Hi, everyone, and welcome to my blog!
My name is Mia Carlson, and I am a senior at BASIS
Scottsdale. I have attended this school since fifth grade and am very much
looking forward to finishing up my final year participating in an independent
research project during the last trimester.
Over a period of ten weeks (beginning February 8th),
I will be conducting research on marketing strategies for TPN 2000.
Created and developed by local business Marvin Medisoft,
TPN 2000 is a medical software product that computationally provides feedback
to providers for writing IV nutrition for premature babies. Total
parenteral nutrition, or TPN, solutions contain nutrients like glucose,
protein, and fat that are essential for an infant’s
survival and sustainability—especially for
reducing complications of those born prematurely. TPN 2000 aids the
administration of these nutrients by calculating and optimally monitoring the
amount of each nutrient needed for each individual patient.
Though many Neonatal Intensive Care Units already use this
TPN software, Marvin Medisoft surprisingly does not advertise the product.
According to Maria Vaidya, Marvin Medisoft’s Vice President of Sales and
Support, hospitals know of TPN 2000 primarily by word of mouth. However, with a
finite market to begin with, Marvin Medisoft desires to reach a larger market
for their product.
After researching the features and benefits of TPN 2000, I
was immediately drawn to its ability to improve the state of premature babies.
I knew marketing would eventually be imperative for the success of the product,
but I also realized the potential pitfalls of marketing a medical product
(Would marketing seem too detached from the clinical aspect of the medical
community? Will it seem too profit-centered or corporate-focused?).
However, what struck both Ms. Vaidya and myself was the
growing prominence of social media in business. Many companies have adopted a
technological marketing strategy for their products and services, and even
businesses in the medical community have jumped on this bandwagon. As of now,
Marvin Medisoft does not use social media to market. So, I thought this would be a
great opportunity to research the effects of this type of marketing, especially
through blogs detailing the actual process of using TPN 2000 and its results.
Hopefully, then, this will encourage readers to share information and increase
exposure of the software in order for it to reach a larger market.
During each week of this research project I will recount my
research findings and experiences as well as the progression of the project
itself. I hope to shed light on the research process and my personal research
goals.
I am excited to be able to conduct this research and am
eager to see what the results yield.
Can’t wait to get
started!
Mia Lu
