What’s the Plan?
Add Power to Your Marketing Efforts
Colette A. Weil, MBA

A marketing plan is the road map that shows what your company needs, where you want to go and what it will take to get there. Backed by components of the company engine—staffing, tactics and capital—it directs power to areas that can generate sales and profitability.

The good news is that marketing plans don’t require laborious meetings that produce pages of rhetoric. In fact, the most effective plans are brief, flexible and concise. But a brief plan usually results from extensive research and preparation.

The development process is as important as the final summary document. Staff members work as a team to forge a common direction and agree on the strategy and tactics to be executed. It’s a unifying activity.

Once complete, a marketing plan puts budgets accountable and measures your tactical efforts. Refer to it later to benchmark deadlines, monitor budget and adjust strategy to changing market conditions. For example, a respiratory services provider used his plan to determine that in order to reach new contractual relationships he needed geographic repositioning, expanded clinical testing, outcomes reporting and presentation, and professional sales training.

Begin the marketing planning process with well-guided, open discussions among staff, clients, retail customers, vendors, sales, referral entities, clinicians and other stakeholders to generate action lists of information needed for assessment and objective setting.

Commonly, providers address multiple markets and a varied customer base. Because different product lines may have separate markets, competitors and growth outlooks, each may require an individual strategy.

Although there isn’t an “ideal” marketing plan style, common elements appear. Software templates are available to assist you in identifying these elements. Eliminate portions not applicable to your needs, and tailor it to your firm’s management approach.

Usually, the first step is to gather background information. Then detail your position, strengths, and weaknesses (commonly referred to as SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for each of these below. Bullet point summaries of your investigation or positions work the best. Put the background substantiation in appendices for all to review.

Market size and product category size

Determine how large the market is for services you provide by listing and estimating revenue for all competitors, along with a growth rate. Use industry benchmarks, if no local information can be estimated. Very important is to track consolidation and mergers, to determine what new opportunities may open or close. Examine the number of competitors that offer your key product categories and new/growth categories, size of their business and targets. Frequently, Internet search, stores visits, and phone calls to competitors, along with calls to accounts, or colleagues will provide you with substantial information.

Growth opportunities

Investigation of the market frequently shows companies where to invest to build segments of their business. One HME firm determined they were the only firm involved with self-insured employers. With over 15 self-insured employers in their community, their firm expanded in providing employee wellness programs, on-site corporate health days, supplies, and specialized back safety programs. Another provider saw a chain exit from the market, and a key competitor sells out. The provider knew these changes opened a 4 - 9 month market window for potential new business expansion and new account development.

A synopsis of competitors and their strategies

Understanding competitor activities and their strategies provides your firm with a more complete picture of the market, and methods in which you may increase your unique services and product offerings. Providers frequently underestimate the value of familiarity with competition. Competitors may be sources of referral, potential acquisition or merger candidates, sources for new employees, and testing grounds for programs you may decide to introduce, or not. At minimum, assessment of competitors will reinforce your confidence in your basic marketing strategies and where to increase your emphasis.

Regulatory and environmental issues

Projecting the outlook for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement changes, growth in Internet activity, impact of regulatory changes, accreditation requirements and costs, fuel changes are all examples of potential impacts on your business operation and marketing abilities. There may also be state licensure requirements, and other regional changes that will affect your marketing strategy.

Trends

Many providers actively and regularly assess trends and changes in such markets as the hospital, physician management, home health nursing, pharmacy, managed care, subcontracting, competitive bidding, while regularly monitoring key areas of product interests, for instance, asthma programs at the local research hospital, or mobility research at the rehab facilities. Trends in other related markets typically have a "ripple" effect on a supporting market in terms of market growth, contract methods, and influential decision-makers.

Acquisition/merger trends

Constant assessment of a market's acquisition and merger activities (as in the above mentioned markets) is necessary to determine the changes and impact on referral influence, contracts, and possible politics affecting your business. Corporate movement in health insurance programs may be an important opportunity for the services and programs you offer, or alternately, the change in managed care or market penetration by one HMO.

Life cycles

Every product, contract, or service has life cycles. For example, your contracts may be on a two-year cycle. You may have one-third of your contracts requiring re-bid or renewal in the second fiscal quarter. Planning for marketing and management with these potential changes occurring, not only for the contract process, but also the new business development needs, should the contract be dropped or not renewed, are important marketing considerations in business and financial planning.

Here’s a tip: Create a fact book by clipping/bookmarketing relevant articles, advertising and materials that you can present to the planning team for discussion and action.

Use this background information to determine your market position. Consider your mission and if you’re achieving it. Ask yourself if your current position is where you want to be in the future. Analyze your customer mix and see if you’re reaching your target customers.

Then set your marketing objectives. Specify key goals for sales, share of market, positioning and distribution. Develop a strategy to meet these goals. Market new products or services to your current customer base. Sell current products to new customer types. Increase sales of current product(s) to current customers. Or, sell new products into new markets.

More specifically, your plan should cover:

• Product. Detail overall product and services strategy, including product line expansion, training and acquisition strategy.
• Pricing. Outline pricing strategy, including margin objectives, terms, shipping and field sales pricing flexibility.
• Distribution. Outline sales and distribution plans, such as sales force changes, direct response sales, retail sales, e-commerce, distributors, direct-to-customer shipment by manufacturer and warehousing needs. Identify capital investments.
• Promotion Planning. Establish a calendar for promotional activities including promotions to referral entities and consumers. Schedule sales activities, target accounts and incentive plans. For retail products, schedule promotions, special pricing, in-store and online activities, either seasonally or by product groups according to a need.
• Communication Strategy. Formulate communication objectives based on your market assessment, positioning and opportunities. Include outlines of advertising plans, web site, public relations and direct response.
• Tactical Components. Identify the specific ways and detail (in brief subsections) how you will achieve your objectives in the areas of product, pricing, distribution, promotion and communications.
• Financial Review. Determine the financial requirements and specific budget support needed. Create a pro forma profit and loss statement. Use this to assess and evaluate the costs and impact of your plans. Adjust and fine-tune as needed.
• Executive Summary. After all the discussion, reviewing and negotiating, write a brief executive summary. This is the marketing piece for the marketing plan.

Your marketing plan’s success depends on an open process that fosters creativity, team problem solving and solid, analytical review. Use it as a steering tool to focus your direction, target your activities and concentrate on the most crucial investments to build market position and sales.

HomeCare Magazine