MARK270

www.TLContact.com

MARK270

Presented by:

Services Marketing

Situation Analysis: Internal

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Product/ Service Levels

Augmented Product

Porter's Three Generic Strategies

Actual Product

TL Contact

Core product

• Email notifications,
• Reading material
• Share photos
• Send a prayer feature
• Spanish language option
• Surveying options.

• website
• design
• branding
• quality

• continuous connectivity
• Benefit: Convenience, Speed, Peace of mind, Emotional support

Aliakbar Gulshan

Aliasgar Gulshan

Hanisha Kumar

Romario Berhardt

Stacey Lobo

• Cost leadership strategy: lowest cost of production of a product or service
• Differentiation: making your products or services different from and more attractive those of your competitors.
• Focus strategies: concentrate on particular niche markets develop uniquely low-cost or well-specified products for the market.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

Weaknesses

• Has a tough time closing customers
• Hospitals fail to see value in the product immediately.
• Does not invest much in marketing the product

• Allows people to communicate with their loved ones.
• Custom built software, easily updated.
• Peripheral services that add value to original service
• Spanish language option, Surveying option, Donation programs
• Refined pricing policy, pricing according to the size and requirements of the hospital

Opportunities

Threats

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• They can introduce more revenue by adding on more added value services: Such as video calling options.
• They can move to a mobile platform and develop an application for smartphones.

• Online communication has become extremely easy currently,use of social media
• Customer base is shrinking.
• Very easy to replicate this kind of website.

RECOMMENDATION for ISSUE 2:

Situation Analysis: External

Political

Social

Technological

Economic

Environmental

• Noise pollution - Patients want peace and quiet
• Carbon footprint reduces

Affect of government regulations and rules on the business

• Considered a social networking site
• Government must intervene to control information
• 59% disapprove of advertisements
• Spanish as the second language.

Affect of demographics and cultural aspect on the business

• Highly friend/family oriented
• Bulletin boards, customer feedback, surveys
• Demographic is mixed, website simplicity
• ‘Viral marketing’ and word of mouth
• Direct contact via customer led to improvements
• Spanish language for an extra fee

Affect of outside economic factors on the business

• Dot.com boom in 2000
• Stock prices increased by adding ‘e’ or’.com’
• High confidence in the technological advancements
• Survived the bubble burst in 2002
• Eg. Amazon

Affect of technological issues on the business

• Benefits to hospitals
• Advancement costs $500000
• Team of 1 to 10 workers
• Competitive drive (customization of 70 Web pages and 400 images)
• Various features eg. Customized pages, edit feature, Donation service
• Competitors: The Status and Caring Bridge

PESTLE

Legal

Affect of laws on a business

• Infringement, intellectual property
• Not transmit any virus, Trojan horse
• List of Legal requirements to abide by
• Domain name – 4U , $ 2 million

"If and when competition arises, switch to cost leadership"

It’s a framework used for scanning and analyzing an organization’s external macro environment by considering factors which include political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal and environmental.

TL Contact currently uses the differentiation focus strategy and should stick to it.

The way in which TLC can obtain more competitive advantage and increase its revenue is by improving their quality of service.

ISSUE 2: How can TLC increase Revenue?

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• Located in Chicago and created at the height of the dot.com boom, TLC was among the small percentage of Internet start-ups that had survived after the bubble burst.
• During 2002, TLC had a net loss of $0.7 million.
• Initial financing involved $3 million by ‘’angel’’ investors, and an additional of $900,000 plus $1.7 million of convertible loans.
• At the end of the first quarter of 2003, monthly revenues were meeting operational expenses.

ISSUE 3: How can TLC stay above Competition?

Recommendations:

Ethical/Legal Matrix

1. B2C: Individual patients and families BUT costly and time-consuming

2. B2B: Hospitals BUT doctors did not want to charge patients for this service

3. PR and Marketing: Explain the benefits and value added to hospitals

4. Sponsorships from hospitals

• Continue using and regularly update patents
• Develop mobile platform to keep CA
• Innovate
• Perhaps collaborate... Not compete!

National Survey on patient satisfaction

Business and Marketing Ethics

Direct:

• VisitingOurs (Shut down)
• The Status
• CaringBridge (CA: Mobile Platform)

Indirect:

• Social Media

Competitive Advantage:

• Webpage Customization for every hospital.
• Email notification tool
• Option for user feedback
• New software algorithms to prevent input errors by users

ISSUE 1: How did the TLC Business Model Evolve?

TLContact Is a mission – driven organization!

“To serve patients, their families, and their support networks”

Reason for high ethical standards:

• Easy to meet provisions of the Health Information Privacy and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the demanding requirements of the TRUSTe Privacy Seal
• Builds respect and credibility among hospitals
• Trust and affection among users who spread positive word of mouth
• Reward with donations
• Sponsorship of hospitals

CarePages are a product of TLContact.com!

Issue 5: Why does TLC have limited CSR projects?:

Corporate Social Responsibility

BECAUSE OF:

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Issue 3: Any prospects for future partnerships?

Outline

Benefits of CSR for TLContact

• Increase awareness
• Improved Brand Image
• Engaged employees
• Attraction of investors

ISSUE 4: What are the possibilities for Future Growth?

• The nature of the core business
• Limited Budget and resources
• Future CSR Projects
• Sponsorship of medical awareness programs
• Engage in charitable foundations

By 2004, the CEO wished to pursue financial partnerships sometime in the future.

We Recommend:

Launched in 2000, HQ in Chicago. Enables hospital patients to stay in touch with family and friends through individualized home pages, typically linked to a sponsoring hospital’s own web site.

Speed: Ansoff's Market Penetration Strategy before competitors enter Eg: loyalty programs, etc.

In Conclusion:

We have identified 5 issues

1.0 Case Overview

2.0 Situation Analysis

2.1 Internal

2.2 External

3.0 Key Service Marketing Issues

3.1 Revenue issues

3.2 Competition and future issues

3.3 Ethics and CSR related issues

4.0 Recommendations

5.0 Conclusion

Business Model

In terms of services Marketing Mix:

People, Processes

Revenue

Competition

Future prospects

Ethics and CSR

In 2007, Revolution Health Group bought over TLContact. Terms of the sale were not made public.

And provided recommendations!

Try to expand internationally, develop the market and offer to adapt service to different countries

As per survey of managers and visitors:

46% knew through Materials in Hospital

0% The internet

0% Ad or story in Media

In times of trouble, father designed a web-based service to update family on son's condition

Thank You!

Any Questions?

• Cedars 2014, Patient Carepages, [Online] [Accessed October 24, 2014] Available URL: http://cedars-sinai.edu/Patients/Patient-and-Visitor-Resources/Patient-Resources/Patient-CarePages.aspx
• Massachusetts General Hospital 2013, CarePages, [Online] [Accessed October 24, 2014] Available URL: http://www.massgeneral.org/services/carepages.aspx
• Penn State University 2004,CarePages come to Penn State Hershey Medical Center, [Online] [Accessed October 24, 2014] Available URL: http://tr22g12.aset.psu.edu/story/215484/2004/06/17/carepages-come-penn-state-hershey-medical-center
• University of Michigan 2010, CarePages: Share your story, [Online] [Accessed October 24, 2014] Available URL: http://www.med.umich.edu/carepages/

References:

Increase internet presence and improve marketing campaigns

Internet start-up company started by three family members: Eric, Sharon and Mark Langshur

For the healthcare pages industry

CASE OVERVIEW