about marketing the healthcare system as one who values the community, family, and health. It is important that marketing is the truth, and the community is important. As a system appealing to the community and having an established relationship with help with growth. The service line will be implemented on a focus group implementation schedule, hosting 4 events with consumer questionnaires to determine the ongoing marketability and sustainability for this program.

Resources

http://www.city-data.com/zips/48326.htmlI

TARVER, Evan (May 24, 2019) What Is Market Segmentation

Retrieved from: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketsegmentation.asp

Part 4

Market segmentation according to the MUSE (2020), is narrowing consumers into specific groups. This assists in marketing towards a certain population with the best outcomes. This is a two part process. First section includes defining characteristics, demographic, geographical, and psycho-graphic to personalize the marketing ad to these individuals they are trying to reach. After reaching a conclusion to the population base that is being reached out to. It needs to be broken down further into large segment of things they have in common or are interested in.

Behaviors include how often this population purchases a product, how expensive is it impulsive, or a thoughtful buy. Geographical can be anything from marketing towards a cold area versus a warm area. It could also include an entire nation or other countries. Demographics are looking at the marriage rate, how many people own homes, how many rent, how many have children, the age of individuals in the area. psycho-graphics include the beliefs of the demographic being targeted and their morals.

My area in Colorado Springs has a higher population of individuals that are age 35 and 60 years old. 5 years old to 15 years old is the highest population in the springs but marketing healthcare to that age group would not be feasible. We could however market healthcare to those individuals from 35-60 healthcare through telemedicine for themselves, family members, and their children. Telemedicine according to NCSL (2019), is efficient because it extends healthcare to rural areas. Telehealth offers real time communication with a provider, there are monitors that can obtain vital signs for patients that choose telehealth, patients can enter patient portals that store imagine, labs, and other information. It is convenient for those who have a hard time getting out in the snow or traffic that the springs is known for. It would offer healthcare to those who are farther on the outskirts of the springs that can not make it to their appointments or even have much access to physicians. It also decreases the days that a patient would have to wait to get into a primary care physician. One of the primary care physicians I established with here told me they couldn’t see me for three weeks when I had the flu and needed tamiflu and a not for work. I resorted to urgent care instead and spent far more money on that visit that should have been necessary while having a primary care physician.

Ultimately, telemedicine would be a great service line to push for in the area due to weather, traffic that can last hours, primary care physicians that are overbooked, and the convenience of having access to all your information, labs, and imaging at the tip of your fingers. The products that are offered through telemedicine services for vital signs make it easy for individuals that are not health care savvy.

City-Data. (2017). 80920 Zip Code (Colorado Springs, CO) Detailed Profile. Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/zips/80920.html

MUSE. (2020). Market Segmentation. Retrieved from https://class.ctuonline.edu/_layouts/MUSEViewer/As…

NCSL. (2019). Increasing Access to Health Care Through Telehealth. Retrieved from https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/increasing-ac…

Part 5

These days, people live in social media, posting their entire lives. The things people post can provide useful information that businesses can use to advertise to the correct markets. Social intelligence tools can be used to extract demographic information such as age, gender, interests, tastes and lifestyle. Analysis can be performed to filter messages that are related to a certain brand based on certain criteria. This analysis includes the theme of the conversation, the type of social media used, and the location of the conversation (Anderson, 2018).

The data gathered is aimed at solving certain problems. Marketers can separate their customers into market segments using the information gathered by social intelligence tools. The benefits of social media are that the data is spontaneous. Online data can be updated in real-time, whereas print catalogs cannot be updated quickly. Furthermore, the data collected from social media is more realistic than traditional surveys (Anderson, 2018).

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram can help businesses decide who to target with their marketing efforts. Social networking allows users to share interests, pictures, and other information with their friends, family, and colleagues. Blogs are one of the most popular forms of social media. A blog is an online journal where entries are categorized by “tags”. Tags are words or codes that helps search engines find specific entries easily. Blogs are used by instructors, marketers, and other professionals to promote their products or ideas (Thomas, 2014).

Microblogs are short posts consisting of only a few lines of text. They include pictures, short videos, or links to other products. They are used for quick updates and sending content via mobile devices. The most popular forms are Twitter, Instagram, and Vine. Content communities are text, images, and videos that are submitted by users or creators. The most popular platforms are Youtube, Flickr, or Scrbd (Thomas, 2014).

Social media plays an important role in healthcare marketing. 40% of people believe that social media helps them make decisions about their health. However, people aged 18-24 are more likely to use social media for these decisions than people that are 45-54. 19% of smartphone users also have a health app on their phone. The most popular apps deal with exercise, diet, and weight management. Finally, 26% of hospitals are on some form of social media for advertisement (Thomas, 2014).

References

Anderson, G. (2018, January 4). The benefits of customer profiling for brands. Retrieved from https://blog.digimind.com/en/insight-driven-market…

Thomas, R. K. (2014). Social media and marketing. In Marketing health services (3rd ed., pp. 321-341). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/97815679367…

Part 6

It is overwhelming within healthcare the industry with the changes that are unpredictable and quick. While the changes that happen have many different factors, one thing is always true, all changes within healthcare need to be marketed, fast and to the right region in the market. Current healthcare customers are significantly different from the customers even 5 years ago, the change within healthcare makes for considerable importance in marketing with understanding consumers, and their preferences and needs. To understand a healthcare market profile, understanding what the community needs and how the community responds to marketing. Because consumers are taking control of their healthcare decisions, it is important for a healthcare organization to have an understanding of the market, and the value of marketing, marketing the data in a profile that customers that will allow for the organization to be considered the leader in the industry. Having a strong marketing tool or program that attracts, creates patient volume, is relevant for the success of the organization. With, marketing is not just about a message, it is about who sees it, the right consumer, Adams (September 12, 2017) goes on to explain the importance of specific marketing “Want to get the word out there and boost your visibility on social media without taking years to build the audience? Then you should certainly leverage influencers. But the key is to find the right influencer. You don’t have to go with influencers with millions of followers. You could opt for micro-influencers with tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand followers. The trick? Find the right influencer in your niche so that you’re targeting the right audience.”.

In a perfect world, every patient would see the healthcare organization perfect, so marketing would not be necessary. Although, that is not true, marketing the organization within the right market is the key to a successful strategy that will be effective, pinpointing the right patient and their exact needs. To understand your market honestly, ask the target market audience, conduct direct data research from the community, patients, families, and even staff members. Staff members with direct patient care, from clinical to non-clinical, get information from patients, and families, many times in direct and indirectly. Using this information as a voice to grow the patient base, is a great form of primary information, and specific questions and room for change and growth. This data can be collected from in form of surveys also to not only existing patients but also to the community, with a SurveyMonkey or any web-based survey.

Center for Disease Control on the prevalence of specific disease rates as well as treatment rate nationally, to help understand the community needs. Having the right data is essential, we will utilize the data from all sources to communicate the message of the right treatment by the best in the medical field. It is important that this is primarily re-laid to the right audience in the community, and just as important at the right time. Having a deep understanding of the patient’s profile along with the hospitals specific training will lead to clarity within the market. A driven approach that is specific and separate from the competition, marketed towards the target audience, using multiple networks, will ensure the message is consistent and aligned with company goals. Using data-driven marketing will enhance patients and family experiences, leading to satisfaction. Using this type of data marketing considerably lessens the failure rates. This is about understanding the patient, community and giving them better-suited products that fit community needs. It is simple, spend time in the community, research within the community, research the loyal the market when doing this it is building the relationship as well using this opportunity to understand the need and expose the healthcare organization.

We know that healthcare is changing and deciding what to market within the organization is also about target patients within the community. Linsell, (December 2, 2019) describes a Market Analysis simply “Your comparative market analysis is a lot like that puzzle. Each piece represents a different market element you need to consider in determining the value.” After seeing the value of service will allow for strong marketing to the target market. Also using data for marketing for products, or medical care, in need form alliances with manufacturers that can also offer additional exposure to new patients. Partnering with another business for the common growth for the healthcare system could likely target a wider group of patients, it is a great a co-marketing strategy.

Resources

Adams, R (September 12, 2017 )10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/299335

Linsell, Chris (December 2, 2019) How to Do a Comparative Market Analysis: A Step By Step Guide Retrieved from https://theclose.com/how-to-do-a-comparative-market-analysis/

How DO I conduct a Healthcare Market Analysis? (nd) Retrieved from com/how-do-i-conduct-a-healthcare-market-analysis.htm”>https://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-conduct-a-healthcare-market-analysis.htm

https://www.reportlinker.com/

https://www.surveymonkey.com/welcome

Part 7

It is overwhelming within healthcare the industry with the changes that are unpredictable and quick. The United States is known within the industry to have the most complex healthcare system, because of this it is important to understand it completely. Customer service is still important within healthcare, patient value and respect for the patient as a person has changed as the patients demand more inpatient care, truth be told it is about the patient taking control of their own health. It is described by Morgan (January 9, 2018) a little more in detail on why this is important for each healthcare system “Healthcare is an industry that affects everyone, but one that has historically had a reputation for less-than-positive customer experiences. However, customer experience is now becoming a focus of many healthcare companies and clinics.” Within this change of patient-centered care, patients handle not only general healthcare concerns but also specific health needs and desired.

Patient-centered care is an active collaboration that encourages that all information about care is shared between provider and patient with a personalized plan of comprehensive care. As a healthcare system marketing this a strength is important, marketing would include having patient – center care in the organization’s mission statement. Allowing the community to understand that is part of the organization’s vision. Including this in the mission statement confirms that the organization holds a patient-provider relationships and respect as a principal quality. It is crucial when marketing this in all forms from social media and web site is that with patients receiving care that focuses on a healthcare system on provider-patient team-based values. The essential benefit of the patient-centered system is to improve individual health outcomes, caring about the individual.

Changes in the healthcare industry can be due to many items, however, there have many changes are about the direct effect on company, staff workload as well as individual patient care. Technological changes have been the top changes in healthcare for years, hospital systems are not using smart technology with the outpatient setting as well as the inpatient setting. The advances in technology have a new wide variety of new products. The new advances are supported by Morgan (January 9, 2018) “An overwhelming 94% of healthcare executives said in a recent survey that they plan to implement smart technology in their organizations. Smart technology comes in a variety of forms to increase comfort and efficiency and decrease risks. Hospitals around the country have started using smart beds that self-adjust to the correct pressure and support for each patient’s preferences and condition. Smart devices and applications will continue to grow and spread throughout the healthcare field.”

The future of healthcare is an advanced technology, improvement in all medical staff to include providers, there has been substantial growth in the number of physicians pursuing to use and understand the technology to improve clinical outcomes. The implementation of the smart hospital has been seen globally because of the enormous pressure not only from patients but also from insurance and reimbursement rates. Seeking ways for overall improvement, with productivity as well of efficiency. This change and improvement go along with patient center care, as patients are expecting more, hospitals are evolving to patient expectations. As explained the meaning with the improvements it is about with Taylor (Jun 13, 2017) “Aimed at improving existing patient care procedures and introducing new capabilities.”. Naturally the improvements encompass many departments of hospitals, the technologies are a solution to easy understanding some patient care. Taylor (June 13,2017) truly outlines the benefits of incorporating the technical with quality staff “The above is not simply about what the technology and tools can do, but what healthcare practitioners no longer have to do. By freeing up clinicians’ time, they can focus more on delivering face-to-face care and, with the help of technology, maximize levels of performance and health outcomes. The greatest potential comes from partnering human intelligence with probability tools and analytics to help improve the precision around diagnoses and treatment options and embedding quantitative data at the point of care.”

With some of the top innovations driving the change, of blockchain or what is known as peer to peer communication, bio-telemetry, collecting important medical data from the patient’s vital signs, helping them improve patients health, these can be personal monitors or monitors used at the hospital. Patient tracking system for inpatient tracking, Smart patient rooms that monitor and convey data from monitoring devices to smartphones for the providers, nurses, or any other healthcare staff. As a hospital marketing, this will be about serving the patient in both care for their health but also safety. Hospitals are seeking ways to improve their productivity and efficiency, in order to reduce operational costs, personnel salary, these improvements can do that but more importantly improves patient care, getting healthcare information in a timely matter to all medical staff involved inpatient care. Therefore, are a hospital that is busy will market their overall optimal customer satisfaction, because of their ability to handle medical issues in a fast manner, reducing injury and long term effects from a medical emergency,

Resources

Morgan, Blake (January 9, 2018 )The Top 5 Trends In Customer Experience For Healthcare. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2018/01/0…

Taylor, Karen (Jun 13, 2017 ) By 2020 the Smart Hospital will be a reality Retrieved from https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/news/archive/future-health-index/articles/20170613-by-2020-the-smart-hospital-will-be-a-reality.html