Free Essay on Abano Dental's Marketing Mix

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Abano Dental and Healthcare group Limited is a leading operator of medical service and healthcare. It is located in Australia, Asia, and New Zealand. It is based on a dental industry chain and among the upscale clinics in Australia (Abano.co.nz, 2015). Fortunately, I have a friend who has worked for this health group and she will be sharing her experience in evaluating the marketing Mix of the clinic. The aim of this study is to evaluate the components of the marketing mix and topic 2 will discuss monitoring and adjusting the marketing mix in relation to Abano Healthcare.

Brief Introduction to Marketing Mix

The 4ps in marketing stand for price, product, promotion, and place. These four elements of marketing should be considered all the time whether one is thinking of expanding a product or company. The 4Ps of marketing supply as a classification system of the fundamentals of marketing (Ag Marketing, 2015).

According to Ag Marketing (2015), McCarthy, who originally came up with the mnemonic of the 4Ps, he referred to the marketing mix as, an integration of handy facets at a marketers command to assure the objective of the market. Innovative marketing using the 4Ps illustrates and questions current state, enhance marketing, deletes services and existing products, sells them at different prices, offers the product in different places and promotes them differently. However, these four elements do not require you the company to abandon its fundamental business principle. The 4Ps of marketing illustrate the elements that can be controlled internally upon factors such as personnel, creativity, and budget even though, many marketing specialists consider the 4Ps as adopted the 4Cs marketing mix, and too product-oriented. This element of marketing looks at marketing from the customers point and can be defined as:

- Place- should be suitable

- Price efficient to the user

- Promotion-becomes communication

- Product -needs and wants of the customer

Ag Marketing (2015) further summarizes the 4Ps of marketing as illustrated on figure 1 below:

In addition, these four elements are only imperative when a target market which revolves around the consumer is selected. However, if the target market would be for young people, for instance, Abano has a free dental check up for teenagers aged between 13 to 19 years-old then it is rather easy to see how the decision regarding the price, the product, place, and promotion would be affected. In relation to the 4Ps, there is market segmentation. It can be defined as separating an overall market into segments that share common needs and characteristics. A market is segmented on the criteria of demographics (sex, age, location etcetera). It can also be segmented in terms of behavioral and benefits similarities; what benefits the customers seek when purchasing the product. Researchers have proven that once the market has been split into segments, and when performed on the overall market, they signify a target market. When the target market has been identified, the 4Ps can then be applied, and a marketing strategy be implemented (Ag Marketing, 2015).

Product- Abano Dental Clinic offers a variety of services such as dental filling, oral health, removal, dental surgery, and teeth whitening. It is important for companies to remember that when consumers are planning to acquire a product or service, it should be unique and different from the rest. Abano has ensured that its services are unique from its main competitors with the integration of other services such as dental implants, pediatric dentistry, audiology, and diagnostic services. This will ensure that it increases its sales and continues to attract more customers.

Price- Abano Healthcare pricing mix includes the discounts, cost, and competition. Its marketing plans may include price considerations in order to achieve attractiveness and affordability to its high-end consumers.

Place- Abano is located in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. The companys current strategy integrates expanding its services to regions such as Tasman.

Promotion- in terms of promoting its products, Abano has been aggressive. In addition, the company has also promoted its services in conventional methods such as magazines and television ads. However, the online platform is most common with advertising and it is important for Abano to consider this platform. The 4Ps of marketing are important in a multinational company such as Abano as they enhance profitability and ensure the companys current strategy aligns with the marketing mix in order to attract more consumers and achieve profitability.

Abano Dental has built its reputation as a trusted dental authority in Australia and New Zealand. With a long-term business model, the brand has a profitable growth business and an established operating cashflows. The company also has partnerships with multiple businesses across the healthcare sectors. It invests in money, knowledge, and time to unlock the potential of its value. A core factor to the companys strategy is to grow the businesses and invest in organic growth and add-on acquisitions (Abano.co.nz, 2015). The trend of opening hours in has transformed from working 40 hours a week into 24/7 time model in other regions. The physical facilities such as clinic offer clients with information flow. The distribution of such dental information and materials offers customers with an interest in its services. ABANO Dental provides the basic dental repair services and treatment. This according to the company is the core benefit product. In addition to customer demand, other new dental services that have been incorporated with time include oral beauty and teeth planting. Another advantage of the service is the allocation of sufficient capacity as customers do not need to wait for hours to receive service. I some instances the office workers accept timely treatment and extend the services by two hours. As a high-end dental brand, Abano Dental is conveniently located across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. In addition to its dental services, the company also offers diagnostics and audiology services that integrate to its performance levels. As a leading dental brand, the clinic provides quality and most authoritative dental service in the region it serves.

Abano portrays itself as a high-end brand therefore depicting quality service to its consumers. The company has an effective and developed strategic plan that provides clarity to its employees and consumers. In addition, it provides a roadmap to the vision of the company. This will enable it clients to have the confidence to make an emotional, financial, and psychological commitment to the company. Promotion and publicity of its current strategy guides the consumer demand. In addition, the strategy educates the clients the advantages of choosing Abano Dental over its competitors and how they can benefit more from the dental service. Such differences are the advantages for the company. The physical environment at Abano Dental depicts clean, well-maintained and a pleasant working environment for its workers that demonstrates the efficient, organized, and ethical nature of the company. Its biggest intangible advantage is its physical environment with the management spending a lot in decorations and medical equipments. The facilities at the clinic have won the admiration, satisfaction, and loyalty of the guests. The cooperation of the staffs and team unity has played a key role in enhancing the companys mission and vision to deliver quality dental care to its patients and increased performance. The company also has foreign doctors to its list of medical staff in order to improve medical care. On a regular basis, the companys practitioners hold meetings in order to motivate each other and learn from each other. The image quality or enhanced self-image of the company is also crucial to the reception staff as it gives the guests with a warm reception feeling. In addition, a good communication skill is integrated by the staff as part of training.

The market research indicates that Abano consumers are mostly high-income individuals, therefore, the company is not price-sensitive. It is important to consider that value is important to the company. So the pricing strategy for the company is to enhance appreciation of the services and improve the value of products. The pricing system must be transparent and clear. The company needs also needs to inform the consumers of future or possible changes in their services. Yiannikos (2013) indicates that the right pricing for treatment represents the value of a service. Value can be expressed as equal to the benefits received. The two common ways of increasing value to a service include; being different and increasing the benefits without altering or reducing the price. The company offers an array of services such as free dental check up for children aged 13 to 17 years old, dental treatment and repair, and oral beauty. The product pricing differs by product line for instance; it offers other ranges of treatments such as cosmetic and general dentistry with the opportunity to apply for an 18 months no payment and interests on dental treatments that cost $300 and above.

If you compare the value that is offered at Abano healthcare, it is certainly most high-end for the modest price. Therefore, I would recommend value pricing as a price adjustment to the company. Value-based pricing defines the value of the service based on the benefits it provides its consumers. A company such as Abano offers high value services that are well-positioned to take advantage of its pricing adjustments than companies whose services and products are indistinguishable. The reason I recommend value pricing is because the brand name and reputation of the health care group as a reputable company offers an advantage over its competitors. Price adjustment based on value pricing is about setting the price to capture the value that the consumer or client receives. The more value Abano Dental offers to its clients, the higher the price it can charge. However, as Magloff (2015) points out, providing the patients with discounts is also a value-based pricing strategy. This will ensure it maintains profitability.

Promotion aspect is the most important factor of the marketing mix. Mass media is commonly used with large healthcare companies to enhance their services. However, small healthcare companies promote their services at a personal level. For instance, a childrens dental clinic in Oregon developed colorful educational brochures that promoted their dental care service to low income areas (Hanks, 2015). Abano Dental integrates promotional techniques such as educating consumers on its website, and why its services meet the need of the market. Advertising as an impersonal promotion is important to the company through online platforms such as LinkedIn and social networking sites. Effective communication is crucial in persuading the consumers of the pros of the service product. Personal promotion or direct advertising involves communicating with the customers on a face-to-face contact. Abano Clinic has prospective clients who constitute selling on a personal level through consultations. Both personal and impersonal promotions have been integrated by the healthcare company in o...