Marketing Plan

In order to help the marketing plan for the "Weight Management Unit", such scenario planning can help the managers in this department explore the future to develop more accurate planning premises. However, there are times when, to formulate plans, you want to know not just what may happen in the future, but what your customers are thinking right now. Marketing research refers to the procedures used to develop and analyze new customer-related information that helps managers make decisions.

(Wolper, 2004)

Marketing researchers depend on two main types of information, as summarized in the below figure. One source is secondary data, information that has been collected or published already. Good sources of secondary data include libraries, trade associations, and company files and patients reports. Primary data refer to the information specifically collected to solve a current problem. Primary data sources include mail and personal surveys, in-depth and focus-group interviews, and personal observation (like watching the reactions of patients who are really losing the weight). (Wolper, 2004)

To better understand the importance of customer and buyer behavior in marketing. The question is how can market research assist the marketing process? Today marketing is often mistaken as involving only selling, advertisement and promotion of a product. In reality we come to realize that selling, advertising and promotion are but a small part of marketing. While not disregard the importance of the aforementioned activities it must be realized that they are a part, an integral part, of a larger marketing mix often outlined though the four P's of marketing; Product/Service, Price, Place and Promotion (Lake, 2008). Product involves a detailed assessment of the product quality, design, name, warranty, packaging, labeling, and exclusive features. So with the "Weight Management Control Unit", services are the priority for the first P. Price is a process of determining the correct price for a product and services, price set too high may result in the loss of sales where as a price set too low can damage the products and services. Promotion is the most obvious activity in the marketing process involving the selling, advertisement, promotions and public relations enticing the client to buy. Place is the element of marketing which deals with the distribution of the product and services. It includes middlemen and product/services allocation to the community that will serve.

There are many reasons why organizations need to understand the customer and buyer behavior, including: increasingly demanding customers, smarter, survival in an increasingly competitive environment/marketplace. Understanding consumer behavior can assist the development of marketing mix strategies that will appeal to the client and encourage them to purchase your product and services over a similar or substitution good. Once the consumers' decision making process and buying behavior process has been assessed, the 4P's can be developed in line with what the consumer needs and wants. The need of a customer is the basic underlying concept of marketing. When this need is not satisfied it develops into a want, enticing the buyer to look for an object that will satisfy the need. The marketer must distinguish the differences between needs and wants. Marketers' often get so lost in their products that they focus only on existing wants, forgetting to address the consumers underlying need. When customers find their need unsatisfied, they again will search