What is Marketing? Massage Therapy

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]What is Marketing as it pertains to massage therapy?  When marketing is based on the importance of clients to a business and has two important principles:

  • All company policies and activities should be directed toward satisfying client needs.
  • Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume.

[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]

To effectively employ these principles, a small business should:

  • Determine the needs of their clients through market research.
  • Analyze their competitive advantages to develop a market strategy.
  • Select specific markets to serve by target marketing.
  • Determine how to satisfy client needs by identifying a market mix.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]

Market Research

Successful marketing requires timely and relevant market information. An inexpensive research program, based on questionnaires given to current or prospective clients, can often uncover dissatisfaction or promising new products or services. Market research will also identify trends that affect sales and profitability. Population shifts, legal developments, and the local economic situation should be monitored to quickly identify problems and opportunities. It is also important to keep up with competitors’ market strategies. For more information about marketing research, see Elite’s Introduction to Marketing Research for the Massage Therapist.

 

Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy identifies client groups that it can better serve than its target competitors, and tailors product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts, and services toward those market segments. Ideally, the strategy should address unmet client needs that offer adequate potential profitability. A good strategy helps a business focus on the target markets it can serve best.

 

Target marketing

Owners of small businesses usually have limited resources to spend on marketing. Concentrating their efforts on one or a few key market segments – target marketing – gets the most return from small investments.

 

There are many methods used to segment a market:

  • Geographical segmentation: Specializing in serving the needs of clients in a particular geographical area. For example, a neighborhood office may send advertisements only to people living within one-half mile of its location.
  • Client segmentation: Identifying those people most likely to buy the product or service and targeting those groups.
  • Segmentation by demographic variables: Characteristics including gender, age, race, education, and income.

 

 

Do you have any marketing strategy tips that you use in your massage business?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]