Louisiana State University Leadership in Your Local Marketplace Paper

M3 Reading Assignments

Exciting reading assignments await for this module, as noted below:

• Thomas RK. Marketing Health Services,
  2nd ed. Chicago: Health Administration Press, 2010. Reading assignment:
  Part III, Chapters 9-12. (Available via the eBook Collection
  (EBSCOhost) database at LSU Shreveport’s Noel Memorial Library)
• Elrod JK, Fortenberry JL Jr. Billboard Advertising: An Avenue for Communicating Healthcare Information and Opportunities to Disadvantaged Populations. BMC Health Services Research. 2017;17(Suppl 4):23-27. (Available via the MEDLINE database at LSU Shreveport’s Noel Memorial Library)
• Elrod JK, Fortenberry JL Jr. Driving Brand Equity in Health Services Organizations: The Need for an Expanded View of Branding. BMC Health Services Research. 2018;18(Suppl 3):23-28. (Available via the MEDLINE database at LSU Shreveport’s Noel Memorial Library)

Assignment 1

I’d like you to “sound off” by searching for a healthcare advertisement CURRENTLY RUNNING IN YOUR LOCAL MARKETPLACE. Post the ad and supply an accompanying narrative, expressing your perspectives (e.g., likes, dislikes, etc.) about the advertisement. You might, for example, take a photograph of a billboard ad in your city, scan a copy of an ad placed in your local newspaper or magazine, or supply a link to a local television advertisement, but it must focus on healthcare AND be currently running in your particular geographic region. Be sure also that your submission actually meets the formal definition of an advertisement!

Assignment 2

For each module, you are required to supply a journal entry
reflecting on the reading materials. The purpose of this entry isn’t to
regurgitate content or ask questions, but instead it is to convey your
personal thoughts on the content provided, interesting things you
discovered, ideas regarding how you might put the information to use,
etc.

You can view basic instructions for writing a schoolwork-related journal entry here: Journalism for School.

Type
(or paste) your entry directly into the posting window, after which you
will submit your work. Attachments of any kind are prohibited and will
carry no points value. Your journal entry must be between 300-600 words.

Assignment 3

Brand Leadership in Your Local Marketplace

Your
M3 Practitioner Application will require devoted inquiry, assimilation,
reflection, and refinement in order to achieve the highest possible
score. Specifically, you are to take the scenario listed below, address
it in full, and submit your work in accordance with the instructions
contained herein. Importantly, this is an independent assignment to be
completed by you and you alone.

The Challenge

Your text
readings direct some attention toward branding. Conduct additional
research to ensure that you possess a thorough understanding of brands
and then conduct an investigation in your local community to determine
the leading healthcare services brand in operation. You will need to
develop criteria for defining what constitutes brand leadership (yes,
this will require research and proper citations!). Then, you’ll need to
identify what you believe constitutes the leading healthcare services
brand in the market and explain how you came to that conclusion. Be sure
to supply a link to the website of the selected brand.

The Submission Requirement

Your
submission in its entirety must be between 1500-1800 words. It is to be
typed (or pasted) directly into the Moodle posting window, after which
you will submit your work. Attachments of any kind are prohibited and
will carry no points value. Given the length of the submission, it is
advised that students prepare it in a word processing program, and when
finalized, copy and paste the text into the Moodle posting window.
Moodle can be very finicky and often will distort formatting, so care
must be taken in preparing your submission. If problems persist,
consider using Windows Notepad, as it is very effective for transferring
distortion-free text into the Moodle posting window, after which you
can add formatting directly in Moodle.

Your submission
must be supported by 4 (minimum) to 10 (maximum) references, with at
least 3 being from scholarly academic journals. (If you cannot ascertain
whether a journal does or does not qualify as scholarly academic,
contact the Noel Library and request assistance.) References may be
prepared using the style guide of your choice (e.g., APA, MLA); just be
sure to consistently use the selected style.

In presenting your work, identify the title, your name and student ID number, and submission date at the top of your submission and supply the following sections, exactly as they appear below, placing each heading in bold text:

• Introduction
  
• Defining Brand Leadership
  
• Identifying the Leading Brand in My Local Marketplace
• Justifying the Selection of This Brand as the Leader
• Conclusions
  
• References

Assessment Criteria

Your submission will be assessed based on the following:

• Compliance
  quality: The degree to which your submission complies with noted
  guidelines, including word count and reference specifications,
• Communication
  quality: The degree to which your work meets standards expected in
  business communications, including matters concerning the use of proper
  grammar and punctuation, and
• Content quality: The quality of the content presented in your work.

Take care when determining word counts; Moodle automatically supplies thes