MARKETNG 2501 Consumer Behaviour : Marketing Strategy

Answer:

Introduction

Overview of Topic

Weight and weight management is a topic that should be discussed as it is a key issue on today’s lifestyle. Many people are not eating the right foods hence leading to obesity. Overweight and obesity is the irregular or extreme build-up of fat, which leads to health risks and lifestyle diseases (Bray & Bouchard 2014).Getting to lose weight is a real challenge because dieting and exercising is not easy to many people. Many people give up just as few days into beginning the weight-loss journey (Swift et al. 2014). Some people also have unrealistic goals and want to lose weight too fast hence harming their body systems.There is also misinformation concerning weight loss, and this had led to many being misadvised and hence end up applying wrong weight-loss strategies.

Target Market

The target market in focus will be teenagers and millenials as there is a high number of these groups who are battling with serious weight issues.

Problem/Opportunity Statement

Practices relating to weight management of patients by healthcare professionals.

Literature Review & Framework

Overview of literature on topic

Health Professionals play an important role in obesity management. Many professionals have a good attitude towards preventing obesity but lack confidence in managing obese patients and the weight management practices, which they carry out fall below recommendations. Professionals in health care should use whatever opportunity they have to assist patients to change their lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise (Yanovski & Yanovski 2014).  Surveys done on patients show that less than half of patients who are obese have been given advice by health care professionals to lose weight.Only half of professionals performed waist measurements and less than half provided guidance concerning diet, exercise, and control of weight. Very few nurses also used body mass index in making clinical judgments of weight status (Zahradka & Taylor 2015). Studies also suggest that professional practices on weight management have declined.

In countries like the United States, physicians are required to perform obesity screening and refer all overweight patients for management of weight loss. The same recommendations have been made in the United Kingdom. Despite this, trends show that a minority of professionals give weight advice due to barriers like lack of time, lack of data, no training and confidence (American College of Cardiology 2014).A number of health professionals also feel that providing advice will not change patient behavior.

Figure 2.1

Percentage of overweight and obese British people who have received professional advice on weight loss and BMI ( Jackson et al. 2013).

Prevalence of attempting to lose weight in overweight and obese British adults by health professional advice to lose weight (yes/no) and weight status (overweight/obese (Jackson et al. 2013).

Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy

The above theory has been used as it provides a wider understanding of skilled methods of managing weight through health experts (Zhu, Norman & While 2013). The theory incorporates self-efficacy, perceptions towards obesity, supposed barriers, skillful, and expert role identity. According to this theory, self-efficacy is the way one believes in his or her capabilities and uses them to arrange and implement courses of action that are necessary to manage certain situations. In his study, self-efficacy refers to a health care expert’s self-confidence to carry out specialized behaviors as pertaining to the management of weight and patients with obesity. Self-efficacy is discovered to foretell clinical performance like management of obesity. Self-efficacy acts as an intermediary in the way work is performed including professional healthcare practice. Studies indicate that the self-efficacy of nurses is related to knowledge of certain clinical behaviors (Zhu, Norman & While 2013). The study predicts that self-efficacy plays an intermediary duty in prediction and explanation of expert weight management procedures.

The creation of skills that are perceived is defined as the perception of a nurse of the skills that he or she needs to treat patients who are overweight or obese. Healthcare professionals that perceive themselves as having appropriate skills have confidence in their performance ability and are more likely to apply this on their patients. Education or training based on skills can cause an improvement to the self-efficacy of healthcare professionals hence can have an effect on their expert weight management manners.

Perceived barriers referred to the beliefs of a nurse concerning the material and emotional effect of carrying out weight management advice. The perceived barriers of healthcare professionals can be an impediment to weight management practices.620 primary care physicians did the research, and the results showed that they would only use more instances on weight management procedures if they were refunded for time (Zhu, Norman & While 2013). Nurses who had perceived barriers to the management of obesity had a negative result on weight management procedures and a non-direct result through self-efficacy.

Teamwork beliefs looked at the nurses’ beliefs about collaborative working with fellow employees to give weight management advice, and expert role identity were perceptions of the pressure of the nursing role to do or not to do weight management advice and care. Positive collaboration and expert identity of role would be linked to more common weight management methods and an advanced level of self-efficacy.

Marketing Strategies

A marketing strategy is when an organization sorts out who their audience is and getting to know what has to mean for them. They also get to know what consumers care about and how it relates to the organization’s offer. It involves uncovering of messages, which can be heard and allows the company to answer crucial marketing questions (Hollensen 2015). Marketing strategies enable organizations to save money. As a company forms its marketing strategy, it should consider various factors. The company should look at its unique selling point as it will assist in product differentiation and highlight the value of the service or product (Hartley & Claycomb 2013). The company should also consider its pricing in terms of suitable price that will enable it to get a position in the industry. The company must have a look at competitor prices before it comes up with its pricing strategy.

An organization must also consider whether it is targeting a niche market or it wants to share the market with its competitors. The company should also consider offers that it can put out to attract and retain customers. A cost-benefit analysis should be done before proceeding with any offers. Content is also important to attract buyers (Baker 2014). The company must ensure that it only puts out high-quality content. The way a product is promoted will be another key issue. Promotions can be handled in-house, or the company can focus on advertising through electronic means or print media (Chaston 2014). Public relations can be extremely beneficial to a company. It can assist the company to put its product out there and attract many customers due to the PR efforts. When an organization focuses on good customer service, it can create a loyal customer base who will not mind being brand ambassadors. This will enable the organization to get free referrals, as the existing clients are happy and satisfied. Social media is also a platform that should be tapped by organizations. People who visit social media sites and the company website should be converted into leads. The company should invest in calling these customers as a number of them can turn into permanent customers and hence enable growth of the company. The company should also consider financial projections. The strategy used should be worth it to the company and should ensure that there are high returns. It is very important for a company to consider finances before it embarks on any marketing strategies. Examples of marketing strategies that can be adopted by a healthcare organization that wants to focus on weight management issues are market entry strategy, product strategy and promotion strategy, which are discussed below.

Market Entry Strategy

Market entry strategy is the strategy that an organization can use to get into a market.First In is when an organization enters a market before all others. It requires an organization that is willing to take risks, has technological competence, heavy promotional budget and willing to evaluate their strengths (Scott 2015) carefully. Early entry strategy is when an organization enters a market immediately after the leader, and it requires a company with a superior marketing strategy, enough marketing resources, and a strong effort to face up to the industry leader. Laggard entry method involves an organization going into a market when it is maturing. It can enter the market with a similar product or with unconventional strategies for marketing.

Product Strategy

Product strategy is the kind of strategy an organization uses to launch a product or service into the market.It includes positioning approach, repositioning approach, scope approach, new product approach and design approach. Product positioning strategy is the placing of a brand in a market section where it will be received favorably as compared to its competitor brands (Pride & Ferrel 2016). Product repositioning approach involves looking at the current position of a product or service in the market and seeking a new marketing mix that will place it in a better position.It is done through promotions.Product scope strategy involves the company adopting a single product, multiple products or a system of products. Product design approach considers the degree of evenness of a product or service hence the company can offer a standard product, customized product or modify a standard product. In New product strategy, the company introduces a new product to already existing product lines, and it can be done not through product modification, imitation or innovation.

Promotion Strategy

Promotion Strategy involves how an organization uses promotion to gain a competitive edge and involves promotion mix approach, media selection approach, and advertising copy approach. In promotion combination, the organization uses a mix of promotional strategies, and it looks at product aspects, market aspects, customer aspects, budget aspects and market mix aspects. Media mix strategy involves the organization selecting a channel through which products will be promoted. The media that the company chooses should have an exclusive way of doing promotion for the product or service. It should also reach the target audience (Kiel 2014). The company should find out the customer profiles before it uses this method. Advertising copy strategy is designing the advertising content, conveying a message concerning a particular product or service. The message should be clear to the targeted audience.

Recommendation

I would recommend product strategy for healthcare organizations who wants to launch a weight management program.  I would recommend that product design strategy be used, where the organization can come up with a unique product that will involve advising and counseling of obese people, putting them on non-stressful weight management programs and giving nutritional and health advice. Such a product will attract customers, as they will feel safe that someone is walking with them through their weight management journey (Berkowiz 2016). The product will also enable the patients to communicate virtually to a healthcare professional that they will be attached to. Hence they will receive proper care that will enable them to manage their weight successfully.

References

American College of Cardiology, 2014, 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society. Circulation, 129(25 Suppl 2).

Baker, MJ 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Berkowitz, EN 2016, Essentials of health care marketing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Bray, GA and Bouchard, C eds 2014, Handbook of obesity: clinical applications. CRC Press.

Chaston, I 2014, Small business marketing. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hartley, RF and Claycomb, C 2013, Marketing mistakes and successes. Wiley.

Hollensen, S 2015, Marketing Management: A RelationshipApproach. Pearson Education.

Jackson, S.E., Wardle, J., Johnson, F., Finer, N. and Beeken, R.J., 2013. The impact of a health professional recommendation on weight loss attempts in overweight and obese British adults: a cross-sectional analysis. BMJ open, 3(11), p.e003693.

Kiel, IH 2014, Entrepreneurial marketing.

Pride, WMand Ferrell, OC 2016, Foundations of marketing. Nelson Education.

Scott, DM 2015, The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.

Swift, DL Johannsen, NM Lavie, CJ Earnest, CP and Church, TS 2014, The role of exercise and physical activity in weight loss and maintenance. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 56(4), pp.441-447.

Yanovski, SZand Yanovski, JA 2014, Long-term drug treatment for obesity: a systematic and clinical review. Jama, 311(1), pp.74-86.

Zahradka, P and Taylor, CG 2015, Understanding adipocyte types and adipose tissue dynamics for obesity management.

Zhu, DQ Norman, I.J and While, AE 2013, Nurses’ self-efficacy and practices relating to weight management of adult patients: a path analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10(1), p.131.