Developing Your Marketing Plan What is a Marketing Plan? Your marketing plan identifies the most promising opportunities for your practice. It outlines how to successfully penetrate, capture and maintain desired positions in identified markets. Consequently, a marketing plan is the foundation on which your practice’s other operating plans are built. It defines the goals, principles, procedures and methods that determine your practice’s future. It is effective only to the degree that it involves a commitment by all who must contribute to its success and to the degree that it is kept abreast of the ever-changing marketing environment. Planning is a continuous process — not a one-shot activity. The marketing plan is also a communications tool which integrates all elements of the marketing mix — sales, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, etc. — into a single comprehensive program for coordinated action at all levels. The plan specifies by product, target market, and region who will do what, where, when and how in order to accomplish the practice’s goals in the most efficient manner. A marketing plan should be 􀁺 • Simple – easy to understand 􀁺 • Clear – precise and detailed to avoid confusion 􀁺 • Practical – realistic in application and goal attainment 􀁺 • Flexible – adaptable to change 􀁺 • Complete – covers all significant marketing factors 􀁺 • Workable – identifies responsibilities In addition, a marketing plan 􀁺 • Stimulates thinking to make better use of your practice’s resources 􀁺 • Assigns responsibility and work schedules 􀁺 • Coordinates and unifies efforts 􀁺 • Facilitates control and evaluation of results of all activities 􀁺 • Creates awareness of obstacles to overcome 􀁺 • Identifies marketing opportunities 􀁺 • Provides an authentic marketing information source for current and future reference 􀁺 • Facilitates progressive advancement toward your practice’s goals

1. Establish Your Mission, Scope and Goals The direction for developing a marketing plan is set by your mission, scope and goals. These are established by top management and communicated throughout the practice’s organizations.

Mission and Scope

Mission and scope refer to the nature of the practice’s products, services and activities in terms of its ability to serve its referring physicians and patients. You should answer the basic questions “What business are we in?”, “Where do we want to go?”, and “What markets should we address?”. Also included should be future growth and profit opportunities, guidelines and policies for planning and current and planned levels of resources (materials, skills technologies, productivity and finances). Use the space below to begin. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Goals

Goals are specific desired results of the practice’s operating plan. The plan is supported by marketing strategies and by programs with specific objectives. Whenever possible, goals should be defined in quantitative terms so progress toward them can be measured. Define your goals for your practice below. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

2. Situation Analysis A situation analysis provides you with the facts and assumptions on which your plan is based. It does this by answering questions such as • Who are your customers and how do you find them? • What are your customers’ problems, needs and wants? • Where are you now and where do you want to be “X” years from now? • Why do you want to be there? • What problems must be overcome to get there? • Who are your major competitors? What is your assessment of their apparent goals and strategies relative to both referring physicians and patients? Market coverage? Pricing? Service? Communication with their referring physicians and patients? Strengths? Weaknesses? When you have answered these questions, you will be in a better position to set your preliminary marketing objectives, or to revise your present ones. Assumptions: Report on the economy and political environment (like managed care and reimbursement issues). Identify trends and technical factors. List them below. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Company Resources: Outline your key personnel, talents, resources, capabilities and techniques. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Market potentials, forecasts and facts: Acquire quantitative and qualitative information on market size (dollars, referring physicians and patients), growth rate, physician and patient profiles, physician and patient wants, needs and attitudes. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Market Share: What is your practice’s current share of the total potential market served? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Patient Volume History: Analyze patient volume over the last 3-5 years (actual vs. market potential by referring physician specialty or exam types) for growth opportunities. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Current and New Opportunities: Research current and impending procedures or markets that have a high potential of return for your practice. List them below. Identify any resources or investments required to capitalize on the opportunities. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Sales, Expense and Profit Forecasts: Based on your information thus far, how might you predict the future in terms of patient volume, exams and profit-investment? Develop specific plans to support your predictions. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

3. Marketing Objectives After you have defined your goals and a situation analysis has been made, you can now set your objectives. Objectives provide targets for direction and guidance of marketing strategies. When setting marketing objectives, test each by asking yourself “Will this objective serve the best interests of the business as a whole?” They should be results-oriented, measurable, attainable, specific, flexible, consistent with each other and challenging. Below are examples of specific workable marketing objectives for sample marketing criterion. They are not listed in order of importance. Adapt and expand the list to meet the particular situation of your MR imaging practice or department. Add other categories if you like. Volume: Increase the number of referring physicians ____% by December 31, 20__. Profitability: Increase overall return on investment by ____% for the next fiscal year. Market Share: Increase market share in orthopedics by ____% before December 31, 20__. Community Awareness: Increase awareness of imaging center / department among key referring physicians in specific new markets by ____% by December 31, 20__. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

4. Selecting a Marketing Strategy In its broadest sense, a strategy is a complete plan of exactly how you would make the best use of your resources to achieve your objectives. In marketing, there are so many strategies that including all of them would be impractical. You can, however, narrow the strategic alternatives by considering only those that offer the greatest possibility of success in achieving your objectives. Furthermore, all strategies should be consistent with each other and with the objectives they are intended to implement. Brainstorm some strategies for achieving an objective you listed in Section 3. List your ideas below. Evaluate them to determine those that can best satisfy your objectives. Also determine which can be implemented efficiently within your practice’s resources and capabilities and within the limits imposed by potential problems. Finally, determine the strategy or strategies which will best meet your objective. It is important that all of your operating plans and procedures support your selected strategy. Hitachi’s marketing team has listed other suggestions for strategies on the following pages. Feel free to adapt any of them to fit your facility’s needs and goals. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

5. Formulate Detailed Actions The next step in building your complete marketing plan is to list detailed actions which will enable your practice to follow each strategy. This includes specific courses of action with respect to your objectivism, sales, service, promotion, advertising, pricing, marketing research and new services planning and development. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

6. Schedule and Assignments This section answers the questions of who does what, where, how and when. It is important to clearly establish structure and purpose, lines of authority and specific responsibilities. For each planned program or activity, you can convert estimated work-hours and work-weeks into the number of people required to do each job. This figure can be compared with the employees you have available, and questions of manpower losses that may occur during the coming year. Then you can develop appropriate recruiting schedules. In staffing your plan, the important thing is to be sure that each activity in the master program schedule is assigned to an individual. Everyone involved in the plan must be instructed in his/her special role in meeting your marketing objectives. Use the form below to organize this information and determine the required staffing requirements for your practice. Due Date

Date Completed

Planning Activities

Department Responsible

Person Responsible

Assistance From

7. Budgets Identify the required resources, costs and risks associated with each of your marketing objectives. Be sure that top management is committed to what it will take to achieve your results. Program

Resources Required

Budget ($)