Health care marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health care marketing - Essay Example As the pioneers who â€Å"bridged the gap between the initial R&D and the market-ready innovation by defining a baby-care niche† (Blatchford, 2010), Johnson & Johnson successfully used the branding strategy to turn the undifferentiated product ‘Mineral Oil’ ( used primarily for health and medical uses) into one of their most successful consumer products. The Johnson’s Baby product range was later extended to include more related products like the ‘No more tears shampoo’. The brand has become well-known for its comfort, care and safety message which has been communicated very effectively through the above-the-line advertising and their signature pink packaging. The marketing strategies of the Brand have been so successful because of the effective use of basic principles of marketing especially with regards to identifying the target market and developing suitable communications. Target Market   The target market can be formally defined as "A se t of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve" (Kotler et al, 2010). Defining the target market is the foundation step towards developing the value in a product or service, that will be communicated according to the consumers needs. The development of distribution, advertising, and production plans all depend on the target market as selected by an organization. ... The communication and value proposition offered is same for all segments. Differentiated: targeting several segments and offering them varied value propositions for a given product, in accordance with their specific needs Niche: Focusing on just one segment, provides them with specialized products with unique value proposition. (Kotler et al, 2010). An organization with a highly innovative product may want to go with niche marketing as they can concentrate their resources on developing a highly involved market for their product. This strategy may also be preferred for companies that are starting out small and do not have the financial and human resources required for a larger marketing plan targeting several different groups of consumers. Organizations have to be clear about their own strengths (and weaknesses), their long and short term goals and the external environment before deciding to utilize a particular targeting strategy. Consumer insight research is an important component o f this process, as it highlights what exactly are the consumer needs and their perceived reception to any new product and Johnson & Johnson. The market segments to be selected for targeting purposes are divided into groups with similar demographic and psychographic traits. The marketers group the consumers through evaluation of questions such as; will they feel the need for a certain product? If so what value will the ascribe to it? Can they afford it? Are they doers or achievers? Is brand status important to them? How important is family to them? And so on and so forth. Questions such as these are designed to provide consumer insight and feelings, which can help a company to design and communicate better solutions for them.