The cornerstone of successful marketing is an appropriate strategy that not solely enables meeting a maximum of customers’ needs as a one-time occasion, but promotes further collaboration. For this, it is essential to have a clear view of the preferences, values, and wishes of the target audience as well as the reasons why they may need a particular good or service. Communicating the latter to the client actually is the sense of marketing; simply stated, this term means explaining people what they will acquire together with a certain product.
The selected organization is a nursing home under the title Active Retirement that also embodies its focus. Specifically, the facility sees its mission in releasing its elderly residents from the burden of their age by smoothing the difficulties that emerge from it, which is the vision. Fulfilling such a challenging task presupposes providing people with everything that they need for comfort, notably, a place to live, pleasant food, quality and timely medical care, and diverse entertainment.
The latter, for instance, includes walking and fishing since the premises of the nursing home involve sections of the neighboring forest as well as river. There also are a workshop, a garden, and a multimedia library, so that each resident can practice his or her favorite activities or even try new. In addition, those who are physically able can visit the nearest towns that are 20 and 40 miles away accompanied by staff members, which happens several times a year.
One of the issues that need improving is food, as the majority of both the residents and their families find it unvaried. In fact, inappropriate nutrition is among the top complaints about the quality of nursing home service across the United States (Murray, 2019). In the case under review, meals are cooked quite properly but dramatically lack variety. This not solely limits the brightness of everyday life, but can foster depressions, to which those who live in nursing homes are particularly inclined (“Nursing homes”, 2020). Meanwhile, Active Retirement seeks to provide its residents with maximally diverse experience to maintain their health, both mental and physical. Therefore, it doubtlessly would be reasonable to extend the menu, ideally, in a creative way. Serving healthy dishes from various cuisines in the facility subsequently is a relevant marketing initiative.
It is worth noting that the residents are the primary but not the only customers of the nursing home. The secondary are those who make decisions on their admission to it, notably, relatives, friends, or social workers. It is critical to satisfy each category, so that the initiative is successful. Their needs are practically identical and involve physical as well as psychological well-being of the residents (Murray, 2019). Quality and variety of food are essential components of both, hence occupy leading positions in requirement lists. The fact that quality is not the only parameter to consider is especially important since it consequently becomes apparent that good cooking does not guarantee customer satisfaction, which determines the need for more complex solutions.
An appropriate marketing strategy should be customer-oriented, in other words, target at communicating the benefits of the product or service to its potential buyers. The essential points are product, price, place, and promotion, which are referred to as the 4Ps, or the marketing mix (Pathak, 2021). The first specifies what a manufacturer or provider actually offers. In the given case, this is not simply meals, but new impressions and experience that are essential for preventing the elderly from mental degradation. Price apparently should remain within commonly affordable limits, so that no additional sources of anxiety or depression appear.
Place is one of the biggest advantages of the suggestion, as its essence lies in the possibility of becoming acquainted with foreign cuisines without changing physical location. Such a chance is of special importance for people whose mobility is limited that actually make up to 90% of nursing homes population (“Nursing homes”, 2020, para. 3). Therefore, the initiative is quite promising because it allows for broadening the mind, notwithstanding the obstacles related to aging as well as physical conditions. It is essential, however, to ensure that all of the residents have a clear understanding of the benefits, due to which the promotion campaign needs to consider age-related cognitive peculiarities.
Age and health, which actually correlate, are among the key drivers of demand in the case under review. Specifically, the food has to be harmless to the elderly, who frequently suffer from digestive disorders, for instance, not too fatty or spicy. In addition, the lists of ingredients should not be excessively long, and the recipes excessively complicated. The simpler they are, the more probable the residents will be to remember what they have eaten and which of the dishes they like. This is important, as approximately two-thirds of those who find themselves in such facilities experience more or less serious memory issues (“Nursing homes”, 2020, para. 4). Considering all of the above nuances apparently allows for a maximal customer satisfaction, hence productive long-term cooperation.
References
Murray, Ch. (2019). The top complaints residents have about nursing homes. Caitlin Morgan Insurance Services. Web.
Nursing homes. (2020). Health in Aging. Web.
Pathak, R. (2021). The 4Ps of marketing: Product, price, place, and promotion. Analytics Steps. Web.