Developing A Successful Wellness Training Program

Target Audience

As a school offering hypnotherapy training program, we seek to achieve various objectives that are part of our strategic growth plan. Our business goals are to increase customer base and sales generated. These goals can only be accomplished via gaining market recognition. Emphasis is placed on leveraging marketing channels available to spread brand awareness to the target market. To realize our goals, we’ve established growth objectives that have to be achieved as the business grows. The growth objectives include:

• Increasing sales of courses by leveraging on media channels to increase brand and product awareness among target consumers
• Developing online courses accessible via learning portal
• Increasing sales of teaching materials by improving engagement with health practitioners who are potential customers

Our primary target consumers are millennials and health practitioners. Millennials are diverse and consist of young adults, single mothers, middle-class professionals, and young couples (Thach, 2006). Millennials are in different social classes and industries and have diverse tastes. This market segment has grown up with technology and is always connected. A majority of millennials use tech devices and are likely to use online learning resources (Mitchell, 2016). Millennials have a sharing culture evidenced by the time they spend on social media (Kilian, 2012). They value authenticity and are likely to consider recommendations by fellow consumers. Additionally, they stick to brands that address their needs and provide an exemplary user experience.

Health practitioners are a key target market that has dynamic needs. This market segment requires revolutionary and effective solutions that assist them in their work. They tend to be loyal to brands that provide them quality and cost-effective products. Together with the millennials, health practitioners are key consumers that will define the sales and revenue of the school.

Our target industry is the health and wellness industry where we focus on providing wellbeing, performance and confidence training to a wide range of people. The health and wellness industry is growing rapidly due to the changing environment both at the workplace and homes which affect the wellbeing of people (Smith, 2008). Our emphasis is placed on organizations which require an effective workforce that can meet the performance objectives established. These organizations seek to stimulate the performance of the workforce by maintaining their wellbeing (Goetzel, 2014). As such, many employees are enrolled in wellness programs such as therapy to assist them in tackling issues affecting their wellbeing performance, and confidence. Wellness therapy for employees is a growing niche as many organizations look for ways to enhance employee output in the workplace (Mattke, 2013).

With the progress of time, wellness training programs have become not only important in rehabilitating patients but also people with wellbeing issues (Edlin, 2012). This has primarily influenced by the societal changes which have enhanced various factors such as awareness of the need for wellness. As a result, the target audience of the wellness industry is increasing implying an increase in the number of customers that can be reached out. The industry is still fragmented as it includes many niches (Laing, 2008). However, the industry is slowly transforming to become a marketplace lucrative for wellness players.

The wellness industry is shifting towards low-end consumers. The industry is associated with the wealthy but is evolving as wellness services at lower prices emerges (Pilzer, 2010). Affordable therapy centers and low priced therapy training programs are entering the market. A new crop of schools offering low-priced therapy courses may appear. The industry is also witnessing a consumer revolution. Traditional wellness is changing to align with the shift in consumer needs. Consumers are seeking easier ways to manage their wellbeing which is a trend that is expected to increase (Cohen, 2008). As smartphone and internet penetration increases, consumers seek wellness apps that are effective as self-service solutions for maintaining individual’s wellbeing as well as providing training materials.

Target Industry

Businesses outside the traditional wellness industry are entering the market to meet the growing needs of consumers. Companies such as tech firms are entering the consumer market to respond to the needs of connected consumers that seek better ways to manage their health. High-performance businesses are collaborating with wellness providers to enhance the health and wellness of their employees to maintain performance and productivity (Berry, 2010). Others seek training for their in-house wellness team.

As businesses recognize the potential of the growing wellness industry, they are developing strategies to tap its potential in managing employee healthcare as well as reducing costs related to healthcare coverage. Wellness provides aligning to the industry trends have focused on shifting from traditional services to offering value-oriented and new-generation services such as personalized services.

We seek to position ourselves in the market and compete effectively by leveraging low prices, customer retention strategies, and user experience. Our services will have low price points to attract customers from different economic classes. The price point will initially set low to enable the business to compete on price and build a customer base (Xiao, 2008). Emphasis will be placed on improving user engagement and provide a good user experience to improve customer satisfaction (Kim, 2013). As the customer bases grow, the price of the services will be adjusted to reflect the quality and value of our core offerings. The business will focus on providing quality services that align with customer needs to increase customer retention.

Product

Our service is a training program that encompasses various therapy techniques. The training encompasses various techniques such as induction, programming, hypnoanalytical, and advanced integrative techniques. This gives consumers a wide selection of techniques that they can choose to address their wellness needs. Some of the techniques are optimized for different audiences. These techniques are effective in resolving conflicts as well as addressing the wellness needs of our clients.

We’ll leverage various marketing channels to promote our brand and products. Emphasis is placed on reaching out to our target consumers via effective and affordable channels. Our marketing strategy will rely on social media and street advertising. Social media is essential in engaging millennials who are a key segment of our target audience (Tuten, 2014). Through social media, we can gather their feedback and opinions as well as promote our program. Street adverts will establish brand presence at our business location and enable us to attract the local customers (Lucas, 2006).

The business will be located in the vicinity of our target consumers. The business location will be accessible to students and workforce from organizations. This will make it easy for them to attend the training programs. Additionally, the courses will be offered online which will eliminate the need for visiting the physical facility of the business for customers that prefer e-learning.

The training program will have a lower price point than other programs offered by rivals. This will enable us to compete on price and allow us to attract more customers which is key in building our reputation in the industry and increase our customer base (Baldwin, 2008). The price will be adjusted as we gain more customers to reflect the value of our service but will be maintained within a range where the business can compete with rivals.

Trends

Many students and employees have issues affecting their wellbeing. Unfortunately, many do not seek help and end up developing health problems (Barkin, 2010). Our business seeks to reach out these people through our training program. Our objective is to provide a training program that caters to the needs of these individuals and improves their health and wellbeing. Our primary audience is young adults and health practitioners. The business has recognized the effectiveness of social media in tapping the potential of this audience. Through social media, we can engage this audience and improve their wellbeing with our program (Sashi, 2012).

Channel Selection

Channel selection process will focus on four key aspects: consumer preferences, cost, and localization. The buying habits of our target consumer will determine the channel strategy we’ll use. Since target consumers prefer a private place for training, we’ll focus on providing our services via channels that meet the needs of the audience. Training services will be offered in our physical facility where consumers can engage with trainers privately. Additionally, the training courses will be provided online to enable consumers to learn in the privacy of their homes.

The channels leverage will vary in terms of costs. Onsite training will cost more as clients need a physical space to train as well as engage with a trainer. These training sessions will incur more costs than online training courses. The price of the onsite training programs will be adjusted to reflect the costs incurred, and the value gained. Online training courses will cost less as a tutor can simultaneously engage many trainees. We’ll focus on improving online training program to make it useful to clients and satiate the market demand.

In the current economic conditions, it will be essential to localize the business as we expand the market via effective marketing channels. As a service provider, the business should have the capability to sell the training program to consumers in different towns in a similar manner. To accomplish this, the program has to be localized to align with needs of each target audience which is key in improving brand recognition (Singh, 2011). Selecting a strategic channel can assist the business to achieve this objective.

The business will leverage its core competencies to create a marketing funnel that can generate sales. The funnel creation process will involve:

• Creating and placing a call to action (CTA) text or button on the website to attract customers with offers and links to our landing page.
• Creating a relevant landing page that has a clear headline on what the business offers and a graphic related to the offer. The page includes detailed information that compels customers to make a purchase.
• Create a form on the landing page. The form will increase the likelihood of prospects becoming a lead which can improve conversion rate.

A content curation strategy will be created as part of our content marketing efforts. Content relevant to the wellness industry and our business operations will be regularly created and posted on the website. It will focus on a wide range of topics from wellness training to importance of hypnotherapy. This will be key in establishing the business as a leader in the wellness industry as well as enable it to gain recognition by the target audience (Holliman, 2014). Backlinks will be leveraged to improve the ranking of the business on the web. Emphasis will be placed on submitting the website links to backlinks directories. Social media profiles for the business such as Twitter and Facebook pages will be created to share the content posted and increase its visibility (De Vries, 2012).

Competition and Positioning

The business will create several prototypes of the training program. Since the training program includes various techniques, the program prototypes will have one or a combination of two techniques. Prototypes for online training course will have different aspects relevant to online training sessions. Some prototypes will have videos while others will have podcasts and written content. These prototypes will be reviewed in the testing phase.

The business will focus on creating a lead magnet that is specific to the target market. An outline of the lead magnet will be created. Steps for addressing problems affecting target consumers will also be identified. With the lead magnet outline complete, content relevant to the business can be written. Next, the business will create a professional design for the lead magnets that will appeal to target consumers.

Before launching operations, prototypes of the training program and online training courses will be created and tested to determine their effectiveness in addressing customer needs. The prototype of the training program will include various techniques and will be tested by several customers. Customer feedback will determine changes to be done on the program. For online training courses, a group of customers will be given a free trial to test them. The feedback given will influence our decision in making changes to our core offerings or launching them.

The business will focus on social media and street adverts to promote the brand and spread product awareness. Social media will be an effective online marketing tool for reaching the millennial market segment (Stelzner, 2013). Street adverts are an essential offline marketing medium that will be key positioning the brand in the market as well as increasing brand visibility (Bergemann, 2011).

Potential partnerships and strategic alliances

We’ll forge a partnership with schools and organizations. These partners are key to our business as they are potential customers. Organizations have young employees that may require wellness training to improve their productivity. On the other hand, schools may encourage students who have issues affecting their wellbeing to seek our services. Partnership with these parties is essential to build our customer base and increase our sales.  

Each package of the training program will have its own price. The packages will encompass different techniques hence the prices will vary. Customers who seek to be trained will have to select and purchase one training package. They will enjoy all the services that are associated with the packages they have bought. Customers will also choose the online training course that suits their needs and purchase it. A payment module will be integrated into the school’s website to allow customers to pay for both offline and online training programs.

To improve sales conversion rate, the business has to utilize various sales optimization strategies. One key strategy is providing social proof such as case studies and customer testimonials to the website (Martin, 2007). Providing clear contact information such as live chat options and contact number can enable potential customers to have confidence in the school (Elmorshidy, 2013). Additionally, the school should display trust seals such as those offered by web security firms to improve customer trust (Mukherjee, 2007).

Marketing Mix

Conclusion

As a school operating in the wellness industry, we seek to gain more customers and increase our market share. These goals can only be accomplished by utilizing the resources available to enhance our core offerings and reach out to target consumers. Our target market includes millennials who prefer authenticity over price. Targeting this market segment requires a multi-pronged marketing approach that can effectively engage them and compel to purchase our services. The marketing approach relies on social media and street adverts to engage the audience. Social media supports two-way communication hence is effective in promoting our products as well as getting customer feedback. Our core offerings include onsite training program and online training courses. These programs are provided in packages that suit the needs of different clients. This is effective in addressing the needs of all target market segments. The school has forged relationships with key partners who can enable the brand to gain recognition. Additionally, the business should consider utilizing various strategies to improve conversion rate in order to increase sales generated.

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