(MCO104-MUC05528/5534) Marketing assignment for Alliance Healthcare's quarantine responses to BAN

Question

Task: Write a Marketing Plan on a Brand/Case. Decide on a consumer product or service for an existing brand you wish to bring to market. Research and develop a marketing assignmentwhich will reflect a new market launch or address a major challenge or issue that the chosen brand/company, or the chosen consumer product or service faces in a particular market.

Answer

Introduction
Nearly every business today employs some form of digital marketing strategy. Despite this, there has been a rise in the number of companies attempting digital marketing, as well as a rise in the number of problems and missteps that come with it. The term "digital marketing" as per the marketing assignmentresearch refers to the practise of promoting a product or service through digital mediums such as the World Wide Web, social networking sites, digital billboards, and electronic marketplaces. A well-executed digital marketing and showcasing strategy can expand a business' customer base, drive sales, and boost earnings both now and in the future. The term "Body Area Network" (BAN) refers to a group of interconnected electronic gadgets worn or carried by a person. There are plans afoot for this product's release to the public by Alliance Healthcare. The purpose of this marketing assignmentis to evaluate Alliance Healthcare's proposed strategy for promoting this innovative new product.

Market Reviewfor the marketing assignment
Manufacturers, pharmacies, and medical professionals all choose to work with Alliance Healthcare because of how reliable and trustworthy it is. Through collaboration, they offer individualised approaches to healthcare, which in turn benefit both patients and consumers. They have a truly global reach, serving over 110,000 care locations in 11 different countries. There is a great deal of pressure to provide effective, patient-centred solutions in today's healthcare system, which is both complex and dynamic (Bassano et al., 2019). As per the marketing assignmentproviding better healthcare so that people can lead healthier, more fulfilling lives is at the heart of everything we do, from clinical trial support and healthcare supply chain to their pharmaceutical wholesale services.

Competitive Review
In today's market, many different companies are vying for the attention of the same consumers. Alliance Healthcare's three main rivals are mentioned in the marketing assignment.
• Radnet, Inc
• US Oncology, Inc
• InSight Health Services Holdings Corp

Product or Service Review in the marketing assignment
The term "smart-clothing," which refers to a Body Area Network (BAN), has come to mean a collection of wirelessly linked sensors worn or otherwise attached to a person. This network of wearable sensors can be used to keep tabs on a person's well-being. The physiological parameters, such as heart rate, body temperature, motion, etc., are measured by these sensors that are involvedin the human body (Berkowitz, 2021). As per the marketing assignmentAlliance Healthcare is working on plans to launch a brand-new product. This company's goal is to launch a product called Body Sensor. With the help of this device patients can use sensors to monitor, track, and evaluate their own physiological data, and doctors can use the sensors' interfaces and dashboard to keep tabs on their patients' conditions. These sensors are simple to operate and are showing great promise in improving the quality of medical care provided to patients (Gurrib, 2021). Both scenarios are supported by the app, which aims to help people better cope with their medical conditions without restricting their freedom of movement unduly (Borges et al., 2021).

Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
To properly evaluate Alliance Healthcare in the marketing assignment, one must look deeply into the company's distinctive strengths. Factors that contribute to a company's success include the firm's financial health, the quality of its employees, the innovation of its products, and the appreciation that its target market has for its brand. According to the company's SWOT analysis, Alliance Healthcare's strengths are mentioned in the marketing assignment:

• When it comes to pharmaceuticals, Alliance Healthcare is the largest distributor in the UK.
• Provides wide range of healthcare services
• The use of streamlined procedures aids in keeping overhead costs low.
• Continuous innovation in the offered services (Gurrib, 2021)
• Over 12,000 unique items are up for grabs.
• The company operates a network of 15 distribution centres and provides twice-daily delivery services to in excess of 15,000.

Improving a brand's weak spots can help it expand into new markets. Weaknesses are characteristics that the company does not possess or that rivals do better. The SWOT Analysis of Alliance Healthcare reveals the following flaws in the marketing assignment:

• Difficulties in providing services and finding solutions in outlying regions
• When competition is high, market share decreases.
It is possible that any company has room for development in order to expand their customer base. New markets, better products, and more effective communication are all examples of brand-building opportunities. The advantages, disadvantages, prospects, and dangers of Alliance Healthcare are as follows in the marketing assignment:

• Raising People's Consciousness about the need for health care
• The need for effective healthcare solutions is growing.
• Establishing partnerships with medical facilities can boost efficiency.

Threats include anything that has the potential to harm a company's bottom line. Threatening factors may include, for example, an increase in competition, a shift in government policy, the introduction of a new product or service, etc. In its SWOT analysis, Alliance Healthcare identifies the following threats in the marketing assignment:
• The regulatory climate is becoming increasingly strict (Lee and Trimi, 2021).
• Deflation in Europe and the rest of the world

Goals and Objectives
This product's primary function is to recognise human actions like flexing a finger. The body signals, such as a pulse, can be detected by printing them directly onto skin. They have the capability of detecting chemicals in the environment and serving as a warning system. The primary function of body sensors is to collect data about the human body and its surroundings, either directly through contact sensors that are attached to the body or indirectly through behavioural or distant sensors (Mikicet al.,2020).

Strategic Pillars discussed in the marketing assignment
Alliance Healthcare will take a three-pronged approach, each of which combines creative ingenuity and analytical rigor. Launching a product successfully relies on three main components:
• Market-backed Analysis- Asking people about their preferences, likes, and dislikes is all that market research entails. The real meat of such studies should be gleaned from an understanding of behaviour, such as the trade-offs consumers make when deliberating a purchase (Pappaset al.,2018). Market-Based Analysis as per the marketing assignmentis a technique for gathering consumer feedback that separates out the importance that customers place on different features of a product or service and then uses that data to inform business decisions.
• Darwinian Competitive Review- Business leaders are always on the lookout for ways to set their brands apart through novel products and services. It is found in the marketing assignmentthough industry-wide innovations are great, nothing beats the excitement of a brand-new idea. Even the most novel of ideas must be based on a proven Value Proposition, or something that has already been tried and tested with positive results (Vera et al.,2019). As part of DCR, successful Customer Value Propositions across multiple markets, as well as established competitors in those markets, must be analysed in detail.

• Capabilities-Forward Assessment- An in-depth analysis of the company's current strengths and the novel Value Propositions that can be supported by its Capabilities System is what makes up a Capabilities-Forward Assessment (Wilk, 2018). As per the marketing assignmenthaving the right set of Distinctive Capabilities and making sure they are all in line can mean the difference between being average and being exceptional.

Action Plan and Implementation

Level 1: Diagnosis of social problems
The first stage in the marketing assignmentis deciding on a mission. The second phase involves social media marketing ecosystems. Social marketers' ability to make sound decisions that will help them connect with and keep that audience is shaped by the various factors (or environments) that exist in the world. Alliance Healthcare will be better able to anticipate and prepare for any potential dangers in the environment, thereby reducing costs and increasing productivity in the social marketing department's decision-making and management procedures for the benefit of finding and implementing social problem-solving strategies. Therefore, the goal of level 1 as per the marketing assignmentis to offer a scenario viewpoint on the social market such as a diagnosis that will enable someone to define future explanations to solve the societal issues by outlining factors influencing the acceptance of specific behaviour.

Level 2: Benefits as well as social changes
Considering the outcome is the first step in the process. The objectives of social marketing are similar to those of social change on a number of different levels. The objectives should be specific, include a date and location, set realistic goals, be clear, start with infinitive verbs because they are actions, be measurable, show the performance goals and results that the organisation wants to achieve in social campaigns, serve as a reference, and be known by everyone involved in the social campaign (Mikic et al., 2020). Therefore, the goals as per the marketing assignmentact as a blueprint for how social media campaigns will be executed. When social norms change, internal determinants are at work.

Level 3: Social marketing mix
The marketing mix is the way that social marketing plans are made. This tool can be used at any time to make sure the eight Ps are in place. The first P is for Product. The product is something that can't be seen or touched, like an idea, behaviour, action, direction, prevention, or treatment. The next P is Price. Price means all the costs that come with an idea of change, which can be physical, time-based, social, or psychological (Lee and Trimi, 2021). The third P is place. Place is where, when, besides how products are sold to a specific group of people. The fifth P is Process. As per the marketing assignmentprocesses are the things that can be seen and things that cannot be seen that go into making a social campaign. The sixth P is Professional. The quality of the service depends on how the team of professionals interacts with the target audience. The seventh P is performance. To measure performance as well as quality, you need to use both quantitative and qualitative indices. The last P is for "Program." A programme should include everything that needs to be done to make a health campaign.

Evaluation
Healthcare marketing needs to make it simpler to assess new business opportunities comprehensively with just a cursory glance. This task of marketing assignmentwill be simplified for healthcare professionals by a strategic social media marketing plan. A company's goals for its social media presence will be laid out in detail in a social media marketing strategy. With this information, Alliance Healthcare will be able to better allocate their resources when it comes to social media and create content that resonates with their target audience (Gereffi, 2020). It is analysed in the marketing assignmentthat when it comes to healthcare, social media marketing, Instagram and Facebook are both major players. As well as YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, Twitter can be another option for interacting with their audience.

Conclusion
The medical community employs BANs for the purposes of monitoring and diagnosing a person's internal health conditions. The security sector, the sporting world, and the communication industry all benefit from the use of BANs. Using BANs for data transmission is inefficient and counterproductive because they can disrupt data transmission. It is found in the marketing assignmentthat healthcare providers are beginning to use social marketing to reach out to patients and potential patients, and Alliance Healthcare uses social media to connect with consumers. Increasing the size of their patient base and clientele through the use of online marketing is a huge and compelling opportunity.

References
Bassano, C., Barile, S., Piciocchi, P., Spohrer, J.C., Iandolo, F. and Fisk, R., 2019. Storytelling about places: Tourism marketing in the digital age. Cities, 87, pp.10-20.
Berkowitz, E.N., 2021. Essentials of health care marketing. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Borges, A.F., Laurindo, F.J., Spínola, M.M., Gonçalves, R.F. and Mattos, C.A., 2021. The strategic use of artificial intelligence in the digital era: Systematic literature review and future research directions. International Journal of Information Management, 57, p.102225.

Crick, J.M. and Crick, D., 2020. Coopetition and COVID-19: Collaborative business-to-business marketing strategies in a pandemic crisis. Industrial Marketing Management, 88, pp.206-213.
Gereffi, G., 2020. What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies. Journal of International Business Policy, 3(3), pp.287-301.
Gurrib, I., 2021. Early COVID-19 policy response on healthcare equity prices. Studies in Economics and Finance.
Lee, S.M. and Trimi, S., 2021. Convergence innovation in the digital age and in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Journal of Business Research, 123, pp.14-22.
Mikic, M., Puutio, A. and Gallagher, J., 2020. Healthcare products trade and external shocks: The US-China trade war and COVID-19 pandemic.
Pappas, I.O., Mikalef, P., Giannakos, M.N., Krogstie, J. and Lekakos, G., 2018. Big data and business analytics ecosystems: paving the way towards digital transformation and sustainable societies. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 16(3), pp.479-491.
Vera, D., Costa, N., Roda-Sanchez, L., Olivares, T., Fernández-Caballero, A. and Pereira, A., 2019. Body area networks in healthcare: A brief state of the art. Applied Sciences, 9(16), p.3248. Wilk, E., 2018. Spatial analysis of asbestos exposure and occupational health care in Poland during the period 2004-2013. Geospatial Health, 13(2).