Castlight Health

The development and implementation of this marketing plan for Castlight health has been based on several assumptions. One of the assumptions is that the shareholders of the company will agree to the proposals provided and given the green light to the use of financial resources to achieve the objectives set. Thus, it is assumed the company shareholders will back up the marketing plan. Secondly, it is assumed that there will be economic stability within the period that the marketing plan will be implemented. Thus, the budgets will not change because of factors such as high inflation. Another assumption of this marketing plan is that the competitors will not implement the same strategy before Castlight health. This may highly affect the objectives intended to be achieved. Additionally, it is assumed that the company will be able to gather enough financial and human resources to have the plan put into action within the timelines set. Finally, the plan has been developed on the assumption that there will be no resistance among the employees regarding the plan and incase it happens the organization will be able to address the issues that will come up.

General information

Over the years, there has been a tremendous increase in the cost of healthcare. More and more people realize the importance of getting a healthcare plan. The good news is that organizations have a way in which they can reduce the healthcare costs. Nowadays, there are organizations that enable employees to go through a list of health care providers and find the appropriate one. Castlight health care has been a great help to most healthcare institutions. Furthermore, it also helps employees to find affordable health care systems. The organization has been in business for several years and is experienced in providing the service.<

Castlight health is one of the leading providers of cloud-based software in the healthcare industry. It was founded in 2008 in San Francisco(CB Insights, 2017). The organization empowers both employees and organizations to take part in healthcare decisions to help organizations take control of the healthcare spending. Castlight is preferred by numerous healthcare institutions. The Wall Street Journal ranked cast light as number one in the top 50 venture-backed companies. It is a clear indication that the firm is performing the best. Most customers prefer it because it offers affordable healthcare plans. Thus, importantly, the company illuminates methods that customers can adopt in the management of healthcare costs that are escalating. Through its transparency software, the company provides customers with an opportunity to make analysis of health care that is unstructured, drive the engagement of employees and integrate healthcare systems. Since its establishment, Castlight has been collecting data from insurance companies, healthcare providers, quality monitoring organizations, government agencies and internal data(CB Insights, 2017). It uses epidemiologic analytics and predictive modeling to offer insights such as estimation of future care costs and identifying patients who are high risk. Through this, employers can be able to design and implement plans which fit the needs of their employees. The Caslight platform is available on mobile devices and on the web.

Marketing Strategy and business communication standards

To achieve the marketing goals and objectives, the company will be required to put in place a strong marketing strategy as well as significant business communication standards. The marketing strategy that will be used for this particular marketing plan will be digital marketing. This marketing strategy utilizes the digital platform. Currently, there is no single organization which is not utilizing the digital platform to reach out to their customers. Thus, Castlight health will use digital marketing to advertise its services and products to the prospect customers.Digital marketing offers the company a wide range of marketing options that enables them to be in touch with customers and inspire them to purchase their services such as text messaging, podcasting, content marketing, email and mobile marketing and even social media marketing (Chaffey, & Bosomworth, 2012). There are other options such as search engine optimization as well as online banner advertising. Digital marketing strategy offers a push and pull technique at the same time. A pull technique is where customers personally take the initiative of locating the services of the business through digital marketing or internet search using the company’s name or the company’s website. The push technique is where the company utilizes the techniques mentioned above to get into contact with the customer (Chitty, Barker, Valos, & Shimp, 2011).

To have a successful marketing strategy, the company will be required to ensure effectiveness of its business communication standards. For instance, the company should ensure that it provides instant feedbacks to customers inquiries or complains. Moreover, communication should be done using correct English and sentences which are complete. In addition, all communications should be done using the official company platforms and should address the specific need of the customer.

Due Diligence

Implementation of the marketing plan will require the company to have in place adequate resources ranging from financial, operational, and human resources requirements. Financially, to implement the digital marketing strategy, the company will incur costs which requires a budget. On the other hand, having the plan operation will require human resources with adequate skills. The company will either need to hire or train and develop current employees to spearhead the implementation of the marketing plan.

Marketing goals

It is important for an organization to have goals both long term and short term. The goals will help a company to become successful. Furthermore, the marketing goals help the marketing manager to track their progress. Therefore, cast light should have in place the goals that it wants to achieve before a given time period. Some of the goals can be to increase the sales, increase customer and train and develop employees to match the skills required to successfully implement the marketing strategy. From these goals, the objectives of the company will include increasing 20% sales within 3 months period, have a 15% increase in the number of new customers within a 6 month period, retain all current customer and train and develop employees to spearhead the goals developed.

Benchmarks from other Competitors

There has been an increase in the number of health plans and insurers. Given the high number of competitors, it means that cast light has to adjust its prices to remain competitive. The health care plans develop different prices. Castlight has both internal and external competitors. The competition keeps getting stronger. Each company has its way of enticing customers to choose their service.

The cast light competitors are change healthcare. The institution provides personalized savings information to enable consumers to make the appropriate decision on the affordable healthcare solution. The institution uses sophisticated algorithms n allaying health care claims. Change healthcare has saving opportunities that are custom made to suit employees needs.

ClearCost health is also another Castlight competitor. The company gives help to health plan participants the right information before they look for care. The institution offers free claims for the self-funded plan. The ClearCost health gives participants an affordable service.

The healthcare blue book is yet another competitor. The health care enables consumers to save money by choosing providers that are affordable. The health care blue book can enable employees to save on expenses. Furthermore, the healthcare system is consumer friendly.

Marketing Objectives

The objectives of the company should be clearly stated. Through these objectives, the company can estimate the duration of the projects it plans to implement. Setting the objectives is a crucial step in developing a marketing plan. There are certain marketing issues that the company has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. One of them is technology. Nowadays, technology has made it easier for people to interact. A company that wants to reach a high number of customers has to consider embracing technology. Not only does technology help increase the client base, but also in increasing the sales. Furthermore, Castlight can make use of technology to make its products services widely known. The other issues are competition. There are many companies that joining the industry. As such, it is a threat to Castlight operations. In order to remain on top of the competition, Castlight has to continue offering its customers at a pocket-friendly price. Furthermore, the competitors will still increase because the industry is growing. The company knows how to handle such matters in a professional way.

Limitations to implementing the Plan

Once the marketing has been formulated, the next thing is to stick to it. However, there are times when it is not possible to implement the plan. There are numerous reasons that prevent the marketing plan from being implemented. One of the limitations is the environmental barriers. The environmental barriers include social, economic, technological, political and legal barriers. An organization that does not analyze these environmental factors will have a difficult time implementing their marketing plan. Carrying out an external environment analysis is necessary to remove any doubts. Cultural barriers can also affect the implementation. The organizational performance plays a big role in the performance of an organization. Culture affects the market planning when the employees show a sign of disbelief in the planning. Employees should be in the forefront when the marketing plan is being implemented. Failure to acknowledge employees in the process can have adverse effects on the market plan. Lastly, is the behavioral barrier. Such barriers refer to the traits of the workforce.

Problems facing companies

Numerous problems face the healthcare industry. In 2013, the United States spent over $3.1 trillion healthcare. Out of this amount, $620 billion was paid out by the United States employers (Raube, 2018). The health care system has a great burden in terms of the cost of healthcare. Employers are not in a position to make an informed decision because of lack of transparency in the healthcare industry. Given that there is a lack of transparency, organizations cannot monitor how much they spend on health care.

The first problem is that the cost of healthcare is increasing faster. The increase in inflation has led to an increase in the healthcare tremendously. Another problem is with regards to the employees not having relevant information about the costs of the hospitals. Lastly, cast light provides healthcare institutions with a low-cost service. The solution enables employees to reduce spending.

Solutions

There are numerous solutions to the problem of lack of transparency. Through the help of cast light, employers can develop innovative designs that keep employees engaged in the healthcare choices. First, Castlight provides solutions such as breakthrough engagement. Castlight has a wide range of practices that help motivate employees. It has a communication curriculum that organization can customize to meet their needs. The second solution that is offered by cast light is Full integration. Castlight has a centralized platform for employees program and benefits. Employees can get information for different health care all in one place. Therefore, cast light provides convenience since employees do not have to shift from one website to another. The third solution is tailored education. Castlight has a clinical education that helped shoppers to make an informed decision on the best healthcare to choose. For instance, it helps customers to determine when MRI is required and when it is not needed.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that by formulation a marketing plan; Castlight will be better positioned to manage its clients. Additionally, a marketing plan makes it easier for the marketing manager to reach the milestones they have set. The company can check whether it was able to meet its set target. The marketing plan motivates employees to work harder. Having a plan ahead of time helps an organization to avoid failure. The marketing plan will help prevent a misfortune from happening.

Reference

Raube, K. (2018). Castlight health: disrupting the health care industry. Berkeley-Haas Case Series

Chaffey, D., & Bosomworth, D. (2012). Digital marketing strategy. Retrieved from: http://www.enterprisebucks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/digital-marketing-plan-template-smart-insights1.pdf

Chitty, W., Barker, N., Valos, M., & Shimp, T. A. (2011). Integrated marketing communications. Cengage Learning.

CB Insights. (2017). CastLight Health. Retrieved May 7, 2017, from Cbinsights.com: https://www.cbinsights.com/company/castlight-health-competitors