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Introduction
The Prenatal Clinic that is located in Bryan, Texas, has been chosen as a subject of marketing analysis for this paper. First of all, the paper will describe the four marketing Ps, because product, place, price, and promotion are the vital components of the marketing strategy of any organization; an appropriate combination of these four Ps is an essential condition of organization’s success. Examining the clinic’s marketing and partnerships strategies give an opportunity to understand the true values of the prenatal clinic. Defining correctly the demographics and psychographics, and considering data from the area, in which the prenatal clinic is located, will help to establish the target market in a correct way. The clinics’ success depends on the proper knowledge of the target market because an appropriate strategic market plan is made based on the information about the market.
Product
The Prenatal Clinic provides services including free pregnancy tests and training for childbirth, as well as breastfeeding, infant CPR and parenting. Such services facilitate the chances of future mothers to have a secure pregnancy and safe childbirth (The Prenatal Clinic, 2007). The clinic’s services consist of regular counseling and examinations, as well as monitoring the baby’s body position, growth, and heartbeat. Medical specialists provide consultations to new mothers in order to prepare them for labor and motherhood. The specialists also consult the pregnant women concerning the diagnosis or warning signs of disease that may have a harmful effect on pregnancy or baby’s delivery (Department of Health, 2012).
Price
If pregnancy is taking a normal course, the cost of prenatal care consists of approximately $2000. If it has complications, the cost of prenatal care increases in accordance with the necessary medical services. Such tariffs are average for parental care organizations; however, the combination of cost and quality is the best. The scheduled regular visit costs about $150; this price covers such services as consultation, blood test, urinalysis, and ultrasound. Patients usually have health insurance, so that it covers the patient’s medical bills. At the clinic, many patients are served by Medicaid that pays also for the prenatal services. Some health insurances comprise co-pays and costs that range from $200 to several thousands of dollars. There are also some organizations, for example, The American Pregnancy Association that provide prenatal medical care to women without insurance (Costhelper, 2012).
Place
The clinic is located near a bus station. Social and health services, dental clinic, and other community services are located next to the clinic. It is easily accessible and plainly visible from the street. The clinic has the highest birth rate in Texas. Its location is analyzed based on availability and accessibility, the birth rate in the clinic and generally in the state, as well as on the public inquiry and the total amount of female population in the state (Texas Legislative Study Group, 2011).
Promotion
The Prenatal Clinic promotes its services through publicity and advertising. Promotion is very important in drawing the attention of the target audience. The clinic uses Internet advertising, mail, and phone messages in order to promote its services. It publishes colorful brochures that have a lot of useful information, such as information about clinic’s services, routine schedule of medical specialists’ work, telephones and e-mail addresses; these brochures are widely distributed. The patients can easily find out about the clinic through Google search. The clinic constantly surveys its physicians and patients’ feedbacks in order to improve its services. Moreover, it takes numerous efforts to educate the population about the necessity of prenatal services; its main objective is to raise the community awareness about the importance of prenatal care for the health of mothers and children (Berkowitz, 2012).
Significance of the Four Ps
The four Ps characterize an organization as a combination of product (a type of services), price (insurance), location (accessibility) and promotional strategies (availability). The four Ps facilitate a mutually beneficial connection between producers and consumers. Four Ps marketing combination covers the whole picture, which improves the chances of the organization for success (Akrani, 2010).
Marketing and Partnerships
The prenatal clinic has partnerships with the Health Department, Human Services, Public Health, and Parenthood agencies, as well as other clinics, hospitals, and pharmaceutical organizations. The clinic’s partner and marketing relationships are interconnected because through the partners’ channels the health center distributes the majority of its promotional materials and receives the majority of patients. These organizations give positive recommendations and referrals to their patients because they are interested in the best care for their clients. Although the majority of organizations are ready to help each other and always provide the necessary referrals, there are still some organizations that are not ready to cooperate; for such cases, the clinic has partnership-exchange motivation program (National Health Foundation, 2010).
Target Market
The Prenatal Clinic’s demographics consist of women from 15 to 48 years old (Department of Health, 2012). The psychographics comprises the behavior and motivation of pregnant women. The main task of medical staff is to understand the needs of their special patients. Their clients deserve receiving the best prenatal care for a reasonable price. The patients also need to be additionally educated on parental care and motherhood issues. According to Nielsen, Bryan has a population of approximately 23,600 persons, and the average age is 33 years old (2011). On average, the monthly, population spends approximately $480 on medical care. Neighborhood demographics are characterized by families with one working member. The majority of the population is married couples without children or with one child. Their socioeconomic status consists of college students and laborers with low income. Such extensive knowledge of target market allows the clinic to create and provide a competitive marketing and implementing plan that includes the whole spectrum of all necessary services, as well as the necessary specialists and competent combination of price and quality (Nielsen, 2011).
Conclusion
The competent marketing plan is an essential part of a successful business. Four Ps are the key elements for the further strategic development of marketing strategy. Based on four Ps, any organization can estimate the target audience and advertising tools. The mutually beneficial partnership facilitates the business activities not only in advertising and patients’ referrals but in establishing good publicity, reputation, and trustworthiness. Knowing the target market gives the organization knowledge about lifestyle, income status, needs, demands, and family structure of its consumers. Considering all the factors listed above gives the parental clinic an exact understanding of what direction it has to go and what speed to choose.
