Five articles profiling the components of the marketing communications mix: advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing.

Specifically, you are to place yourself in the role of Marketing Director for a soon-to-be-established hospice house based in the city of your choice. (An actual city must be selected as this assignment calls for formal market research.) The entity will be known as Grace Hospice House and it will offer the usual and customary array of offerings provided by residential hospice houses. (If you aren’t familiar with residential hospice houses, conduct Internet research or visit a local one to gain a proper understanding.) Noting the competitive nature of the market, the Owner of the hospice house has expressed desires to proficiently reach clients in order to attract their patronage and he has requested a report containing your marketing communications recommendations. (As the Owner indicates that the hospice house is in a competitive market, the city you select must mirror this attribute. Smaller municipalities likely will not qualify. As such, moderately-sized or larger municipalities should be selected.)

Think deeply about the particular product offering (i.e., residential hospice services), the city in which the services will be offered, and the various communicative options available for reaching clients (i.e., advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing). After careful background research and reflection, prepare a report indicating the components of the marketing communications mix you would use to market the given hospice house.

For each component of the marketing communications mix, you must indicate whether you do or do not recommend its use and supply detailed justifications for your associated decision. Additionally, for recommended components, you must supply details regarding how you plan to put these into practice. For example, if you recommend advertising, you must indicate type(s) recommended and the name(s) of media providers selected; if you recommend personal selling, you must communicate your methods of deployment; and so on.

The end result of your efforts should yield a basic marketing communications plan.