Brand plays an essential role while building the company’s image in the world due to its ability to define the communication tone with the customers and potential users of the service. In turn, it contributes to creating the brand personality and its correspondence with the particular needs of the customers (Bajac & Palacious, 2013). In turn, the health care the branding of the organization has to be focused on delivering its promise to the customers and creating trusting relationships (Kemp, Jillapalli, & Becerra, 2014).
A primary goal of this paper is to assess the marketing communication, identity, and brand position while conducting a SWOT analysis, evaluating the essence of benchmarking, and conducting a comparison with the other similar brands. In the end, the conclusions are drawn based on the analyses, which are conducted in this essay to determine the efficiency of the marketing strategy while building the brand image of Plaza Home Health Services.
Marketing Communication, Identity, and Brand Position of Plaza Home Health Services
Marketing communications are important while building the brand, and nowadays, social media is one of the elements, which builds the reputation of the organization in the health care industry (White, 2008). Nonetheless, the company utilizes only the professional means of communications including the business cards, brochures, and communicate to the customers at the location (Fortenberry, 2010). It could be said that content marketing can be considered as one of the aspects to enhance the organizational recognition in the near future.
As for the brand identity, the company focuses on providing high-quality services to its consumers by utilizing the suitable language for the communication via brochures, business cards, and direct contacts (Fortenberry, 2010). In this instance, the brand identity is created with the assistance of creating of the trusting relationship with the customers while utilizing a relevant style for interactions. It could be said that this aspect plays a critical role in the marketing mix, as it identifies the company’s position on the market.
Lastly, the importance of the brand positioning cannot be unnoticed, as; in this case, the Plaza Home Health Services positions itself as being a unique company with the exceptional offers and distinct competitive advantage in Georgetown. It remains evident that the company clearly differentiates itself from the competitors in the city due to paying vehement attention to the advantages of the other organizations on the market (Fortenberry, 2010). In the end, the combination of the successful branding will help the company stay competitive in the market and differentiate its services from the competitors.
SWOT Analysis of Plaza Home Health Services
As for the strengths, the company was able to successful to position its brand and differentiate it from the competitors while building an exceptional service. In this instance, the quality of the services was chosen as a primary advantage to build the brand positioning in the region (Fortenberry, 2010). In turn, it could be said that the selecting the right language for communication created an opportunity of building the positive publicity at the beginning of the functioning of Plaza Home Health Services in Georgetown.
Nonetheless, despite the head start the weaknesses are present due to the recent start of the operations in the market and lack of experience in building the sufficient marketing strategy. Utilizing the direct communication, business cards, and brochures limits the company’s ability to deliver the message to the potential clients, and it is a reason for the misconceptions in future. Furthermore, the company does not have a sophisticated logo to support the brand (Fortenberry, 2010). It remains evident that the company should refine its marketing mix and adapt to the constantly altering economic environment due to the essentiality of the building a right communication plan to expand the market share (Shaw, 2012).
Nonetheless, the opportunities are present, as the company was not created recently. In this case, it should consider expanding its marketing activities and devote high attention to the social media and content marketing, as they enhance the company’s image in the market and create high recognition (White, 2008). In turn, the establishment of strategic partnerships can also be considered as an opportunity since it is beneficial for the both parties. However, it remains evident that the company should combine these aspects while enhancing the company’s recognition due to the ability to reach higher results.
Lastly, the threats tend to exist due to the highly competitive nature of the market. As it was mentioned earlier, Plaza Home Health Services does not have a well-developed marketing mix due to the start of the recent functioning on the market. In this instance, the threat of new entrants remains on the high level, as Georgetown has favorable conditions for the development of the similar services. In turn, the competitors can implement the similar value-generation model and become a cause of the reduction of the market share of Plaza Home Health Services and loss of the revenues.
Importance of Benchmarking in Plaza Home Health Services
Benchmarking is an efficient approach, which helps introduce the relevant strategy while comparing it to the competitors (Avilles, 2011). The SWOT analysis revealed that the primary weaknesses and threats imply that the company lacks the logo and lacks the sufficient development of the marketing mix. Nonetheless, these aspects might have an adverse impact on the company’s operations.
As for the beneficial influence of the benchmarking, it will help revitalize the brand strategy due to the research of the competition and trends on the market. It remains evident that the research and development plays an important role in business, as it depicts the trends and the actions of the competitors (Tarnay, 2013). Using these findings will assist in introducing the suitable strategy and perform a right marketing mix.
Lastly, the benchmarking will help expand the means of communications and select the right ones to enhance its position on the market. It remains evident that the limited number of the means of the communication creates the difficulties while delivering the desired message to the users by Plaza Home Health Services. In this instance, monitoring the actions of the competitors will help expand its marketing mix and increase its share of the market in the health care industry in the organization.
Comparison with Other Similar Services
Lastly, the comparison with the similar service providers is determined to evaluate the marketing strategy of Plaza Home Health Services. In this instance, Emerald Hills Medical Center is one of the company’s competitors, as it operates in the similar industry and utilizes a similar model in the brand building (Fortenberry, 2010). Nonetheless, the inability to deliver the promised quality of the services to the customers in considered as the primary drawback, which was highlighted by the management (Fortenberry, 2010). This feature questions company’s reputation and creates the adverse perception of its value creation model.
Nonetheless, in this instance, Plaza Home Health Services has a better positioning of the brand than Emerald Hills Medical Center due to the correspondence of the picture of the quality of the services in the value and positioning of the company’s brand. In this instance, Plaza Home Health Services has the bright future, as it successfully promotes its critical competitive advantage. However, the management of Emerald Hills Medical Center understands the essence of the marketing communication due to the necessity of building the base of the loyal customers. In the end, despite having favorable conditions for the brand development and having a more efficient strategy than the competitors, Plaza Home Health Services should consider revitalizing the marketing strategy due to the presence of social and economic fluctuations in the area.
Conclusion
In the end, branding is an essential attribute while building the relationships in the healthcare industry, as it contributes to building trusting relationships with the patients and potential clients. Nonetheless, despite being in the constant contact with the customers and vitality of the health services, the role of the marketing communication, brand creation, and benchmarking cannot be underestimated due to the increasing level of competition in this industry.
The example of Plaza Home Health Services highlighted the significance of these matters while evaluating its brand position on the market with the assistance of the SWOT analysis and evaluation of the competition. Lastly, the importance of the brand recognition cannot be underestimated, as it determines the position of the organization among its competitors in the healthcare industry.
References
Avilles, M. (2011). Benchmarking in health care. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
Bajac, H., & Palacious, M. (2013). Building a brand personality in an emerging country: Is it equally important when brands are consumed publicly and privately. International Journal of Innovations in Business, 2(10), 878.
Fortenberry, J. (2010). Cases in health care marketing. Boston, MA: Johns and Bartlett Publishers.
Kemp, E., Jillapalli, P., & Becerra, E. (2014). Healthcare branding: Developing emotionally based consumer brand relationships. Journal of Services Marketing, 28(2), 126-137.
Shaw, E. (2012). Marketing strategy. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4(1), 30-55.
Tarnay, K. (2013). Research and development in E-business through service-oriented solutions. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
White, P. (2008). How can the worlds of social marketing and healthcare communications join forces to enhance health care reputation? Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 1(4), 431-440.