Industry
While some people may view it as a luxury, others view it as a necessity. Some people swear by it, while others argue it’s pseudoscience. Whatever the point may be, the fact is that the practice of massages as a form of healing has been present for centuries. For years, massages have been passed down as a form of medicine for injuries, pain, and illnesses.
As consumers increasingly begin to lose trust in traditional medicine, demand for alternative medicine such as massage therapy is on the rise. According to AMTA (American Massage Therapy Association), the number of massage therapists has grown by nearly 20% in the last decade alone.
Our company’s values and mission
“Synergy Massage Parlor” is a massage parlor offering services for massage, acupuncture, aromatherapy, and reflexology. Given the growing market in alternative medicine, Synergy Massage Parlor has scope for growth. The growth strategies that Synergy Massage Parlor will use are:
Market penetration: The goal of the market penetration strategy is to increase sales of existing services within existing markets. Synergy Massage Parlor will implement this strategy is by using their current Massage Therapy services to ensure current customers buy more services. The practical implementation will include creating offers and promotions to steer away clients from competitors and create a loyal customer base.
Market diversification: The aim of market diversification is to increase the sales of existing services in new markets. Synergy Massage Parlor, using the market diversification strategy, will try to uncover new markets for their products, or grow their existing customer base. Practical implementation of this strategy can include marketing products in different ways to appeal to a different customer base. For Synergy Massage Parlor, this means presenting massages as a form of medicine instead of luxury to appeal to clients who have not found a cure in traditional medicine.
The customer base
For identifying the customer base for Synergy Massage Parlor, we will analyze the different factors that group the market together.
Demographics
- Gender: According to a study conducted by AMTA, men are now getting more massages than women. In 2020, 20% of females got massages while 22% of males got massages.
- Age: The study also showed that adults with children under 18 are more likely to get massages than people with no kids.
- Income level: Income level, specifically disposable income, has a large role to play in the number of massages people get in a year. Among those earning around 50k a year, only 15% of the population got massages. On the other hand, among those making 50k-100k and above 100k, 22% and 34% of people got massages respectively.
Segmentation
For this strategy plan, we will divide customers into two segments:
Segment A
This segment has a high disposable income, and a larger portion of income to spend on relaxation. This segment purchases massage services because of want instead of the need for it. Since this segment takes part in massages for the experience, they expect luxury service in a luxury environment and are usually less price sensitive. The age range is 20+ Synergy Massage Parlor usually sees more clients from segment A.
Segment B
This segment has a low to medium disposable income, and a lower portion of income to spend on relaxation. For this segment of the population, massages are more of a need than a want, and they usually treat massages as a form of indulgence or treatment for illnesses. This customer base prefers offers and affordable pricing over a luxury environment or service. The age ranges from 30+. As low to mid-income families are less likely to get massages, Synergy Massage Parlor’s digital marketing strategy will include trying to penetrate the market of this customer base.
Strategy plan
Targeting
The digital marketing strategy plan for Synergy Massage Parlor is to target Segment B (See above for description). The targeting for this segment was done based on the fact that Synergy Massage Parlor sees fewer customers from this customer base so it is an opportunity for growth.
Segment profile:
Age: 30+
Income level: Below 50k.
Gender: Non-specific.
Location: Toronto, Canada.
Reason for purchase: Alternative medicine.
Most used social media: Instagram & Facebook
Short term goals:
- A conversion rate of 30% for anyone who visits the website.
- Reduce bounce rate by 20%.
- Increase customers from Segment B by 30%.
- Recieve 100 positive reviews on Google My Business.
Long term goals:
- Grow Instagram following to 50k.
- Grow facebook likes to 50k.
- Collaborate with major influencer.
- Sell over 5000 massages to Segment A and B.
Implementing the idea
- Identify Unique selling point:
Unique selling point(USP) is the essence of what makes your product different than others. For Synergy Massage Services, this means providing affordable services for the purpose of medicine and healing, while also catering to luxury needs.
USP can help market products to customers and decide which segments can create the most conversions, therefor sales.
- Creating online presence
Creating an online presence is important for business, whether your business is online or physical storefront. It is important to identify your customers age range while catering to different social media channels.
For Gen Z, a booming social media platform is Tiktok, while millenians tend to use Instagram. For most of Synergy Massage Parlor’s clients, the age range is above 40+, an age group that usually uses facebook. Online platforms that work for every age range are Google My Business and Websites.
For Synergy Massage Parlor, we will be creating a website. The steps we will take are:
- Buying and registering a domain name from Google.
- Purchase a hosting from Hostinger.
- Use Elementor in WordPress to create a seamless and fast website containing information about service and pricing. The website will also contain easy ways to communicate with Synergy Massage Parlor.
- Creating engaging content
Synergy Massage Parlor will also be focusing on creating engaging and eye catching content, mainly focusing on 3 types of posts:
- Educational posts: These include posts which discuss the benefits and importance of massage. We will be discussing the relaxation and as well as physical benefits that are backed by science.
- Informational posts: These posts include information such as offers, products used, time and pricing. For Synergy Massage Parlor, this will include special offers created to capture Segment B market.
- Brand posts: Branding posts help establish a brand image to your customers. They are simple, and contain logos and photos surrounding the brand. Although they are easy to create, they are still very important in creating an online presence.
Synergy Massage Parlor will also create eye catching posts by using client testimonial photos. When users see client photos and reviews, they are more likely to trust the business. This will be specially helpful for Segment B.
Synergy Massage Parlor will also be using SEO to rank our website higher in search engines. In our blogs, we will be using keywords and meta-data in images to help users discover our page. The keywords we will be focusing on are:
Short Tail: Massage parlor, relaxation, healing, Toronto
Long tail: Alternative healing in Toronto, luxury massage for affordable pricing.
- Tracking progress with Key Performance Indicator(KPI)
The Ks that Synergy Massage Parlor will be using are:
- Engagement: Likes, comments, shares
- Website: Bounce rate, conversion.
- Sales: Purchases for service, gift card purchases.
All of these KPI’s will be tracked to measure success and effectiveness of this digital marketing strategy plan.
The Author
Anushka Bibi is a digital marketing analyst intern at the International Institute of Digital Marketing.
References:
https://www.amtamassage.org/publications/massage-industry-fact-sheet/