yrm legal nurse consulting marketing plan 2 · yvette rodgers-musial in 2013. it is a one-women...

Marketing Plan

Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary …………………………………………………………….....3

II. Introduction, Mission, and Industry Definition …………………………………...4

III. Situation Analysis …………………………………………………………………6

Industry Analysis ………………………………………………………………….7

Competitive Analysis ……………………………………………………………...9

Company Analysis ……………………………………………………………….10

Customer Analysis ……………………………………………………………….13

SWOT Analysis ………………………………………………………………….14

Planning assumptions…………………………………………………………….16

IV. Marketing Strategy ……………………………………………………………….18

Marketing Objectives …………………………………………………………….19

Target Market …………………………………………………………………….19

Service features ...………………………………………………………………...20

Core Strategy...…………………………………………………………………...20

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan.…………………………………….21

Pricing Strategy …………………………………………………………………..22

Channel Strategy …………………………………………………………………22

Customer Management Activities ………………………………………………..22

Marketing Metrics and Evaluation Timeframe …………………………………..23

Summary …………………………………………………………………………23

Budget ……………………………………………………………………………24

Pro Forma Income Statement ……………………………………………………25

V. Appendices

Appendix A. YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Fee Schedule ………………..26

Appendix B. Spinning Wheel Tradeshow Game .………………………………..27

VI. References .……………………………………………………………………….28

Executive Summary YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC (YRM) is a Legal Nurse Consulting business owned and operated by Yvette Rodgers-Musial. The company was started in 2013 and has just recently started receiving a lot of business. YRM has been growing steadily over the past six months and Yvette is ready for it to start growing faster. Her goal is for her company to expand and for Legal Nurse consulting to become her main source of income in the future. With 14 years of nursing experience, Yvette Rodgers-Musial is a certified Legal Nurse Consultant who offers her services to personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys throughout the United States. She conducts high quality, detailed, and timely reviews for each and every one of her clients. After reviewing every case, Yvette communicates with her clients to guide them through their cases. YRM competes in the Expert Witness and Consulting industry in the United States. This is a crowded market that is currently in the mature phase of its life cycle. It consists of many different segments but YRM competes in the medical and safety expert segment. Within this segment, YRM specifically competes in a sub segment of medical experts, Legal Nurse Consultants. This is a very crowded and highly competitive segment of this industry. With the amount of nurses and legal nurse consulting mentorships available, it is easy to become a legal nurse consultant. Competition in this industry is increasing and YRM needs a strong marketing plan to attract new customers to her business. She currently uses a competitive based pricing strategy, with prices very similar to her competitors. All of the services that YRM offers are also very similar to her competitors, therefore, marketing strategy and quality of work are going to be key factors that set her apart from other businesses. A goal of Yvette’s is to increase her amount of loyal customers to ten attorneys by the end of the year 2016. She currently has five loyal attorneys that are constantly giving her cases and she knows increasing that number to ten will keep her busy. The idea is to create a strong marketing plan that is manageable for one person and will reach Yvette’s three objectives. These objectives include, building brand awareness, enhancing relationships, and increasing revenue by the end of the year 2016. The budget for YRM’s marketing plan is . With budget, restrictions, and objectives in $12,000mind, both new and old advertising and promotional activities have been combined to create a strong marketing plan for YRM.

Introduction YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC is a Legal Nurse Consulting business that was started by Yvette Rodgers-Musial in 2013. It is a one-women company run by Yvette Rodgers-Musial in Bergen County, New Jersey. Though the home office is in New Jersey, YRM offers her services to any attorney in the United States. The company is one of many Legal Nurse Consulting businesses in the United States and offers similar services to competitors. Services offered by YRM include, medical review, chronology, standard of care, and expert witness location. The one characteristic that sets YRM apart from some of the other Legal Nurse Consulting businesses is that she specializes in the neurosurgery field. This means that she can review any case that relates to the neurosurgery field, while others who do not specialize in that field cannot. Though YRM’s services have been available since 2013, they services were not constantly being requested until 2015. Since then, calls and emails have been coming in, and Yvette has been busy with cases. As the cases started to roll in, Yvette realized that she needed better marketing strategies to market her business. She hired a friend of hers, who has a background in marketing and graphic design, to help her with the businesses marketing activities. Though Yvette’s friend has helped a lot with her website, LinkedIn page, and business cards, Yvette feels that she needs a set marketing strategy that she can manage alone. She believes if her marketing strategy were to become stronger she could bring in even more customers than she has now. Yvette believes that her exceptional work ethic, knowledge of her field, and timeliness has helped her business become very successful in just 6 months. She has had a number of word-of-mouth referrals but wishes to push her marketing further. This marketing plan outlines how YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC will move beyond just word-of-mouth referrals and increase brand awareness, customers, and revenue by the end of the year 2016. Mission The YRM mission is to provide efficient well-researched reports that will serve as a tool in the assistance and determination of case merit. "Do no harm" is an oath all medical professionals take, as a medical professional it is my duty and mission to help to uphold that oath and seek justice in any case of wrong doing (YRM). Industry Definition YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC competes in the United Sates Expert Witness Consulting Services Industry. This industry “provides witnesses to offer expertise and specialized knowledge within the particular subject areas in court cases”. The primary activities of this industry include providing economic experts, energy, mining and geological experts, medical and safety experts, and agricultural, fisheries and biological experts. YRM is a business that provides a medical expert known as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, to attorney’s seeking help on their medical related cases. Therefore, YRM competes in the Medical and safety experts segment of this industry.

According to the Vickie Milazzo Institute, The Pioneer of Legal Nurse Consulting since 1982, a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is a registered nurse who uses their existing expertise as a healthcare professional and their specialized legal nurse consulting training to consult on medical-related cases. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants work closely with attorneys as part of their legal team and consult with a wide range of organizations including insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other medical-related organizations. As experts on nursing and the healthcare system, they use their knowledge to consult attorney’s and “bridge the gap in the their knowledge”. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants offer a number of services including assessing medical records and analyzing cases, serving as the attorney’s liaison, and working with experts and other witnesses. They also work on many different kinds of cases including medical and nursing malpractice cases, general personal injury cases, and products liability cases. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant can make an attorney’s job easier and may be the difference between winning and losing a case (Vickie).

Situation Analysis

Industry Analysis Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM Aggregate Market Factors According to industry information provided by Blau (2015), the Expert Witness Consulting Services industry had total profit of $14.7 million in 2015. It’s annual growth from the years 2010-2015 declined 1.3 percent and their projected annual growth for the years 2015-2020 is expected to increase 1.6 percent. Their 1.3 percent decline in growth was largely due to the low demand for the services the businesses within this industry offer. Weak economic conditions earlier in the 2010-2015 period lead to a decrease in demand and the willingness of large corporations to engage in litigation. In addition, the decrease in government spending also played a big part in the decline in growth of this industry. During these years, government spending fell at an annual average rate of 1.5 percent. This decrease in government spending affected the court systems and lead to many court cases being delayed or cancelled. The economy had since begun to stabilize and enter into a steady recovery. Their projected increase in industry growth of 1.6 percent for the years leading up to 2020 will bring them to revenue of $204.1 million (Blau, 2015). Currently, the Expert Witness Consulting Services industry is in the mature phase of its life cycle. During this stage, repeat buyers are common and there are very few new buyers. There is also an increase in the standardization of production operations and product/service offerings, and aggressive competitive pricing increases (Kerin & Peterson, 2013, p.138). According to Blau (2015), there are key factors that indicate that the Expert Witness Consulting Services industry is in the mature phase of its industry life cycle. First, the services provided by the businesses within this industry are relatively stable and clearly defined. In addition, there is also limited access to new markets due to the fact that this industry already serves a wide reach. Lastly, the competition in the market is increasing and number of businesses offering services within this market will increase (Blau, 2015). Category Factors The medical and safety experts segment contributes about 13.8 percent of revenue to this industry and is the third biggest contributor. The biggest contributor is the economic experts segment with 26.6 percent industry revenue and the construction and engineering experts segment follows with 16 percent industry revenue (Blau, 2015). Due to the fact that all of these segments are completely different there is not much competition between the segments. The main rivalry between companies is going to happen within segments. Looking at the medical and safety experts segments, that YRM competes, there is a wide range of experts. Some of the experts that compete in this segment include experts of occupational safety standards, highway and transit safety, construction and maintenance standards for public buildings and public spaces, expert advice regarding the programs of law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security, and medical experts who typically testify in cases involving injury or death (Blau, 2015). A number of these experts are more related to safety than they are to the medical field. With this being said, there would not be much rivalry between the safety and medical experts because they are each experts in completely different fields. The rivalry would ultimately be between all of the companies who offer medical related experts.

There also are not many substitutions available because an attorney that needs a medical expert cannot use an economics expert for their case and vice versa. In addition to rivalries, threats of new entrants are something that companies in this industry will always have to worry about. The cost to start a business in this industry is very low because the people who start these types of businesses are already experts in the related field (Blau, 2015). Many of these people already have a high level of education and graduate degrees in the field related to their company. Therefore, education is a big expense that they do not have to worry about when starting their business. Environmental Factors Technology: Advancements in technology are always occurring and the change in technology is a key factor for the companies competing in this market. Blau (2015) suggests that the level of technology change is very high and that the change is more geared at computer technology. As computer technology advances, it has become much easier for companies to communicate and share information. Dropbox, a downloadable computer application that gives you the ability to access and share your files (Dropbox), makes it easier to share a large amount of files that needs to be analyzed. Other programs and tools, such as Google drive and USB drives can also be used to share files. Without this technology, it may take more time and effort for both the company and their customer to share and analyze necessary information. Economic Conditions: Currently, there are few economic conditions that would affect companies within this industry. A factor that could potentially affect this industry negatively is if economic conditions became increasingly weak and people felt that they were not able to afford to file a case, and risk the chance of losing. As economic conditions right now are good, people are able to file cases and consultants are able and willing to raise prices. Regulatory: Regulatory control for this industry is low but there are some requirements that must be followed. Overall, it is a common requirement for consultants in this industry to hold International Organization Standardization (ISO) accreditation and certification to consult public-sector agencies and large private corporations (Blau, 2015). According to the ISO homepage, ISO standards ensures that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. Looking particularly at Legal Nurse Consultants, there are some requirements that must be followed. According to Yvette Rodgers-Musial, the consultant may only testify to the level of their degree. Therefore, Yvette may only testify in cases involving anything related to what a nurse or neurosurgery nurse practitioner can do and nothing beyond that. Social Factors: Social factors that would affect consultants in this industry would simply be related to their reputation. Word of mouth is a very big part of how companies within this industry get business and having a good reputation will play a big part in if they get a case or not. If attorneys like the consultant and how they conduct their business, it is very likely that they will recommend them to other attorneys they know and vice versa. Therefore, word of mouth could either positively or negatively affect a company in this industry.

Competitive Analysis The number of expert witness consultants is increasing everyday and ranged very wide. There are a variety of people working in this industry, but they all have different backgrounds and consult on different areas. Although this industry is highly diversified, external competition still poses a threat and is high competition for companies in this industry. Due to the large amount of legal conflicts that arise, it is common for big corporations to have legal departments that include expert witness consultants as part of their staff. This comes as a large source of competition to independent expert witness consultants who depend on cases from big corporations (Blau, 2015). In addition to the bigger corporations that may have their own Legal Nurse Consultants, YRM’s main competitors mainly include other independent Legal Nurse Consultants. With the ease of becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant, YRM has a number of direct and indirect competitors throughout the United States. Direct competitors Direct competitors include any Legal Nurse Consultants that specialize and offer services within the same fields that YRM does. This is any Legal Nurse Consultant within the United States, who is a neurosurgery nurse or nurse practitioner. All neurosurgery nurse and nurse practitioner consultants are included because YRM takes cases from attorneys anywhere in the United States. Legal Nurse Consultants USA, LLC Legal Nurse Consultants USA, LLC offers Legal Nurse Consulting services by registered nurses that are trained to consult attorneys and other clients on medical related cases. These Legal Nursing Consultants can review cases involving health, illness, and injury. Their services include assessing and analyzing medical records and cases, supporting the attorney’s case, serving as the attorney’s liaison, working with other experts and witnesses, assisting with discovery and preparation for the court, and medical expert for case review and expert testimony. The list of types of cases that this company reviews is also long. They review personal injury, medical malpractice, product liability, workers compensation, toxic tort and environmental, criminal, and cases involving health, injury, or illness. Vickie Milazzo As a pioneer of the Legal Nurse Consulting profession, Vickie Milazzo, is an extremely well known name. With her love for nursing and law, she started the Legal Nurse Consulting profession and now she is teaching nurses everywhere how to succeed in the Legal Nurse Consulting business. The Certified Legal Nurse Consulting program (CLNC) is a #1 bestselling and nationally recognized, trademarked program that was created by Vickie Milazzo. It is a 5-day certification seminar that Vickie Milazzo teaches herself to Registered Nurses everywhere. With her knowledge of the field and award-winning program, she is not only a great mentor but also one of the biggest competitors for Legal Nurse Consultants everywhere. Med League Support Services Med League Support Service is a Legal Nurse Consulting Firm that was founded by a very well known Legal Nurse Consultant, Pat Iyer. This company works with attorney’s nationwide and offers services including, medical expert witness, legal nurse consulting, medical record retrieval, pain and suffering reports, life care planning and other medical legal services. In

addition to the company she started, Pat Iyer also offers a Legal Nurse Consulting certification program for Registered Nurses who want to become Legal Nurse Consultants. Indirect competitors Indirect competitors include Legal Nurse Consultants within the United Sates, who are not neurosurgery nurse practitioners. These competitors still offer the same services that YRM does but they may not have the same degrees that Yvette has. Therefore, they are not knowledgeable enough on the field to testify in a case involving anything related to it. Benes Consulting, LLC Benes Consulting, LLC is a Legal Nurse Consulting company that is owned by Debbie Benes. Her office is located in California, but like YRM, Benes can serve attorneys throughout the United States. Similar to Yvette, Debbie Benes also has 14 years of nursing experience. Though she has the same number of years of experience, Debbie Benes’ expertise is mostly in hospice care. Benes offers Legal Nurse Consulting and Life care planning in areas such as, testifying expert witness, consulting expert witness, elder abuse and neglect, falls/restraint use, spinal cord injury. Company Analysis Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM Objectives YRM’s main objective for her company is to offer a valid statement as to whether any case brought to her has merit. If it is meritorious, she wants to investigate it properly to guide the attorneys she is working with in the right direction. Marketing Mix Product: YRM offers four Legal Nurse Consulting services to any personal injury or medical malpractice attorney in the United States. The four services she offers include, medical review, chronology, standard of care, and expert witness location. Many of the Legal Nurse Consultants in the United States offer the same services as YRM and the only factor that would make them different than each other would be their specialties. For example, YRM offers neurosurgery Legal Nurse consulting, but another consultant could offer pediatric Legal Nurse Consulting. Price: The pricing strategy that YRM currently uses is a competitive-based pricing strategy. With the competitive based pricing strategy, her services are priced at a similar rate to her competitors. She does not want prices that are extremely higher than her competitors because that could turn customers away. If the majority of her competitors were to raise their prices, YRM would most likely follow in their footsteps and raise her prices as well. A price list for YRM can be found in the YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Fee Schedule, which is located Appendix A. Place: Currently, YRM uses a direct channel to connect with her customers. The two main sources of connection for her business are LinkedIn and tradeshow events. Through LinkedIn, YRM connects with a number of attorneys, who contact her for help after seeing her profile. When YRM attends tradeshows, it is easy to connect with attorneys who come to her booth to

find out more about YRM as a company. In addition, also connects with other Legal Nurse Consultants, who specialize in different fields than she does. Referrals from other Legal Nurse Consultants to attorneys that they work with have been another main source of connection for YRM. Promotion: YRM’s current promotional mix consists of advertising through the Internet, business cards, and pens. She ran into a big problem when she realized that the ink in the pens did not write as well as they should. In 2015, she also attended one tradeshow and a number of networking events with other Legal Nurse Consultants. In addition, social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn are big parts of her promotional mix. She has been great with connecting with attorneys and other Legal Nurse Consultants, but her computer skills are not as advanced as she wishes they could be. Therefore, her Facebook site has suffered. Value Chain A company’s value chain is very important to a business because it contains the activities that are performed to deliver their service to their customers and run their company. The value chain for YRM is a little different than a company that would sell products because it is a service based company. YRM’s value chain is introduced in Figure 1 and contains both primary and secondary activities. Each primary and secondary activity of YRM’s value chain is explained in further detail below.

Figure 1: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Value Chain

Primary Activities Inbound Logistics

• YRM has a P.O. box at the UPS store, where she receives all paper cases that will be reviewed

• YRM also uses the computer application Dropbox to receive large files electronically Operations

• Receives cases from UPS store or Dropbox application • Reads case and checks for merit • Determines merit and what went wrong to cause the injury or illness at hand

Outbound Logistics • Communicates findings to the attorney

Marketing and Sales • Offers individual attention on all cases • Constant contact (if needed) • High quality, detailed reviews • Ability to review cases in short period of time (with added fee)

Services • Reviewing case in the time period requested • Follow-up calls • Availability

Secondary Activities Infrastructure

• Experienced management Technological Development

• Adobe subscription for converting files • Dropbox application • Microsoft office

Resource Analysis YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC has both tangible and intangible assets that will help her company succeed in this market. Figure 2 describes YRM’s tangible and intangible assets in four categories: ability to market, ability to finance, ability to manage, and ability to succeed.

Figure 2: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Resources

Resources (Tangible and Intangible) Ability to Market • Facebook

• Twitter • LinkedIn • YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC website • Business Cards • Pens

Ability to Finance • Revenue of $15,000 in 2015 Ability to Manage • Yvette Rodgers-Musial

• Management experience Ability to Succeed

in Category • Certifications • 14 years nursing experience • Mentorship from Vickie Milazzo • Quality of work • Relationships with clients

Expected Future Strategies In the future, Yvette has a couple of expectations for her company. First, she expects to increase her current clientele from five attorneys to ten. She also wants her business to grow to the point that it is her main source of income. With this growth, Yvette will have the ability to quit her current full-time job and focus all of her attention on being a Legal Nurse Consultant. Product Features Matrix Figure 3 below identifies the service differences between YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC and her competitors. From this features matrix, it is clear that all of these companies offer a lot of the same services.

Figure 3: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Product Features Matrix

YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC

Legal Nurse Consultants USA, LLC

Vickie Milazzo

Institute

Med League Support Services

Medical Review

X

X

X

X

Chronology

X

X

X

X

Standard of

Care

X

X

X

X

Expert Witness Location

X

X

X

X

Supporting Attorney’s Case

X

X

X

X

Serving as Attorney’s

Liaison

X

X

X

X

Mentoring Legal Nurse

Consultants

X

X

Customer Analysis Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM Looking at the industry as a whole, there is a broad range of clients who seek the services of expert witness consultants. The three major markets served by this industry are businesses, individuals, and the government. Industry information regarding these major markets shows that most expert witness clients come from businesses. This market represents 67.9 percent of the

industry income and their activity has and will continue to increase over the next five years (Blau, 2015). The customer base of YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC, consists of a broad range of attorneys. The attorney’s that use YRM’s services come from both big and small firms and are located anywhere in the United States. They are attorney’s who are knowledgeable in their field but are in need of help on their medical malpractice and personal injury cases. They don’t have the knowledge they need to fully work on these cases and need a Legal Nurse Consultant to assist, and guide them in the right direction. The attorneys that work with YRM use the information she has provided to support them when presenting their cases in court. Thinking about seasonality, there is not a specific time or season that attorneys seek the services of YRM. With medical wrong doings happening on a daily basis and with attorney’s needing guidance, the demand for Legal Nurse Consultants is continuing to increase. When it comes to pricing expectations, the attorneys that use YRM services don’t seem to be affected by the price. The services that she offers are valuable to them and they are willing to pay the higher prices. SWOT Analysis Figure 4 highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC. In this SWOT analysis, key factors are briefly stated in each of the boxes. The boxes containing strengths and weakness represent internal factors, and the boxes containing opportunities and threats represent external factors. Detailed descriptions of each one of the key factors can be found below.

Figure 4: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC SWOT Analysis

Strengths •  Knowledge and Certifications •  Services •  Ability to serve all of the United

States •  Ease of Communication

Weaknesses •  Lack of Marketing Experience •  Lack of Technological Experience •  Budget •  Time and Staffing

Opportunities •  High Demand •  Number of attorneys in the United

States •  Networking and Referrals

Threats •  Competition

•  Independent Legal Nurse Consultants

•  In-House Legal Nurse Consultants

SWOT Analysis

Strengths • Knowledge and Certifications: YRM is experienced in her field and has the knowledge to

guide attorneys in the right direction. • Services: YRM offers a variety of services and is also willing to help attorneys find

someone who can help them if she cannot. • Ability to serve all of the United States and ease of communication: With the help of

technology and postal services, YRM does not just offer her services to attorneys within the state that she lives in. She can work with attorneys throughout the United States and easily communicates with them via phone or email.

Weaknesses

• Lack of marketing experience: YRM does not know much about the marketing steps she should be taking when marketing her company. She is a one-woman team and needs some guidance when it comes to marketing.

• Lack of technological experience: When it comes to technology, YRM is not fully educated on technology. She is continuing to learn new things about using her computer and the applications on it everyday, but still has some learning to do. Her lack of technological experience could set her back from other Legal Nurse Consultants who are more experienced with technology.

• Budget: YRM is a very small company and does not have the funds to spend on big advertising and promotional activities. She needs to stick with smaller less expensive activities. Compared to other small Legal Nurse Consulting businesses this may not be as big of a deal, but when looking at the bigger businesses this could be a set back.

• Time and Staffing: YRM is a one-woman team and does not have the ability to take on as many cases as full-time Legal Nurse Consultants. Yvette has a full-time job during the week and cannot put as much time into her consulting business as full-time consultants do. This is a major weakness for YRM because if she already has three cases, she may have to turn someone down.

Opportunities

• High Demand: With the aging population and number of negligent cases rising everyday, demand for personal injury attorneys is increasing (Khedr, 2015). Therefore, the demand for Legal Nurse Consultants help is increasing.

• Number of Attorneys in the United States: YRM can also take advantage of the fact that there are 1,687,830 attorneys in the United States.

• Networking and Referrals: Networking events can open up doors for YRM. She will have the opportunity to meet with other Legal Nurse Consultants and attorneys as well. In addition, YRM currently is part of a group of Legal Nurse Consultants who all specialize is different fields. This is a great opportunity for referrals and partnerships.

Threats

• Competition: It is very easy for a nurse to become a Legal Nurse Consultant and there are many independent Legal Nurse Consultants throughout the United States. A lot of these Legal Nurse Consultants offer the same services and can serve anyone in the United States. In addition, some law firms do have their own in-house consultants and may not need to hire an independent consultant. The competition for this market is extremely high

and independent Legal Nurse Consultants need to find unique ways to set themselves apart from others.

As you can see from this SWOT analysis, YRM’s main strength for her company is her ability to serve any attorney in the United States. In addition, a great opportunity for this company is the high demand for personal injury attorney’s and Legal Nurse Consultants in the United States. YRM’s main weakness is that she is a one-woman team and may not have the time to take on as many cases as those people who do consulting full-time. Her main threat is and will probably always be the amount of competition in this market. Along with her detailed work, YRM needs a unique marketing strategy to set her apart from other Legal Nurse Consultants and show why attorneys should use her over them. Planning Assumptions Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM Market potential and Sales Forecast There are 1,687,830 attorneys in the United States and according to the Houston Chronicle, 25 percent of those attorneys deal with medical-related cases. Many attorneys rely on expert consultants to help them review their cases because they do not know how to read medical records. Many times they do not understand the terminology that is being used or the health issues at hand. One benefit of this market is the amount of attorneys there are in the United States. Therefore, there is always going to be demand wherever there is an attorney in need (Vickie). One downfall of being a Legal Nurse Consultant is the amount of competition there is. Though there is not an accurate count of exactly how many Legal Nurse Consultants there are in the United States, there are about 3,600 members of one of the largest organizations of Legal Nurse Consultants, the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants. Assuming that not every Legal Nurse Consultant is a member of this organization, it is possible that there is more than that. The Vickie Milazzo Institute recommends at least 1 year of nursing experience before becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant. With how easy it is to become a Legal Nurse Consultant, the number is growing and competition is continuing to increase. In addition, technology and ease of communication makes the competition in this market much higher. With the help of technology, it is easier for Legal Nurse Consultants to offer their service to attorneys all over the United States (Vickie). The total revenue for the Expert Witness Consulting Services industry from 2010 to 2015 was $188.6 million and is expected to increase by 1.6 percent annually over the next five years. By 2020, revenue for this industry is projected to be $204.1 million. This will largely be due to the benefits this industry will receive from an increase in per capita disposable income, government consumption and investment, corporate profit and strengthened demand from law firms (Blau, 2015). According to a survey given to CLNC consultants by the Vickie Milazzo Institute, three to five attorneys can keep a Legal Nurse Consultant busy full time. Most CLNC consultants charge $125-$150 per hour and depending on the case, work an excessive amount of hours and may charge additional consulting fees (Vickie). For YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC, the situation

is different. YRM is not a full-time Legal Nurse Consultant and cannot take on as many cases as those who are full-time Legal Nurse Consultant’s. Depending on the urgency of the case, YRM usually takes on a maximum of 3 cases at a time. Again, based on the urgency of the case that she is working on, it will usually take YRM about hours for her to review one case and 10-15 40

hours if it is a chronology case. Looking at 2015, YRM worked on cases that totaled about 10

hours. This year, YRM hopes to work on cases. 100 36

Marketing Strategy

Marketing Objectives Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC’s marketing objectives are building brand awareness and enhancing customer relationships while increasing revenue by the end of the year 2016. As a fairly new company, it is important that YRM builds awareness with potential customers and builds long lasting relationships with current customers. Details regarding each objective are introduced below: Build awareness: Since this is a newer company, building awareness of the company and the services offered is important. Awareness of her company will determine the number of new customers interested in her assistance. Yvette wants to increase her amount of new customers by five attorneys by the end of 2016. She will build awareness for her company through various advertising and promotional activities. Activities will include attending tradeshows and using social media. Details regarding these plans can be found below in the Integrated Communications Plan. Specific objectives of YRM’s Integrated Communications Plan include:

• Increasing Facebook followers from 97 to 300 by the end of 2016 • Increasing Twitter followers from 0 to 200 by the end of 2016

Enhance current customer relationships and build new ones: Current customer relationships will be maintained by providing high quality reviews and keeping in contact with attorneys. She currently has five loyal attorneys who continue to give her cases and wants to keep these current customers coming back to use her services. Yvette wants to maintain her current customer relationships and increase the number of loyal customers she has from five to ten by the end of 2016. If YRM keeps her current customers happy and coming back, it is possible to get more word-of-mouth referrals. Increase revenue: YRM wishes to increase her revenue to by the end of 2016. Success $45,000 of this objective will be based on the success of her previous two objectives. If YRM succeeds in building awareness for her company, attracting new customers, and keeping current customers, it is definitely possible for her to succeed in increasing her company’s revenue. Target Market Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM The primary target market for both YRM and her competitors are medical malpractice or personal injury attorneys in the United States. Medical malpractice and personal injury attorneys mostly work on cases involving negligence or intentional acts (Khedr, 2015). These attorney’s come from both small and big firms and do not have in-house Legal Nurse Consultants working for their company. They are not experts in the medical field and need guidance from someone who is.

Service Features Some information taken from phone conversation with YRM YRM Legal Nurse Consulting offers a variety of services that provide great benefits to attorney’s seeking a medical professional’s help on their cases. The services that she offers includes, medical review, chronology, standard of care, and expert witness location. A small description of each service, along with their benefits has been provided in the following paragraphs. Medical Review Benefits: It is sometimes hard to interpret terminology and discover any mistakes, inaccuracies or omissions if you are not a medical professional. YRM uses her knowledge to guide her clients through their cases and make them aware of anything she discovers (YRM). Chronology Benefits: In the medical field the timeline is crucial in establishing at what point the problem or problems occurred. With YRM’s Chronology service, she uses her expertise to advise any attorney that is not familiar with the medical field about the problems that occurred (YRM). Standard of Care Benefits: Ascertaining standard of care is important in determining whether or not the proper protocol was adhered to in a particular situation. With the Standard of Care service, YRM will go through the proper channels and will confirm that standards were followed, as they should have been (YRM). Expert Witness Location Benefits: It is possible that YRM may still be helpful if she is not knowledgeable in the field that an attorney is seeking advice in. She can reach out to the contacts within her network and find an expert witness that is (YRM). Core Strategy Value Proposition YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC uses her 14 years of nursing experience to guide attorneys through their cases, while providing them with reliable information and offering the luxury of individual case attention. Positioning Strategy YRM is positioned as an experienced certified Legal Nurse Consultant who provides individual attention and reliable information to attorneys, while guiding them through their case. With 14 years of nursing experience, Yvette is confident that she can review any medical malpractice or personal injury case and provide her clients with reliable information. She is an acute care Nurse Practitioner who specializes in ER/Critical care with an emphasis on Trauma, Surgical ICU and Neurosurgery nursing, and prides herself in providing efficient consulting services in a timely manner. Each attorney that she works with should expect individual attention and constant contact.

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan There are a number of advertising and promotional strategies that will be used to help YRM build awareness for her company and communicate with current and potential customers. Advertising Internet: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC’s existing company website will be used to educate potential customers on YRM’s services and certifications. Using Google analytics, it will be easy to track website data and visits. Business Cards, Pens, and Stress balls: Business cards, pens, and stress balls featuring the company name and logo on them are a good way to get potential customers to remember your company. These items will mostly be distributed at networking events and tradeshows. Promotional Events Tradeshows: YRM will attend at least two tradeshows each year to promote her business and network with potential customers. Attending tradeshows also provides her the opportunity to connect with other Legal Nurse Consultants and learn about how they are running their businesses. This could even be an opportunity to build relationships with Legal Nurse Consultants that do not specialize in the same field as YRM. Networking Events: In addition to tradeshows, attending networking events that are specifically for Legal Nurse Consultants is another way Yvette can connect with other Legal Nurse Consultants and attorneys. This is a great opportunity for Yvette to assess her competition and build possible relationships. She attended a networking cruise in 2015 and already has one planned for the end of 2016. Yvette also has a NJ Bar Association membership, which allows her to attend invite only networking events. She does not have any of these networking events planned for 2016, as of right now. Sales promotion Discounts: Offering discounts is a good way to attract new customers and keep current customers coming back. YRM will offer return customer discounts, first time customer discounts, and referral discounts.

• Return customer discounts: Offered to attorneys who have used YRM’s services in the past.

• First Time Customer Discounts: First time customers will receive a discount on their services.

• Referral Discounts: Any attorney who refers YRM to another attorney will receive a discount on their service.

Spinning Wheel Tradeshow Game: This tradeshow game will be used as a way to attract potential clients to YRM’s tradeshow booth and offer them a fun way to get discounts. When YRM attends tradeshows she will set up a small spinning wheel, much like a smaller version of the one that is used on the show The Wheel of Fortune. When attorneys visit her booth they will be able to spin the wheel, which contains the discount and prize options that are offered. The

attorney will spin the wheel and receive either their prize or their discount card. Discount options and prizes include:

• $100 off a case review • Gift baskets • Free expert witness location • Free Consultation

Digital Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will be used as another source of information and promotion for YRM. LinkedIn has been YRM’s main source of connection to customers. With the increase in the number of cases YRM received in 2015, the use of social media has proved to be an important tool in the company’s marketing process. YRM currently has a Facebook account and wishes to start a Twitter business account. To keep these accounts up to date, YRM should post at least two relevant posts a week. Pricing Strategy At this point, YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC uses a competitive-based pricing strategy. This strategy is working for YRM and it is the strategy that she will continue to use. The market that she competes in is crowded and highly competitive, therefore, it is important that she offers her services at competitive prices. Right now, YRM offers her services at a very similar price to her competitors. If her prices were to increase, she would most likely lose business to her competitors. On the other hand, she would be selling herself short if she were to decrease her prices. Attorneys are willing to pay the higher prices for the services that she offers and she would be missing out on revenue if she decreased her prices. Channel Strategy When it comes to channel strategy, using a channel that connects the company directly with the customer is going to be the best way for YRM to reach her target market. Legal Nurse consulting is more of a personal experience, due to the amount of contact the consultants needs to keep with the attorneys that they are working with. With this being said, YRM will continue to use direct channels to reach her customers. In order to reach everyone in her target market, the use of social media and the Internet is going to be very important in YRM’s marketing activities. LinkedIn is one social media site that has been a great way for Yvette to connect with attorneys. In addition, the tradeshows that she attends throughout the year will be another way for her to connect directly with the customer. Lastly, the Legal Nurse Consultant group, Brain Trust, which she is currently a member of, is made up of Legal Nurse Consultants who all specialize in different fields of nursing. Many of these consultants have already connected Yvette with attorneys that they work with; therefore, Yvette will continue to work with this group. Customer Management Activities With enhancing customer relationships being one of YRM’s main objectives, managing her customer base is the number one priority. In order to manage her customer base, YRM will participate in a number of customer management activities. These activities include, keeping in

touch, following up with previous and future customers, and keeping track of customers that used YRM’s services. Keeping in Touch: YRM can send holiday cards to both past and future customers. This lets them know that she is there and wishes to keep in touch. Follow-ups with previous and future customers: By following up with previous customers, YRM is showing that she appreciates their business and wishes to find out how their case went. By reaching out to customers who expressed interest in YRM’s services, she is showing that she is hungry for their business and wishes to learn more about their case. If she cannot be of help, she will still work hard to find someone who can be. Keeping track of customers who used YRM’s service: Currently, YRM’s main strategy for keeping track of previous customers is the billing statements that she has for them. Since each billing statement provides the attorneys name and service that were done for them, Yvette can look back and find out names of previous customers. To make this process easier, it may be better for Yvette to keep all of her customer information in one place so that she can have access to all of the information. Marketing Metrics and Evaluation Timeframe The main objectives of this marketing plan are to build awareness, enhance customer relationships, and increase revenue. With these objectives in mind, the success of this marketing plan and its activities will be measured using a few different tools. With YRM’s new customer management activities intact, she will be able to track the number of new and returning customers she has by the end of 2016. She can also track her Facebook and Twitter success with analytics programs and by analyzing the increase in number of followers she has by the end of 2016. This will help determine if she reached her goal of building brand awareness and enhancing customer relationships. Overall success of YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC’s marketing plan will be determined by comparing actual revenue at the end of 2016 to the 2015 revenue number that can be found in the pro forma income statement (Figure 6). Summary The purpose of this marketing plan is to create a strong marketing plan, manageable for one person for YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC. In addition, Yvette identified three main objectives: build awareness, enhance customer relationships, and increase revenue. Throughout this plan, the industry, competitors, and company were analyzed based on relevant information found through primary and secondary research. The current marketing strategies of YRM have been identified and explained. All of this information has been used to create a strong marketing plan for this steadily growing company. Based on YRM’s objectives, new and old marketing strategies have been integrated to create a marketing plan that will continue to help the business succeed. Metrics that will be used to measure usefulness include, the increase in customers and

social media followers. Lastly, overall success of this marketing plan will be measured by comparing revenue from 2015 and 2016 at the end of this year. Budget The budget that YRM has set for this marketing plan is . The Budget Allocation can be $12,000found below in Figure 5. In addition, a pro forma income statement forecasting 2016 profit can be found in Figure 6.

Figure 5: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Budget Allocation

Expense Dollar Allocation Tradeshow

• Tradeshow fee and Booth • Hotel • Food and drinks • Flight • Spinning wheel game • Gift baskets • Client entertainment • Discount Cards

$7,444 $2,500

325 350 325 546

2,500 300 600

Cruise • All inclusive • Client entertainment

$2,500

400 NJ Bar Association Membership

$150

Stress Balls

$850

New Pens

$650

Figure 6: YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Pro Forma Income Statement

For the 12-Month Period Ended December 31, 2016

Sales $45,000

Costs of Goods Sold 0

Gross Margin $45,000

Marketing Expenses

New Pens (1000 @ $0.65) $650

Stress Balls (1000 @ $0.85) 850

Gift Baskets (5 @ 500) 2,500

Client Entertainment 300

NJ Bar Association Membership 150

Cruise 2,500

Discount Cards (1000 @ $0.60) 600

Payment for marketing help 2,000

Spinning wheel tradeshow game (2 @ $273) 546

Tradeshow booth, fee & accommodations 3,500 13,396

General and Administrative Expenses

P.O. Box Fee 150

Adobe yearly Subscription 25 175

Net Profit Before Income Tax $31,429

Appendix A. YRM Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC Fee Schedule

Appendix B. Spinning Wheel Tradeshow Game

Note:Wheelwillbesmallandabletositontopofthetableatthetradeshowbooth.Spinnerwillreceivegiftbasketordiscountcard.

Directions:1. Spinwheel2. Receiveprizethatwheelstopson

References Benes Consulting, LLC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 03, 2016, from http://www.benesconsulting.com/ Bio of Pat Iyer - Legal Nurse Business. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://legalnursebusiness.com/bio/ Blau, G. (2015). IBISWorld Industry Report 0D4885. Expert Witness Consulting Services in the US. Retrieved March 23 2016 from IBISWorld database. Dropbox. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2016, from https://www.dropbox.com/ Home. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html Home | Legal Nurse Consultants USA, LLC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.legalnurseusa.com/ Kerin, R. A., Peterson, R. A.,. (2013). Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments. 13th edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson. Khedr, O. (2015). IBISWorld Industry Report 0D4812. Personal Injury Lawyers & Attorneys in the US. Retrieved March 30, 2016 from IBISWorld database. Medical Legal Nurse consultant. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.medleague.com/ Vickie Milazzo's Legal Nurse Consulting Story | Vickie Milazzo Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.legalnurse.com/vickie-milazzo-institute/vickie-milazzo-story YRM Legal Nurse Consulting. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://www.yrmlegalnurseconsulting.com/

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