Control of Cold and Flu - Research Paper Example

Control of cold and flu Implementation milestones The main goal of this control plan is to outline all the tactics, strategies and programs which will increase on the control of flu and cold in the target market. The company aims at creating an innovative, creative, unique and upscale atmosphere which will different the ColdFlu product from other cold and flu drugs in the market. The company will also position itself as a source of education for individuals in the community who wishes to learn more on the ColdFlu syrup as a drug for the treatment of cold and flu. The goals towards the control of cold and flu will be measured quarterly through out a financial year. There milestones and goals to be met and a business plan which outlines the first three years in details. The milestones are used to map the future success of the organization. Other control goals include reducing the spread of cold and flu by 60% and to provide customers and the market with differentiated cold and flu medication. There is an implementation milestone chart which clearly outlines the key dates that the goals must be met. Each milestone will be assigned to a manager who will oversee its success. The organization will also keep a track of its success and failures by reviewing its actual results versus the planned results. This will be done on a quarterly basis.Milestones Milestone Start date End date Budget Manager Department Advertising(TV) May 2013 June 2013 $700 John marketing Radio May 2013 July 2013 $350 James Customer relationship Newspaper June 2013 August 2013 $500 Cate Customer Happiness The three departments will play a huge role in the implementation of the set milestones 2. Marketing organization Feedback from the customer is very important as it will help the organization to determine its brand awareness, brand loyalty and brand perception. Once the organization determines how the brand has been received in the market, it will be quite easy for it to determine its next course of action which includes the preparation of a contingency plan and how to further meet all of the customers’ demands. To collect feedback from the customers, the organization will perform the following: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) The organization will establish a Customer Relationship Management. CRM entails all aspects of interaction between customers and the organization on either sales or service related activities (Hillestad and Berkowitz 100). Through the CRM, the organization will understand the customer better and obtain feedback from customers on the product. Feedback boxes and use of response cards The organization will use the response cards and feedback boxes to obtain feedback from customers. They will be displayed at high traffic areas or near check outs, and customers will be asked to fill the cards or to drop their feedback on the boxes. The cards will include prepaid postage so that the customers do not incur any expense while mailing the feedback (Hillestad and Berkowitz 100). Anonymity is highly emphasized on the customer names. Online surveys The organization will conduct online surveys where the clients will be requested to provide the organization with their feedback on the product in the market. This will help the company in collecting feedback from its clients. Talking to customers Based on the target market for the cold and flu medication, the organization may also decide to talk one on one with the customers (Hillestad and Berkowitz 100). Since the company will be engaged on a direct campaign on the different ways of preventing the spread of cold and flu, talking to the customers will be a good way of collecting their feedback on the company products. 3. Contingency planning A contingency plan is a plan which is devised for an outcome which is different from the expected or the usual plan. Since this is marketing plan, it is important for the organization to be prepared to deal any likelihood in future that the organization will not make go on all of its projections. The contingency plan will include the preparation of the company in the event of failure or in the event of success. The company also has a well devised and established back up plan for the cold and flu medication which it will sell to the market. Safety of the consumers upon the consumption of the medication must be guaranteed. As part of the contingency plan, the organization will be well prepared to deal with any emergency situation which includes medical needs and adverse outcomes of the medicines. The objectives of this contingency plan would entail; give the required support to the community for the services they may require while supporting the continuation of the activities taking place in the daily routine. The contingency plan would be used to restore any disruptions in the target market. Some of the possible scenarios are: The control of flu and cold does not go as projected- this is a serious scenario though the organization is well prepared for this. This will happen if the targeted market size is not reached with the Cold Flu drug. If these projections are missed, the organization will have to double its marketing efforts. This scenario is quite dangerous as the first reaction of the organization to deal with these failed projections will be to increase its spending on marketing which may drain the organization finances. This cannot be done as the organization has to pass its message to the target market and this cannot be achieved without spending on marketing and awareness. This situation may be contributed by several factors like poor marketing strategies leading to low brand awareness and lack of proper market research. The control of flu and cold goes as projected- this will mean that the ColdFlu syrup has well been received in the market and that the organization will received more revenues which exceeds its projections. When this happens, the organization will have to be prepared to deal with this overwhelming success by increasing the budget planned for marketing with a significant percentage. Works Cited Hillestad, Steven and Berkowitz, Eric. Health Care Market Strategy. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2012, pg 200 Read More