WK 5 DIS REP

Please respond (YOUR THOUGHTS) to the two PEER below discussions. Cite references in APA format.

1. JS  My team’s product/service is a revolutionary therapeutic cancer therapy treatment which is safer, easier, and more effective than regular cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Aside from traditional cancer treatment, therapeutic cancer therapy provides a non-radioactive alternative to cancer treatment with minimal side effects.  Our target markets are cancer patients and healthcare providers.  No social media campaign will be created for our therapeutic cancer treatment. 

    We will not have a social media campaign for a few reasons. First, cancer treatment is a very personal and serious topic. Cancer patients would like to get their information from a certified or reputable healthcare provider rather than from social media. Secondly, there could be regulatory concerns as well.  There are pretty strict guidelines for advertising medical resources mainly for safety and trust.  Lastly, a social media campaign for therapeutic cancer therapy would probably do more harm than good.  Our targeted audience is more likely to engage with us if we have evidence that our therapy works and is effective rather than information directly from social media ads. “People have been sharing inaccurate health information since the beginning of time,” said Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, Ph.D., M.P.H., of NCI’s Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB). But the internet and social media have made it far easier to share and spread health misinformation (Ben-Ari, 2021). Our message to our targeted audience would be “Introducing a safer, more effective cancer therapy treatment with minimal side effects.”

    Our main mode would be reaching out directly to healthcare providers. Working with oncology centers and peer-reviewed medical journals or articles with evidence to these healthcare providers that our cancer therapeutic cancer treatment works. The medium for our primary target market would include medical conferences, seminars, and patient support groups. This is the best approach because it will provide accurate and peer-reviewed information to our target audience.  A strong input on creditability is huge in this market which we will take advantage of.  Lastly, we will track our results from feedback from healthcare providers and patients.  This could involve receiving referrals, tracking data on treatment outcomes, and perhaps using public outreach to measure the impact of our therapeutic cancer therapy treatment.

Reference: Ben-Ari, E. (2021, September 9). The challenges of cancer misinformation on social media. The Challenges of Cancer Misinformation on Social Media - NCI.  https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2021/cancer-misinformation-social-media  

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2 SH. What is your team’s product/service?  Provide a brief description.

     Team 3 has created a service catering to minority communities with limited medical care resources. The Telehealth Mobile Resource Unit (TMRU) provides virtual information to communities that house families with limited internet capabilities and smart device technology such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers. We researched who, where, why, and how the information will be most valuable in increasing the use of telehealth technologies.

2. Who is your primary target market? Provide a brief description. 

     The target market will be areas with poor health conditions. One purpose is to provide vital medical attention resources to the communities that need it most. According to Riley (2022), using segmentation and VALS, the team intends to use the resource(s) best suited to the residents' culture. States with rural populations are another target area, such as South Dakota, Texas, and North Carolina.

3. For your primary target market, will you create a social media campaign? If not, why not?  And, what will be your message and main mode and medium for your primary target market?  Why do you think this will work best for your product? And, how will you track the results of your social media campaign?

     We are not using social media platforms at this time. We intend to use more traditional sources of communication to spread our purpose. Our target market is not likely to have access to the Internet; if so, their access or knowledge of its use is limited. The intended message will encourage families to use the resources we will provide on the mobile unit to access telehealth care that was not available in the past. The primary mode will be advertising events closer to the small towns and rural areas; hence, a  mobile unit—rather than in large cities with dense populations. According to telehealth.hhs.gov (2023), direct mail distribution and newspaper ads are another promising way to reach individuals. Radio scripts, and depending on the budget, we may be able to create a commercial to run at a local station. The audience within range can receive a preliminary medical visit that will advise if further treatment is necessary. We can track the clients receiving a service from the mobile resource unit. The initial clients can refer family, friends, and neighbors to future visits, generating more awareness within that area. 

References:

Riley, B. (2022, March 25).  7-Step Template for Promoting or Marketing Your Telehealth Services. Medical Advantage.  https://www.medicaladvantage.com/blog/7-step-template-telehealth-marketing-plan/

telehealth.hhs.gov. (2023, August 15).  Health equity in telehealth | Telehealth.HHS.gov. Telehealth.hhs.gov.  https://telehealth.hhs.gov/providers/health-equity-in-telehealth

telehealth.hhs.gov. (2024).  Developing a direct-to-consumer telehealth strategy | Telehealth.HHS.gov. Telehealth.hhs.gov.  https://telehealth.hhs.gov/providers/best-practice-guides/direct-to-consumer/developing-a-direct-to-consumer-strategy