Summary
MD Now Urgent Care is a healthcare provider based in the United States, Florida. The organization aims to provide its communities with modern methods of treatment and prevention. According to its statement, MD Now (2021) is Florida’s fastest-growing provider of urgent care. Furthermore, the organization relies on a highly personalized approach that allows the patients to make convenient appointments that fit well into their personal schedules. MD Now boasts its state-of-the-art equipment that enhances the quality of the service, yielding reliable results and better clinical outcome for all visitors. At the same time, MD Now Urgent Care refers to the affordability of services as one of the cornerstones of its business model. At present, the organization comprises a network of over 55 clinics located throughout Florida. An average visitor completes all scheduled procedures within one hour after entering the premises. When combined, these factors constitute the competitive advantage framework of MD Now Urgent Care.
However, in the contemporary environment, it is vital to sustaining the growth rate. In profitable industries, the competition reaches unprecedented levels through globalization and the overall development of free markets. Under these circumstances, companies have little or no room for stagnation, as it entails the risk of losing the existing market share. As such, MD Now faces the overarching objective of maintaining the currently exhibited growth. In the 21st century, the most prominent strategies of sustained development comprise the utilization of digital tools for marketing, competitiveness, and revenue stream. This report outlines the proposed digital strategy for MD Now Urgent Care that aims at solidifying the company’s position in a competitive environment.
Goals and Objectives
Digital strategy is a broad concept that encompasses many spheres of an organization’s activity: marketing, customer relations, revenue generation and others. In the case of MD Now, it can be implemented on various levels, as well. In order to develop an effective digital strategy, it is required to align with the goals and objectives of the organization. MD Now is the fastest-growing provider of urgent care in Florida. Thus, the primary goal is to preserve this status through three key objectives. First, it is needed to retain the existing customer base. Second, a constant influx of new service users is to be ensured. Third, past patients are to be addressed in an attempt to prompt them to return to MD Now.
Profile of the Target Audience
Considering the nature of the product, the target audience is likely to comprise people with an acute need for medical services. It will include clients of both sexes residing in Florida. These are people with at least a basic level of digital literacy and an existing need for healthcare services. The preliminary assessment implies the target audience age between 21 and 50, whereas older adults will be mostly referred clients who were informed of MD Now by their relatives in charge of the institution search.
Dynamic Content-Based Website
Push Strategy
Push represents one-half of the push-pull promotion dichotomy that is adopted by today’s marketers. It refers to a more aggressive form of familiarizing potential customers with the product by bringing it to them rather than waiting passively (Reynolds & Stair, 2021). This approach will rely on MD Now’s updated website based on dynamic content. The push strategy will rely on paid targeted advertisements through key channels of visitor acquisition, such as Google Ads. Those who search for various medical services will encounter banners and links that lead directly to the required page of MD Now. The dynamic aspect is highly relevant to the task, as aggressive promotions are likely to yield negativity if the content of the site remains stale.
Pull Strategy
On the other hand, pull marketing represents an opposing approach to client acquisition. In this case, MD Now’s website will rely on the passive attractive features that will prompt clients to research it and go there voluntarily (Reynolds & Stair, 2021). While push marketing may be beneficial for the short-term generation of leads, the pull strategy will ensure the long-term influx of clients. In the context of the dynamic content of the website, SEO optimization is to become the leading pattern. More specifically, MD Now’s analysts will research the changes in potential clients’ requirements and search queries, adjusting the content of the website accordingly. This way, the brand will maintain a constant presence in the digital space, attracting new customers passively. Considering the pre-existing reputation of the organization, pull marketing can occupy a more prevalent position in the mix. The preliminary estimations suggest a 70/30 ratio of pull and push strategies, respectively.
Operational Improvement
Technological Improvement
Marketing alone will not suffice to generate the required level of customer acquisition if the quality of the digital product is not on par. MD Now’s website is to become more interactive to keep the customers engaged and promote the conversion of leads into active clients. The page is to become more interactive with a better selection of categories in the menu. The classical drop-down format is used at present, and it may be preserved but with a more intuitive design. Ideally, a visitor should be able to locate the required web page within three to five minutes after entering the website. For this purpose, the search engine of the website can be improved to ensure the precision of the queries through glossaries and synonym bases.
Cost Reduction
Technological improvements of the digital product may require additional expenses on behalf of the organization. First of all, the process of augmenting the current website design will entail the primary costs. While they can hardly be avoided, it is feasible to reduce the subsequent costs of product maintenance and updates. In this regard, it is vital to ensure the integrability of the code. Each part is to be intuitively comprehendible for specialists who will develop it in the future. In the optimal situation, further updates of the dynamic website content will not require effort or time on behalf of the coders. This way, the expenses will be minimal as long as the new code is easily integrated into the previous parts.
Improving Product Quality
The improvement of product quality can be categorized into two main dimensions. First, the usability of the website and its convenience will account for most part of the visitor experience. They should not experience serious difficulties locating the desired page and acquiring the necessary information. This idea corresponds with the user interface improvements outlined in the previous sections. The second aspect of product improvement implies the technical reliability of the platform. If users encounter any glitches and major imperfections of the website, their experience and impressions of the product will inevitably deteriorate. Prior to implementing the digital promotion strategy, MD Now will need to increase the processing ability of its servers so that the web page does not crash under the surge of new users.
Enhancing Customer Experience
The combination of the aforementioned aspects of product improvement will result in a better customer experience. This aspect is of utmost importance for increasing lead conversion, suggesting a smooth transition from the initial engagement to actual product interaction. Ideally, the efforts made by potential clients of MD Now are to be reduced to a minimum. As such, all elements of the digital marketing mix should be mutually integrated for a better customer experience. The initial links and banners will lead directly to the correct pages, which, in turn, will be informative and convenient for the users. However, the smoothness of the transition needs to be ensured in both directions. For example, if the user is to fill out certain forms, all progress and content should be saved in case they decide to return to the previous page to revise the information. Overall, technology-related negativity is to be eliminated so that the use of the web product returns positive impressions.
Social Media
Social Media Platforms
Social media promotion is another key aspect of today’s marketing activities in the digital space. However, these activities are to be precisely oriented at the target audience in terms of the specific platform and channels of client acquisition (Li et al., 2021). For MD Now, Facebook appears to be the key platform that will be the most efficient. It has a sufficiently broad range of users, including middle-aged people who can be converted into new customers through push marketing. Facebook may occupy up to 80-85% of the social media promotion budget with an emphasis on paid placements in local community groups. The remaining funds can be used to test Instagram as a potential source of younger clients.
Content Creation
In order to generate the required level of awareness and customer acquisition, the promotional content needs to be appealing. It is advised to engage a designated SMM team that will develop a concise yet informative social media content plan. The posts are to use familiar speech patterns for the audience, which will underline the superiority of MD Now’s services while avoiding unnecessarily confusing and overloaded phrasing. Considering the presence of the Hispanic population in the state of Florida, it is strongly recommended to generate content in Spanish, as well.
Brand Awareness
Social media promotion will be an important instrument for increasing public awareness of MD Now. This purpose intersects with the concept of pull marketing which will generate a sufficient base of passive leads. Local community users will regularly see advertisements of the MD Now’s centers, which will gradually become embedded in their minds, even though they may not be in an active search for medical services. Next, once such a need emerges, these passive leads to recall MD Now as the first medical service that comes to mind.
Customer Acquisition
Each person who encounters the social media placements of MD Now will become a potential lead. The next stage will be to ensure a smooth transition to the status of an actual client. Enticing advertisement is the first step that evidently needs an uninterrupted connection to the main website of the organization through digital links. Each subsequent page is to be developed per the best standards of SMM marketing, providing visitors with informative materials and prompting them to proceed down the funnel.
Global Brand Building
The procedures of global brand building depend directly on MD Now’s willingness to extend its operation beyond the borders of Florida. As of now, the organization remains on the local level, although its position on it is commendable. Should the management decide to start a branch in another state, social media promotion is to begin in advance. Following the current strategy, MD Now will have obtained sufficient experience of Florida promotion and use the same pattern to acquire clients at a new location.
Audience Growth
The best practices of SMM marketing will help MD Now increase its audience. Targeted and embedded promotions in local social media communities will generate new clients. In order to retain them, MD Now will need to embed these customers into their own community. For this purpose, the organization’s social media profiles will remain active, providing users will regular updates in informative, entertaining, and interactive forms.
Idea Generation
The initial implementation of the digital strategy will be the first stage of achieving excellence. In order to obtain continuous results, MD Now will need to keep generating new relevant ideas. While the internal expertise of the organization is important in this context, some of the best ideas are born through dialogue with customers as the primary stakeholders. Thus, all promotion platforms, including social media, require convenient and efficient feedback instruments. This way, marketers and managers will be informed of their product perceptions and audience expectations.
Conversion Generation
The key to the successful generation of conversion lies in the alignment of expectations. As enticing as the promotional materials can be, the actual products and services should be on par. Thus, implementing the new website improvements cannot be delayed compared to the social media strategy. Clients who become interested in the product need to see that MD Now can keep the promises it makes in advertisements.
Engagement Increase
As discussed earlier, to keep the audience engaged, MD Now is to maintain an active social media presence. Its own communities on the main platform will be constantly updated to inform the user of the news. In addition, the audience should have an incentive to keep track of MD Now on social media and beyond. For this purpose, various contests and lotteries conducted in the digital space with prizes in the form of discounts and free services will contribute to the audience engagement.
Interaction Generation
Audience interaction is the cornerstone of successful digital promotion. In other words, users will seek dialogue with medical service providers, as well as the answers to minor questions they may have at the moment. Community administrators should enable timely responses to all inquiries from the community. In addition, some social media posts will invite readers to react in the comment section, thus promoting the generation of interaction.
Sales Increase
The combination of all the aforementioned aspects of the digital strategy will culminate in the sales increase for MD Now Urgent Care. The influx of new clients and the retained customers’ trust will inevitably translate into better revenues for the organization. Nevertheless, MD Now should utilize all the digital tools available to ensure the transition of leads into sales. To this end, all users should be informed of the additional services provided by the organization upon making the appointment. If this information is presented only during the physical interaction, customers may be more hesitant to use the services. Thus, the timely familiarization with all extra offers will give them enough time to reflect and appreciate the benefits.
References
Reynolds, G. W., & Stair, R. M. (2021). Principles of Information System (14th ed.). Cengage.
Li, F., Larimo, J., & Leonidou, L. C. (2021). Social media marketing strategy: Definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49, 51–70.
MD Now (2021). Why MD Now?