Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

Market Planning and Decision Making 2nd Semester 8th May 2013 Word count: 4,573

Loredana Bleiziffer (2045873B) Jie Du (2014102D) Zhongyi He (2014156H) Di Huang (2043702H) Heting Huang (2048887H) Wanchen Liao (2043937L) Aunima Nazmun Nahar (2049490N) Chang Su (2056277S) Oleksandra Udodenko (2050546U) Chu-chia Wei (2047545W)

Executive summary
Based on the situation analysis, the Edinburgh and the Glasgow Physiotherapy Centre have shown to be in a good position when it comes to their current reputation and their current social media presence, which enables them to take advantage of opportunities arising in the market, specifically the growing interest and believe in physiotherapy amongst consumers and their willingness to spend their disposable income on physiotherapy services. The PEST analysis has also shown a growing interest from the government, leading to higher investments in the industry. However, the competitor analysis has revealed a high local market pressure for physiotherapy services. The overall objective set for the company is to increase the sales, which is meant to be met by increasing the awareness of the company and its services amongst its target audience and increasing their involvement and engagement with the company. The customer analysis has shown a diversity of new and old customer segments which can be targeted accordingly. However, a clear social media marketing strategy is necessary in order to meet these objectives and to increase the effectiveness of the companys online marketing activities. The social media marketing strategy outlined in this plan is firstly focused on optimizing the social media presence through giving clear directions for improvement of the website, the blog and the social platform accounts. Secondly, specific campaigns, including a YouTube campaign to promote the companys Pilates and massage services, a specific Pilates campaign for Glasgow aiming at changing the perception of the services amongst old and new customer segments, a Groupon sales promotion for Glasgow based on massages or Pilates, and general sales promotions have been suggested. The evaluation of the social media presence and the specific campaigns has been outlined in detail and the necessary budget has been set for 4,300 (1,300 excluding Groupon). The plan covers a period of six months, beginning in July 2013.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.

Situation analysis ........................................................................................................ 1 1. Current business situation ................................................................................... 1 1.1. The company and its mission ....................................................................... 1 1.2. Service offerings ........................................................................................... 1 1.3. Current marketing strategy .......................................................................... 1 1.3.1.Overall marketing Strategy ................................................................ 1 1.3.2.Current online strategy ...................................................................... 2 1.3.2.1 Website .................................................................................. 2 1.3.2.2 Blog......................................................................................... 2 1.3.2.3 Mobile .................................................................................... 3 1.3.2.4 Social networks ...................................................................... 3 1.3.2.5 Twitter .................................................................................... 3 1.3.2.6 Facebook ................................................................................ 4 1.3.2.7 YouTube ................................................................................. 4 2. Market environment ............................................................................................ 4 2.1. Macroenvironment: PEST analysis ............................................................... 4 2.2. Microenvironment ....................................................................................... 5 2.2.1.Target market & customer groups ..................................................... 5 2.2.2.Competitors ....................................................................................... 7 3. SWOT analysis ...................................................................................................... 8

II.

Marketing strategy ............................................................................................10 4. Objectives........................................................................................................... 10 5. Marketing strategy ............................................................................................. 10 6. Marketing tactics................................................................................................ 11 6.1. Optimization of social media presence ...................................................... 11 6.2. Use of social media marketing ................................................................... 13 6.2.1.YouTube campaign ........................................................................... 14 6.2.2.Pilates campaign .............................................................................. 15 6.2.3.Groupon campaign........................................................................... 16 6.2.4.Sales promotion campaign............................................................... 16 7. Budget and Implementation .............................................................................. 17 8. Performance analysis ......................................................................................... 18

III.

Appendices .......................................................................................................20 A. Interview with Anna Lazarski, Clinic Manager of Physiotherapy Glasgow ........ 20 B. Overall Marketing Grader results for Physiotherapy Edinburgh & Glasgow .... 22 C. Marketing Grader results: blog ......................................................................... 22 D. Marketing Grader results: Twitter and Facebook ............................................. 23 E. Marketing Grader results: Twitter mentions and retweets .............................. 23 F. Marketing Grader results: Facebook mentions and likes ................................. 24 G. Competitor analysis ........................................................................................... 25 H. Price list for Embody ......................................................................................... 28 I. Price list for Woodland Herbs ........................................................................... 29

IV.

Reference List ...................................................................................................30

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 1: Possible positions of consumers regarding physiotherapy................................ 6 Illustration 2: GANTT-Chart: Implementation period of social media campaigns .................17 Illustration 3: Overall Marketing Grader results for Physiotherapy Edinburgh & Glasgow ...22 Illustration 4: Marketing Grader results: blog ........................................................................22 Illustration 5: Marketing Grader results: Twitter and Facebook ............................................23 Illustration 6: Marketing Grader results: Twitter mentions ...................................................23 Illustration 7: Marketing Grader results: Facebook mentions and likes ................................ 24

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: PEST analysis of UK private healthcare industry......................................................... 5 Table 2: SWOT analysis for Physiotherapy Edinburgh and Glasgow ........................................ 8 Table 3: Objectives of the marketing strategy .......................................................................10 Table 4: Budget and evaluation ..............................................................................................19 Table 5: Competitor analysis ..................................................................................................25 Table 6: Price list for Embody .................................................................................................28 Table 7: Price list for Woodland Herb.....................................................................................29

I. Situation Analysis

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

1. Current business situation 1.1. The company and its mission

As the name implies, the Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre is a physiotherapy centre established in 1992 which is located in Edinburgh, but has also opened an office in Glasgow in 2008. Its mission is to take away pain (Appendix A) as well as improving recovery from injury and promoting better general health (Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre, 2012).

1.2.

Service offerings

The services provided by the company include various physiotherapy treatments, e.g. joint manipulation, muscle and soft tissue myofascial release and acupuncture, and massage treatments, e.g. deep tissue massages and sports massages. Both treatment techniques work in synchrony with other health therapies to help the patients body move and work better. This year, the company has launched a new service called Pilates, including courses for pregnancy, tone & shape Pilates, clinical Pilates and lunch time blitz sessions, which they see as a very profitable service and a way to diversify the service portfolio. According to the National Health Service (NHS), Pilates focuses on stretching and strengthening the whole body to improve balance, muscle-strength, flexibility and posture.

1.3.

Current marketing strategy

1.3.1. Overall marketing strategy

The companys marketing activities are currently focusing on social media. It is also using an unofficial loyalty program which gives discounts to regular customers, students and to customers referring the company to their friends and family. Special promotions are offered at specific festivals and occasions, e.g. Robert Burns day, Mothers Day and St. Patricks Day. Currently, the company has not set any marketing budget, specific marketing strategy and relative marketing activities.

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

1.3.2. Current online strategy

The current online presence of the company includes official websites, social networks (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) and a blog.

1.3.2.1. Website
The Hubspot Marketing Grader is used to evaluate the current performance of the companys website on a scale of 0-100, based on: Traffic: Compares the website to millions of other sites on the internet Indexed pages: Counts the number of pages indexed by the major search engines Linking Domains: Number of domains currently linking to a site as recorded by SEOmoz mozRank: Measure of link authority and popularity as measured by SEOmoz on a scale of 0-10. According to the online assessments of Hubspot, the e-Marketing Grade is 71 for Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre and 70 for Glasgow Physiotherapy Centre, the number of pages indexed by search engines is 81/80, the number of linking domains is 34 and the mozRank is 5.6 (Appendix B), which makes the website above-average but still shows areas of improvement. To drive traffic to the website should be the primary consideration for the company to improve its current website performance.

1.3.2.2. Blog
Blogging is a great way to add interesting content to websites so companies can get more traffic and leads. (Hubspot, 2013) The company has a blog which is linked to the website. The blog post titles are unique and short (under 75 characters) in order to really grab readers attention and maximize the search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. Also, the company has an easily located RSS feed with which readers can subscribe to the blog content. According to Hubspot, companies that blog at least 20 times per month generate 5 times more traffic than those that blog only a few times per month. Also, blog posts that were

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

shared on Twitter had 113% more inbound links than those not shared on social media at all. However, the Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre has not published a blog post in over 6 months and although the blog has social media sharing buttons, the blog posts are not being shared on Facebook and Twitter (Appendix C).

1.3.2.3. Mobile
Having a website that displays well on mobiles devices is becoming more and more important as 35 per cent of adults have a smartphone and 87 per cent of smartphone owners access the Internet on their mobile devices (Hubspot, 2013). The company has a mobile version of its website. However, when taking the smaller screen sizes and slower bandwidths into account, the company should think about how much content is displayed on a single page.

1.3.2.4. Social networks

Social media has become one of the strongest media for spreading information. A research conducted by Ahmed et al (2010) shows that 65 per cent of individuals utilize different social media to relate personal experiences of concussion in healthcare sector such as physiotherapy or rehabilitation. 57% of small businesses say social media is beneficial to their business, which is no wonder since being active on Twitter and Facebook has been shown to increase the number of inbound links, traffic and leads. (Hubspot, 2013) Social media platforms are especially suitable for the company because its services ask for a close personal relationship between staff and customers and social media can create a stronger bond with customers. The company has a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube account which will be analysed in the following.

1.3.2.5. Twitter
According to Hubspot, the companys Twitter page (@thephysiocentre) has 565 followers and 849 tweets. The website link has been (re)tweeted 134 times recently, but there are no mentions by others, showing a very low engagement amongst the target groups. It takes the

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

company 9 days and 11 hours in average between tweets (Appendix D) and it didnt reply to any of the last 10 tweets (Appendix E).

1.3.2.6. Facebook
In terms of Facebook, the company has 340 fans on its company page. However, the number of likes and comments is quite low, ranging from 3 to 4 (Appendix F), indicating a very limited interaction between the company and its customers. More frequently updates would be necessary to inform customers of the latest news or any business-related information.

1.3.2.7. YouTube
The companys YouTube channel (ThePhyioCentre) only contains 3 videos from which the latest video was uploaded two years ago and has only 8 subscribers. Consumers might be confused if the business still exists.

2. Market environment 2.1. Macroenvironment: PEST analysis

The PEST analysis (Table 1) on the next page focuses on the private UK healthcare industry so as to seek for the factors that may have effect on the formulation of corresponding strategies. Overall, government actions benefit the public and private UK healthcare industry whilst the interest in and knowledge about physiotherapy in the society is increasing. Whilst consumers are more conscious about their money, they are eager to spend more of their disposable income on healthcare. Developments in technology and skills of physiotherapist also positively benefit the UK healthcare industry.

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

Table 1. PEST analysis of UK private healthcare industry

POLITICAL 1. Coalition Government have made 1. 2. ECONOMIC Economic recession in global range Firms try to reduce their cost or manage their financial condition so as to use money more effectively 3. 4. Prevent unnecessary hospital admissions Evaluate the time that is being spent on educational programmes and the long-term benefits to the patients

commitment to cut public expenditure 2. The Health Informatics Service established by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHSFT feel interests in corporate with CSC 3. Development of National Health Service (NHS) provided by local and national authorities and charitable institutions in Scotland 4. 5. Private Medical Insurance Policy Health and Social Care Bill was introduced into Parliament SOCIAL 1. The increasing public confidence in

TECHNOLOGICAL 1. The development of medical equipment which could give more explicit diagnosis so as to in the publics 2. 3. provide proper treatment The development of the skills of physiotherapy Increase in outstanding specialists who could provide more professional treatment

physiotherapy 2. The development

understanding to what physiotherapy is and what it offers 3. Disposable income that could be spent on healthcare 4. The improvement in the public focus on health conditions

(BEYONDCLINICAL, 2012; Ramaswsamy, 2005)

2.2.

Microenvironment

2.2.1. Target market & customer groups

Changes in lifestyles and high stress levels lead to serious health problems. Hence, people pay more attention to maintain their good health through different approaches. Accordingly, this trend facilitates the development of the private health care market. The market for private healthcare includes a variety of medical treatments which are funded in private, either via their private medical insurance (PMI) policies or by patients directly (OFT, 2011). In

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

2009, the overall value of the market for acute private healthcare in the UK was about 5 billion. Clinics and private hospitals take up the largest proportion of this figure, generating approximately 2.83 billion in revenue in 2009. Currently, the company selects Glasgow and Edinburgh as its primary geographic markets. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and one of Europes top ten financial centres, housing many leading businesses. Its population almost covers 41% of Scotland and its medical care is mainly provided by NHS Scotland. Edinburgh, as the capital city of Scotland with a population of 778.000, has a higher proportion of those aged between 16 and 24 than the Scottish average (General Register Office for Scotland, 2011). Consequently, these two cities provide a considerable amount of potential customers for the company. According to the demographic segmentation conducted after the initial interview with a company representative (Appendix A), most of its target customers are private or NHS patients, office workers, staff and students from private schools and the Strathclyde University. These customer groups are very broad. When looking at the customer and service types, the consumer groups can be redefined and split in 4 groups, indicated in Illustration 1 below: Illustration 1: Possible positions of consumers regarding physiotherapy Want to do physiotherapy

The traditional stay-fitters Want traditional methods University staff Office workers

The experimental stay-fitters Students Office workers Like to experiment

The traditional patients NHS and private patients

The experimental patients (NHS and private patients)

Need to do physiotherapy (own elaboration)

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

The current customers of the company can be divided in the ones that need/dont need (but want) to do physiotherapy and the ones that like the more traditional methods like the massages and classic physiotherapy sessions or the more modern methods like Pilates. The so called traditional patients, mostly NHS or private customers who have to do physiotherapy, either get (most of) the treatments covered through NHS or have to pay the treatments themselves, which is likely to restrict the treatments to very traditional methods including massages. Also, most of them are elderly who prefer more traditional methods. On the other hand, for office workers, university and private school staff and students, their high workload can lead to mental and physical exhaustion. Although they do not necessarily need to do physiotherapy they decide to start physiotherapy voluntarily, and many of them are eager to experiment. Also, apart from students, these customer groups have a disposable income which enables them to afford a certain level of expenditure in healthcare. Thus, new physiotherapy methods like Pilates are more likely to draw the attention of the other customer groups. However, students are quite price-sensitive and likely to be only attracted through sales promotions. These customer groups, especially students, but also university workers, are also users of social media, with which they can be reached and exposed to marketing messages.

2.2.2. Competitors
Appendix G summarizes the conducted competitor analysis which was focused on Glasgow as the company stated that it wanted to base its marketing strategy on the competitive environment in Glasgow. When it comes to the service offering, most competitors have focused on different physiotherapy and massage methods with a few offering newer methods like Pilates, acupuncture, shiatsu and reiki, focusing on customers of all ages who need to relieve pain, NHS patients and sports athletes. The prices for most services only differ slightly, consultancy sessions showing the highest differences between competitors, ranging from 30 to 100. Two out of the ten competitors offer discounts for students. Most of the companies are located in the city centre of Glasgow or near sports facilities, clinics and hospitals.

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

When looking at the results of the companys online presence compared to its competitors according to the Hubspot Marketing Grader, the Glasgow Physiotherapy Centre has done best in respect of e-marketing overall. However, the traffic ranks, the number of indexed pages and linking domains lagged behind some of its competitors. Therefore, it should mainly focus on these three aspects in order to sharpen the website performance. Besides direct competitors, there is a wide range of substitutes. For consumers who want physical relaxation, the gym can be an alternative for having massages or doing Pilates. Some gyms even offer Pilates courses. Moreover, there are large numbers of Glasgow citizens participating in the Glasgow Running Network. This organization aims to broadcast a healthy lifestyle by organizing regular runs around the city, expressing a similar mission to the one of the Glasgow (and Edinburgh) Physiotherapy Centre.

3. SWOT analysis
Table 2. SWOT analysis for Physiotherapy Edinburgh and Glasgow
INTERNAL ANALYSIS STRENGTHS 1. 2. Expert physiotherapists One of the largest physiotherapy clinics with good reputation since 1992 3. 4. 5. Convenient location Provide high quality services Good foundation for a successful future online presence WEAKNESSES 1. No current marketing strategy in order to increase awareness, customer loyalty, sales and/or customer base 2. No services which differ from competitors 2. 1. 3. 2. 1. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS OPPORTUNITIES Providing of new services in order to differentiate from competitors Take advantage of social media as an easy and cost-efficient way to increase awareness, customer loyalty, sales and/or customer base Increasing private and governmental interest in knowledge about, and spending for healthcare THREATS A lot of competitors such as Bupa Wellness and BMI Healthcare Services can be easily copied by other clinics

(own elaboration) The SWOT analysis above (Table 2) was conducted in order to analyse the current situation of the company. The strength of the company lies in its long history, the positive perception

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

of its services and staff and its central location in Glasgow as well as Edinburgh. However, the company is currently not differentiating its services, which increases the competitive pressure through competitors with similar services. Whereas it has laid a good foundation, the current marketing activities are not currently supporting a specific marketing strategy with clear defined objectives. The marketing strategy outlined in the next part will enable the company take advantage of the opportunities arising in the market.

II . Marketing Strategy

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4. Objectives
The overall objective of the company is to increase the sales in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. The overall objective can be achieved by meeting the other objectives, which are listed in Table 3 below: Table 3. Objectives of the marketing strategy
Objectives Increase sales 1. Increase awareness of the company X amongst the target audience 2. Increase awareness amongst the target audience of the services offered 3. Increase involvement and X engagement of customers X X X X X X X X Website + blog Twitter Facebook YouTube

(own elaboration) Objectives 1 and 2 focus on increasing the awareness amongst the target audience towards the company itself and its services, especially for Pilates and massages in Glasgow (as requested by the company) amongst the experimental patients and the experimental stayfitters. Also, the marketing strategy needs to start targeting the staff and students from the University of Glasgow, which has over 23,000 students and 6,000 staff (The University of Glasgow, 2013). Objective 3 is about keeping existing customers engaged with the company and its services, thus increasing customer loyalty. The company doesnt currently plan to introduce any new services in the future.

5. Marketing strategy
Social media particularly helps to meet all objectives as it draws traffic to the website, blog, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube account in order to increase awareness amongst the target audience about the company itself and its services and increases involvement of current customers with the company. As a consequence, the marketing strategy will focus on social media marketing due to its fit as a communication tool for the type of services and its fit to

Social Media Marketing Strategy for the Glasgow and Edinburgh Physiotherapy Centre

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the customer groups targeted. Table 3 below shows which social media instrument to use for each objective.

6. Marketing tactics
In order to pursue the marketing strategy, the marketing tactics have to be divided in the 4 Ps: Product: The focus will be put on Pilates and massages, because the company aims at increasing the awareness for these amongst potential and existing customers, especially the experimental patients and the experimental stay-fitters. Price: There will be no changes in prices as the situation analysis has shown that the prices are competitive. Place: Social media marketing will help to achieve the objectives for both the Edinburgh and Glasgow Physiotherapy Centre whereas some of the marketing tactics are going to be focused on Glasgow. Promotion: The promotion of the company is the main part of the marketing strategy and will be divided in 2 steps, the first being the optimization of the social media presence and the second being the use of the social media presence for specific marketing campaigns.

6.1.

Optimization of social media presence

The situation analysis showed a lack of interaction and engagement between the company and its customers online. To reach the established marketing objectives, the existing online presence should be improved according to their purpose. Website The website is already well presented and includes all relevant and useful information. The website itself is not a social media tool, but can draw traffic to the social media platforms on which the company is present (De Pelsmacker, Geuens and Van den Bergh, 2007, p. 496), thus supporting objective 3. Additionally, content created on the social media platforms can

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draw traffic to website pages providing information about the company, its service offerings and marketing activities, thus supporting objective 1 and 2. Blog Blog posts are posted by physiotherapists and provide information about healthcare. The blog should be updated more frequently, preferably once a month and the topics covered in posts should be expanded, giving blog visitors more opportunities to participate in discussions. Also, short therapist stories and press releases could be posted on the blog. The blog is also a good way to add posts about provided services, e.g. the variety of Pilates courses. Also, links to videos on the companys YouTube channel can help to promote particular treatments. Blog posts should be shared on Twitter in order to increases the interaction with customers as blogs are restricted to the comment sections which lacks interaction. To promote the blog, a blog button redirecting from the website should be added to the existing social platform buttons. YouTube channel The current YouTube videos uploaded by the company are neither attractive nor much informative (YouTube, 2010). But since people are becoming more health conscious gradually with time, the company has a lot of potential to spread their news through a strong medium like YouTube, especially because physiotherapy treatments are best advertised through videos. Competitors like Bupa are extensively using YouTube in order to provide information about the companys history and the services offered (YouTube, 2012a; YouTube, 2012b). The company should consider adding videos in order to show the process of receiving treatments and procedures at the physiotherapy centre. Also, a video should feature the inside of the physiotherapy centre and show the staff and facilities in order to give potential customers an idea of what to expect and who treats them. After uploading the basic videos about services at the physiotherapy centre, new videos can be uploaded regularly whenever a new treatment is introduced or if there are other company-related news.

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Twitter The already frequently updated Twitter page can be improved by tweeting an Advice of the day to intrigue followers to keep an eye on the account, thus increasing their engagement with the company. It also helps to increase traffic to other online presence of the company when frequently linking to content on the website, blog and other social media platforms. Facebook The Facebook page has to become more interactive as it currently aims to communicate with existing customers who already know about the physiotherapy centre. The company profile should be changed to a group page in order to give page visitors an opportunity to make posts, ask questions and to be more engaged in the community. The page content should be improved by adding images of the physiotherapy centre with directions and photographs of facilities and staff. To attract more potential customers, the company should send requests to university and company group pages in order to increase awareness of the company amongst those, while offering them promotional discounts for each like to drive sales. General Regarding all social media platforms, it should be noted that social media pages should be updated regularly and more frequently. Every enquiry and feedback left by (potential) customers should be replied to, to show that customer comments are important to the company. Interaction with interested customers is important in order to persuade them to use services from this particular company. This can be done by asking questions and encouraging them to share feedback about their experience with the company and its services. Also, all the tools should be integrated with each other and link to one another. Each social media account can be used to increase traffic to other accounts.

6.2.

Use of social media marketing

The optimization of the social media presence was the first step in the marketing strategy. The next steps are particular campaign that address specific customer groups and aim at meeting the set objectives more precisely.

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6.2.1. YouTube campaign

Massages and Pilates as two services provided by the company cannot possibly grab the same customer segment(s) and thus can't be advertised in the same video. Thus, the company should advertise each of their service types in a separate video. The company should further understand the customer segment for each of the services and make the videos based on their preferences. In the videos the company should provide the following elements: 1. Providing a brief introduction about the company. 2. Showing and explaining the particular physiotherapy treatment in detail. 3. Showing a graphical representation about how each of the services benefits customers. 4. Providing feedback from existing customers of that particular service in the video. An example is provided below based on the Pilates service provided by the company: Identifying the customer segment: According to the findings of the competitor analysis, the company still needs to compete with substitutes like the Glasgow Running Network, which also focus on a healthy lifestyle. As a result, it is reasonable to attract customers who prefer to use these substitutes in order to stay fit. Since jogging and running have similar functions with Pilates, this point can be utilized in order to attract new customers; especially the people who prefer cardio exercise for being healthy and shaped along with being fit, including the experimental stay-fitters. It can also act as a way to get the companys traditional patients to try out more experimental treatments or to attract new experimental patients. Contents of the advertisement: Separate parts can be created in the advertisement to show the impact of Pilates on separate body part. One part can show the importance of systematic breathing in the exercise and how it's helpful for blood circulation and heart. The following parts of the video can illustrate the benefits on individual body parts. Promoting the advertisements: The popularity of every viral advertisement starts from one single point; that might be just a share or like button clicked by one customer who watched the advertisement. However, the company can promote these advertisements also through other ways.

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1. Since the company works in a limited geographic area, it can arrange some free sessions in different organizations (e.g. offices or universities). The company can show their YouTube advertisements in those sessions and if possible bring one or two loyal customers with them in order to make people believe about the success of the institution. Besides, the company should ask office workers on the street to participate in the lunchtime blitz in order to show them that physiotherapy can help them stay fit and healthy in just 30 minutes. These sessions should be filmed and uploaded on YouTube. 2. Moreover, the company can share the videos on their own Facebook and Twitter page or blog where it's easy to reach the target customers so that customers don't necessary need to actively search for the videos on YouTube. Through enabling consumers to watch, share and comment on these videos, the (potential) customer engagement grows. 3. The company can offer discounts, a free treatment or a monetary incentive for local opinion leaders in the field of physiotherapy or Pilates, e.g. bloggers or people that own websites about physiotherapy. They will share the YouTube videos on their own social media pages and thus increase the exposure of the videos online amongst the target audience.

6.2.2. Pilates campaign

Jogging and running have similar functions with Pilates, but Pilates is a milder way to stay fit. This could be taken as a point to attract new customers. There are a lot of existing studies that demonstrate that inappropriate exercise can create knuckle damage. Especially for those people who are not so slim, running with their extra weight may damage their knees and knuckle. The company could take advantage of this awareness and with that promote Pilates as a choice with little risk and professional assistance and to let people know that unprofessional exercise is not good for their health. This is how the campaign could look like: Slogan: Stop hurting yourself, (Pilates fits you more) Target audience: Existing and new customers who want to stay healthy (the experimental stay-fitters)

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Target market: Existing customers; potential customers who already have a high awareness of healthy living, e.g. members of the Glasgow Running Network or gyms; especially people who are involved in indoor exercise because those who like outdoor exercise may have requirements which are difficult to replace. Approach: Create content on YouTube and the blog and spread it on Facebook and Twitter. Content: YouTube video which uses animations and real video footage to show how unprofessional exercise can negatively affect the health and includes short clippings from the video created about the Pilates sessions at the Glasgow Physiotherapy Centre. The focus should be put on the fact that the sessions take place in small groups and with professional physiotherapist which supervise all exercises. A blog entry should also be written by a company expert who addresses the issues, includes the YouTube video and encourages readers to spread the blog and YouTube video. Opinion leaders, e.g. sports athletes, could be asked to spread the video online, similar to the YouTube campaign.

6.2.3. Groupon campaign

Pilates is the most profitable service of the company and massages are one of the most popular services bought through Groupon (Gupta, Weaver and Rood, 2012), so offering discounts for Pilates and/or massage sessions on Groupon can be an effective way to attract new customers (especially the experimental stay-fitters and the experimental patients). However, the company needs to make sure that the services still stay profitable after the discount. Usually, Groupon discounts should be at least 40 per cent and the campaigns lead to a very high overbooking for companies if they dont adjust themselves to it. The company might have to employ more staff for the period that the vouchers can be redeemed (Gupta, Weaver and Rood, 2012).

6.2.4. Sales promotion campaign

According to the situation analysis, the existing membership system is too weak to increase customer loyalty. An online sales promotion campaign aims at increasing the customer loyalty of existing customers as well as the sales whilst also attracting new customers.

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For a restricted time, existing customers who like the companys Facebook page and/or follow the Twitter account will be given a membership card with exclusive discounts which they can collect at the physiotherapy centre. Simultaneously, normal membership cards will be introduced and promoted in-store which give a small discount. These should be advertised online regularly.

7. Budget and implementation

Illustration 2: GANTT-Chart: Implementation period of social media campaigns
Shoot videos for YouTube campaign Post videos of YouTube campaign online and spread through Twitter and Facebook Evaluation of campaign Shoot videos for Pilates campaign Write blog entry about the Pilates issue and implement the YouTube video Spread the YouTube video and blog entry on Facebook and Twitter 1st evaluation of campaign Prepare membership cards Spread the membership card promotion on Twitter and Facebook Offer membership cards in store 1st evaluation of membership card promotion Arrange contract with Groupon and provide all relevant information Groupon coupon goes online 1st evaluation of Groupon promotion

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan 14

(own elaboration) According to the objectives, the company has to first increase the awareness of the company itself and its services, which is met through creating content trough the YouTube campaign, Pilates online campaign and Groupon campaign and spreading it through Twitter and

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Facebook. Once the awareness amongst the target audience is created, the company can aim at increasing the involvement and engagement of its existing and potential customers through the sales promotions campaign. As Illustration 2 on the previous page shows, the promotions all take place after one another as there is only one person currently working on the marketing of the company. As the effect of online marketing campaigns can take longer to be become obvious, the first valuation should take place about 1 months after carrying out of the campaign; the second one should take place after about 3 months which will show the more long-term results. The exact budget for each campaign and the evaluation methods and criteria can be found in Table 4 on the next page. The costs listed apply to the whole period of preparing and implementing the marketing strategy. The necessary budget of 4300 including the Groupon campaign is rather high for a SMO like Physiotherapy Glasgow. However, Groupon campaigns have shown to have a very positive long-term effect on sales and customer base with minimal effort. Also, the campaigns take place after one another, thus spreading the budget over a six months period. The initial high costs for optimising the social media presence are one-off costs. Overall, in the short term, the effect of discounts from the sales promotions on the company sales cannot be forecasted. It will result in lower sales at the beginning but will in the long-term increase the company sales and customer base.

8. Performance analysis
The company can evaluate its marketing campaigns by measuring the likes, shares, retweets and mentions on social media platforms (see Table 4 on next page) which reflect the awareness amongst and engagement of customers (objective 1-3). There are many free online social media

optimization tools available which help to evaluate the online presence (e.g. Bercovitz, 2012). The overall objective is to increase sales, so in the second evaluation round the average sales
before the campaign should be compared with the actual sales and the growth in the customer base should be measured.

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Table 4. Budget and evaluation

Actions Budget breakdown Employee compensation for potential long hours for posting social media updates Optimization of social media presence Photos of staff One-time website update Employee compensation for blog entries Production of videos Incentives for customers to take part in video YouTube campaign Buying of copyrights for video content, e.g. animations (non-)monetary incentives for opinion leaders Production of video Employee compensation for blog entry Pilates campaign 200 Campaign evaluation methods Page views, unique visitors and click-through rate for website Reader number, Facebook and Twitter shares and comments for blogs 50 50 100 Likes, shares and mentions on Facebook Followers, retweets and replies on Twitter Likes and view counts on YouTube Long-term: increase in sales and customer base 200 150 100 Likes and view counts on YouTube Likes, shares and mentions of video on Facebook Retweets of video and replies on video on Twitter Long-term: increase in sales and customer base 200

100 50

Likes and view counts on YouTube Likes, shares and mentions of video on Facebook Retweets of video and replies on video on Twitter Reader number, Facebook and Twitter shares and comments for blog entry Long-term: increase in sales and customer base

Design and print of 200 membership cards Employee compensation for potential long hours / temporary staff members Effect of discounts on company sales

100 3000

Likes, shares and mentions of sales promotion on Facebook Retweets of video and replies of sales promotion on Twitter Increase in sales: Number and sales value of treatments booked through membership cards compared to average numbers Growth in customer base based on sales promotions

Sales promotions

na

4300 Overall budget 1300 excl. Groupon

(own elaboration)

III . Appendix

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Appendix A Interview with Anna Lazarski, Clinic Manager of Physiotherapy Glasgow, 27/02/13

Company info: Mission originally was take away pain Now they have expanded in other services (Pilates)

Services: Physiotherapy (the most popular refer people to do massage or Pilates) Massage Pilates: new service launched this year (5-6 people per group) most profitable (per 1 hour = 5 people x 25= 125) Each day in total about 20 appointments In Edinburgh no Pilates; physiotherapy for office workers is popular

Customers (target market): In Glasgow: Office workers Students and staff of Strathclyde University (students get 10% discount) People who have medical insurance Good awareness (centre located near train station)

In Edinburgh: Office workers Pupils, teachers, parents from private schools (located near the centre)

Competitors: Glasgow: Wellness clinic around the corner

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Current marketing strategy: Tools: Website (rarely updates) Newsletter (1 per month, if clients provide e-mails); Facebook; Twitter (all posts are made by manager in Glasgow office) Blog posted by physiotherapists Youtube (they have account, but dont use it properly); Search marketing (for Edinburgh website) top of the list companies; Discounts for loyal customers; Student discount; Refer a friend; Special promotions: o Attend procedure in March and get service in April for free o Robert Burns day win a free massage o Mothers Day, St Patricks Day; NO membership and loyalty cards; WHY they are using social media: its free; name of company can be found there; because everyone use it. Objectives: increase awareness of the Brand and get more Likes Budget: No set budget Willing to spend for posters (as social media is free)

Evaluation Dont use anything to measure effectiveness

Task for new marketing strategy: Create social media strategy for Glasgow, which can also be applied to Edinburgh

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Company requirements and wishes: Social media needs to be more specific and interactive Especially promote massage and Pilates Improve content of the website (add photos of therapists) Develop YouTube account (add videos of all services) Try to target more students (e.g. from Glasgow Uni) Research the competitors prices for Pilates in Edinburgh

Appendix B Illustration 3: Overall Marketing Grader results for Physiotherapy Edinburgh & Glasgow

(Hubspot, 2013a; Hubspot, 2013b)

Appendix C Illustration 4: Marketing Grader results: blog

(Hubspot, 2013a; Hubspot, 2013b)

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Appendix D Illustration 5: Marketing Grader results: Twitter and Facebook

(Hubspot, 2013a; Hubspot, 2013b)

Appendix E Illustration 6: Marketing Grader results: Twitter mentions

(Hubspot, 2013a; Hubspot, 2013b)

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Appendix F Illustration 7: Marketing Grader results: Facebook mentions and likes

(Hubspot, 2013a; Hubspot, 2013b)

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Appendix G Table 5: Competitor analysis

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Appendix H Table 6: Price list for Embody

(Embody, 2013)

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Appendix I Table 7: Price list for Woodland Herb

(Woodland Herbs, 2013)

IV . References

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YouTube,

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[online]

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at:

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