Marketing to a Target Population and Differentiating Services
The New Product

The new product is a spa that services mothers of young children. It is called Ma Spa and the innovative idea behind the service is that it provides care for her kids while she receives her spa treatment. Most moms with small kids do not have the opportunity to stop in at the spa because they have kids in tow—so the Ma Spa is designed for them: no appointments needed and no worries about what to do with the children. The Ma Spa has certified childcare professionals on staff who oversee the children as they play in their own play area while Mom relaxes and gets her hair or nails done. It is a business that caters specifically to women and lets them know how special and important they are to the community by making sure their beauty and relaxation needs are met in spite of the small burdens they carry around with them everywhere they go.

Why the Ma Spa is New to the Market

There is nothing quite like the Ma Spa in the spa industry. Most spas require a reservation and no spas offer childcare services as part of their standard approach to the marketplace. This spa differentiates itself from other spas because it is completely focused on moms and their small children and making sure Mom gets to have an opportunity to enjoy time at the spa during her busy schedule.

Other spas exist in the market but they are typical day spas and they are all in competition with one another based on the same framework. They are all using the same resources and attempting to capture the same market share. There is nothing like a Ma Spa that caters specifically to a niche market, and there are many moms out there who would love to have a spa that is designed just for them in mind.

Objective and Mission Statement

The objective of the Ma Spa is to provide a unique opportunity for moms in the community to get a spa treatment without having to worry about what to do with their kids or who is watching them.

The mission statement is: To make sure moms get the mental, physical, social and beauty health support they need through spa relaxation treatment at any time of the working day.

Short Term Marketing Objectives

The short term marketing objectives are:

1. To promote the new service—this will include advertising locally with ads online that use targeted marketing

2. To engage the audience—by developing a social media presence and describing what is available at the facility and inviting questions from followers

3. To obtain positive product and service reviews—this will include getting contact information from customers while they wait by having them sign up for email discounts and sale promotions and then reaching out to them on email or social media to get a positive review from them

4. To increase brand awareness—this will include sponsoring local events so that the word gets out about the brand

5. To launch in a new market—this will include opening the store and having an opening day and opening week event in which all spa services are half off for all customers

6. To generate web traffic for the sale of products online—this will include getting visitors to check out the website online by mentioning discounts that can be applied when products are purchased through the website—the purpose being that this eliminates stocking and storage costs for us as the distributors can handle the cost of shipping and storing but the spa can collect the premium for handling the point of sale process.

Goals for Sales and Profit

The goals for sales and profit are that revenues will come from service fees and from a subscription fee that moms can pay each month to take advantage of a limited number of spa visits whenever they want. Product sales of organic, locally sourced cosmetic and homeopathic beauty supplies will also enhance the revenue stream. The spa will promote the use of these locally sourced homeopathic health and beauty products made from organic materials at the spa and also sell them online. The point of sale process will be a pure profit scenario for the spa as the items will be produced by local producers and stored and shipped by them or by other distributors, and all the spa will do is handle the sale and receive a premium for processing the sale.

Target Market

The four basic target marketing strategies are: 1) undifferentiated marketing, 2) differentiated or multi-segment marketing, 3) focus or concentrated targeting, and 4) customized marketing. Undifferentiated marketing refers to the type of approach in marketing where the company looks to grow interest in the company’s products across a wide range of consumers without respect to any type of demographics. For example, a TV ad that plays during the Super Bowl would be a case of undifferentiated marketing because it is going to be seen by millions of different people. Or an ad at a basketball coliseum will be seen by various different groups. There is nothing special about the way the ad is designed to make it appeal to one target population. Differentiated marketing, on the other hand is also called multi-segment targeting and is a helpful marketing method that allows a company to focus on specific demographics and then tailor the marketing so that it connects to each of those demographics. Concentrated targeting is a technique a company will utilize if there is a special niche market that the company wants to focus on....…are already going to be on them. One of the best ways to connect with them is to use social media platforms like Instagram, where pictures and videos and posts can be made with little bits of information passed on to those who follow on the site.

One idea to facilitate the customer relationship management process is to use Instagram to host a competition among customers of who can post the best beauty picture featuring the organic make-up products purchased through or sold at the Ma Spa. This will be a way for moms to showcase their fun makeup skills or for them to have a get-together with their girlfriends where they can have fun and experiment with the makeup products. It is a promotional activity that gives moms an excuse to do something they love to do, which is play with makeup and pamper themselves. They can take pictures and upload them to the Instagram page and a winner will be selected. This is a good way to bring people to the store to share in the fun of the environment and to try out some of the new products. It also keeps the moms engaged and helps to promote word of mouth marketing because other moms will want to know what the pictures are for or where the makeup comes from.

This is also a way to get all customers using the same social media site, which allows for better customer relations management. Instead of searching all over social media, from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube to Snapchat and so on, the spa can focus everyone’s attention on Instagram and manage customers directly from its Instagram page. Instagram becomes everyone’s go-to source for information from the spa and any questions can be posted on the page and the spa will be sure to answer them. Instead of having to juggle various accounts and interact across several platforms the spa can focus on just one account.

Conclusion

The Ma Spa will be a place where young moms can come to get away from all the distractions that they have to deal with, including children, for just an hour or two—long enough for them to recharge and feel great about themselves. Moms will be thankful for the opportunity and the services and products will be unique, so there will be total differentiation going on at the Ma Spa: no other spa will be offering the type of service that it offers, which includes childcare services while mom receives her spa treatment. The benefits of this for the mom is that they get to be pampered without worry of having to schedule a treatment and arrange for a sitter. Customer relationships will be managed primarily through social media since most Millennials prefer to interact using social media today.