Assisted Living Facility Current Marketing Situation - Research Paper Example

Marketing Executive Summary The interest for assisted living and elderly care services is always increasing and the demand for care services is anticipated to remain vibrant for an unforeseeable future as the elderly population increases and relatives seek for alternatives. With this in place, marketing remains to be one standout activity necessary for these facilities despite being an area that may not be a specialty for health care providers working in the facility. Promoting an Assisted Living Facility is an important yet frequently difficult assignment in charge of creating demand, pulling in occupants as well as to enable the facility meet its operational costs. This can be accomplished through utilizing various expert marketing tips and consolidating present day tools that exploit todays innovation and assets to market the facilities. The Assisted Living Facility (ALF) will strive to provide these individuals with the up to date comprehensive services with regular supervision and assistance from a wide range of health care providers to ensure they enjoy proper health as well as to guarantee them their safety and well being. This marketing plan targets to improve the volume of admission of new clients as well as to avoid transfers for the current clients at the facility. Current Marketing Situation Market Description Development in assisted living industry has been driven in expansive part by customer demand. Individuals who need help with performing ordinary tasks like bathing, taking their meals, or putting on their clothing prefer to acquire the services in settings that resemble homes and not institutions. The business sector for assisted living has advanced over the previous decade as facilities now serve a more handicapped occupant population with complex demand for services, conceivably inferring that helped living could be a more suitable nursing home option than it at first was (Marsden, 2005). Benefits and Product Features The ASL will provide throughout the clock supervision and care for the clients. This will ensure that the clients are well served when there is need regardless of the time of the day. Clients will be provided assistance in eating, bathing, dressing and taking medication. The program of the facility will also include a health and exercise program (Yee-Melichar, Boyle & Flores, 2010). This will make the clients to be physically fit. Clients who will need to be transported to medical hospitals will be offered transportation services by the ASL facility. Product Review Assisted Living facilities continue to provide people with disability and elderly citizens with necessary services with full time supervision so as to ensure adherence to medication and healthy livelihoods. Many middle age working individuals find it hard to perform in their work while at the same time taking care of the elderly or those with disabilities in their homes (Yee-Melichar, Boyle & Flores, 2010). In case they leave them at home, they will be risking their safety. Taking them to ASL ensures that they are well taken care of and their safety is guaranteed. The facility will provide an environment that is free for the clients to interact with others as well as regular monitoring of their mental health. Competitive Review The selling point of the facility will be the quality of the services provided. Client’s testimonials on satisfaction will be well documented and used to market the facility to other potential clients. Through regular marketing campaigns, the facility will aim to make a brand that will be unrivalled due to quality service provision. Marketing campaigns are an effective way to penetrate the market (Gospe, 2008). Distribution Review The need to advance an assisted living facility and empower potential occupants and their families to timetable arrangements or take visits is frequently faced by many difficulties. Ordinary hindrances incorporate little or even non-existent marketing spending plans, trouble finding relatives and other decision makers, next to zero information of how to incorporate internet marketing skills and the absence of a strong brands (Zimmerman et al., 2001). Each of these concerns can prompt low-energetic, inadequate promotion campaigns which have a tendency to draw in low volumes of potential occupants, a large number of whom may not be a solid match for the facility. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis Strengths The size of the facility and the number of staff who are committed to serve the client throughout the day and with passion remains to be the main strength of the facility. This results to client satisfaction and increases referrals. Motivating the staff and creating a healthy working environment will enable the facility to achieve its targets and goals. Weaknesses The main challenge in proper market penetration is the lack of clear information on where to find the potential clients and the people who influence decisions. As such, marketing campaigns will be open and unspecific since they will be directed to the general public with the hope that the potential clients will be reached through this manner. This will be quite expensive compared to targeted marketing campaigns but will be necessary to penetrate the market. Opportunities Regardless of the wide spread supply of ASL services, there still lacks a brand that has a substantial market share. The facility will target to be the market leader through constant marketing, capitalizing on referral services and maintaining high quality services. Threats There are constant threats from new entrants who might see gaps in the industry and use it to capitalize their market entry. The facility will counter this by always reviewing the services provided to ensure that they are up to date by employing the best technology. Objectives and Issues The main objectives of the company are to increase its market share and increase enrollment to the facility. This will as a result lead to increased profitability, making the facility to be sustainable (Allen 2004). The level of client withdrawal will be used to measure the quality of services provided. High number of churn will signify provision of poor services prompting management to take corrective measures. Low number of clients churn will show high client satisfaction and happiness. The first year objective will be to focus on quality services, increase visibility thus encourage referrals. The second year will be to increase the number of clients to manageable amount. Marketing Strategy Positioning The facility will capitalize on treating the clients as family and create a home environment for them to be comfortable to interact with each other rather than taking the form of a facility. The staff will serve the clients with maximum respect and care. Product Strategy Services provided at the facility will be comprehensive in nature to suit the well being of the clients. The clients will be entitled to three meals a day, access to physicians, 24 hour supervision, assistance in eating, bathing, taking medication and dressing. These products will be used to market the facility to potential clients and their guardians Pricing Strategy The facility will use a mixed pricing strategy so as to provide different packages of services. The packages will be priced separately and the factors to consider while pricing will include the size of bed space needed, addition of extras in meals for higher package and level of care needed. Distribution Strategy With the coordination of different departments of the facility, the facility will offer subsidized pick and drop services. Clients or guardians will be able to make phone call and request for the clients to be picked from their homes. Marketing Communication Strategy Use of different media communication channels will enable advertisement messaging to reach the targeted clients. The facility will also employ modern technology including social media campaigns and blogs to increase the visibility and encourage more people to tap in to the services provided. Marketing Research According to Resnick & Mitty (2009), the presence of a home-like environment makes it ASL facilities to be more marketable and have a larger clientele. The facility will provide humane and friendly services that will target to make the client happy and contented. Marketing Organization The facility will conduct thorough interview to ensure that only competitive and self motivated individuals are recruited. Passionate staff will provide quality services without much supervisory needs. Budgets Controls The management will ensure that they conduct regular review of the books of accounting so as to keep expenses at bay. The churn of the clients will also be used to estimate the client’s happiness and the quality of services provided. References Top of Form Marsden, J. P. (2005). Humanistic design of assisted living. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Top of Form Resnick, B., & Mitty, E. L. (2009). Assisted living nursing: A manual for management and practice New York: Springer Pub. Co Top of Form Yee-Melichar, D., Boyle, A. R., & Flores, C. M. (2010) Assisted living administration and management: Effective practices and model programs in elder care. New York: Springer. Top of Form Gospe, M. (2008) Marketing campaign development: What marketing executives need to know about architecting global integrated marketing campaigns Cupertino, CA: Happy About. Top of Form Zimmerman, S., Sloane, P. D., Eckert, J. K., & Ebrary, Inc. (2001) assisted living: Needs, practices, and policies in residential care for the elderly. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press. Top of Form Allen, J. E. (2004). Assisted living administration: The knowledge base New York: Springer Pub. Co Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More