One Touch Ultra Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System, Research Paper Example

Select a health care product you are familiar with and define the four Ps—product, place, price, promotion—you believe are included in the marketing of the product. How do the four Ps of the health care product influence the successful presentation of the product to the market?

Health Care Product: One Touch Ultra Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System

The One Touch Ultra Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System is used for self-testing, measuring and monitoring glucose concentration in the blood. This is mostly used by people with diabetes who need to make assessments about their blood sugar levels each day. This helps them know when to take their medication or insulin injection. It also helps people with diabetes know when and how much to eat throughout the day.

Marketing Mix: The Four P’s for This Product

The marketing mix is made up of product, place, price and promotion. Following is the marketing mix strategy for the One Touch Ultra Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System.

Product

The product is a registered brand. This is a tactical selling point because consumers trust brand name products. The product’s functionality is another good selling point. It is quick and accurate and automatically collects and organizes blood sugar level results and displays them in chart form. This makes it easier for the consumers to monitor their levels and get averages throughout the day. The styling of the product makes it easy to handle because it is small and light weight. Also, reading results is simple because the product has an easy to read digital display that is backlit for accurate viewing.

Place

The marketing strategy for getting this product in the hands of the customers includes various distribution channels such as ecommerce sites (e.g., Amazon.com, Drugstore.com and other healthcare product sites). Another online distribution channel for this product is the brand site (OneTouch.com). Offline channels include Walmart and Walgreens, but the product can be purchased on their online sites as well.

Price

Pricing strategy for this product varies, depending on which distribution channel is selling the product. For example, the product is $79.99 at Walgreens but it costs $84.99 on Drugstore.com, but they offer free shipping. There is evidence of price flexibility, which is a way for different sellers to stay competitive.

Promotion

This product is promoted through television commercials, featuring Medicare-age people giving testimonies about the benefits of using the product. Promotions also include advertising via search engine optimization so that people can find the product when they do Internet searches. Additionally, promotional strategies include radio advertising and in-store displays.

Successful Presentation in the Market

The four P’s associated with the One Touch product has an impact on how it is presented in the market because the advertising is geared mostly toward the older population who is covered by Medicare. This is the target market, although there are many people with diabetes who are not on Medicare. Part of the promotion strategy is making people aware of the product’s efficiency and effectiveness without having to stick the fingers with needles. This is a selling point because people want less pain and confusion with checking their blood sugar.

How do economic, technological, social, and competitive factors influence marketing strategy in the health care field? Which factors do you feel are most influential? Why?

The condition of the economy has an impact on consumer behavior and influences what people will buy. Technological advances streamline processes and allow for better quality products. Social stigmas or trends have an influence on how consumers perceive certain products, and competition in the marketplace results in pricing wars and consumer incentives to buy from one company or the other. With the health care field, these factors are weighted, by consumers, according to their health needs and what they perceive as added value for the prices they pay. I feel the most influential factors are pricing and technology. People like bargains but they are willing to pay more for advanced technology and higher quality.

What is your relationship with your target customer or patient? How would you evaluate the customer or patient in a new light from a marketing perspective?

The relationship with the target customer is one of relaying to the customer what is in it for them to purchase the product. People want to know how much a company cares about them. They want their problem solved and they want it done with quality and at a good price. From a marketing perspective, I would evaluate the customers as I would evaluate myself. I would put myself in the customers’ shoes in order to make sure I offer a product they are willing to spend their hard earned money on.