The “Life Coach” System, Marketing Plan Example

Executive Summary

This plan outlines the service offerings for the “Life Coach” system and the proposed marketing strategy.  The “Life Coach” system is an innovative service offering that focuses on helping individuals achieve their health, financial, and life goals. The service is essentially offered through two main channels: 1) personal meetings with life coaches with an expertise in the area of client concern; 2) online reminders, motivation, and interaction to help clients realize their goals once they have set them.  The unique offering of online and offline help allows the service to be with and help the client whenever and wherever he/she needs it.  The product’s main demographic is 18-59 year old, urban residents, who are middle class and above (basic income range of 45,000 or higher- based on median American income) (US Census, 2010). In addition to the main service offerings, partnerships will be sought with gyms, grocery stores, and health insurance companies to promote the product.

The firm’s marketing strategy is based on a thorough SWOT analysis that sees the product’s main strength in the flexible business model and low-cost offerings.  The main threat to the firm will be competitors who are able to move into the space quickly as well as the ability of the firm to maintain customer loyalty over time.

Marketing efforts will focus on three main channels: 1) In-store marketing; 2) Internet/ Social Media; 3) Sponsored Parties and Conferences.  Due to initial investment constraints, marketing will focus on online endeavors, gradually transitioning to offline endeavors to build the brand and recognition among consumers.  The implementation of the marketing plan is divided into four different stages based on six month increments.

Product Offering- “Life Coach” System

Main Product

The “Life Coach” system is a service provided to consumers that helps them achieve their goals in a variety of different areas including fitness, professional, and financial. The premise of the product is simple: Many individuals have certain goals for their life, but are unable to find either the motivation or willingness to achieve those goals.  In addition, many do not have individuals that will keep them accountable – loved ones often times are not able to sustain that role over the long term.  Although many executives and other individuals have access to expensive coaches, one of the main insights behind this service offering is to offer a stripped-down version to consumers on a more affordable basis.

Life Coach has a basic monthly fee based on the level of subscription and the service-level offered.  Basic members pay $19.95 per month for a monthly meeting with a life coach, as well as access to a virtual site that maintains a list of short and long goals that are marked off on a weekly basis.  Reminders are also sent to the member based on his/her preferences: Available medium include SMS text messages, Twitter, and email.  There is also the premium service package of $79.95 that includes all the above but with greater access to life coaches, on an “as needed” basis via phone, Skype, and other media.  In addition to these monthly subscriptions, individuals can also disaggregate the service offering to pick out certain elements they want on a one off basis.  For example, they want to talk to a life coach for 30 minutes on a certain topic.  These individual service offerings are charged at a higher rate in order to encourage monthly subscription rates.

Targeted Demographic

The product’s main demographic will be urban, middle class individuals from 18-59 years old.The product is aimed at individuals with an income marginally lower and higher than the country’s median income (Census, 2010).  In order to cater to different preferences among different age groups, the service includes two main components- online and offline, in order to service a range of consumer needs.   While some consumers, probably younger ones, may appreciate the ability to connect via the internet, others may appreciate the ability to connect with someone on the phone or in person.  Prima facie, the service should appeal to both males and females; although it is expected females will have a higher pick up rate at first due to studies suggesting general use of life coaches (Pawlowski, 2007).  The service offering will be focused on urban residents for the initial roll-out; the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago were chosen as initial roll-out points.  This decision is based on research suggesting that urban residents are more concerned about health, primarily health club memberships, that provide a more receptive market for the service (First Research, 2010).

Initial Partnerships

Partnerships will be a key foundation in the product’s business model as well as marketing strategy.  There are two different types of partnership that will be pursued.  First, the firm will seek partnerships with health insurers to serve as “health coaches”: Health coaches essentially serve as part of the medical team checking on individuals with chronic conditions in order to make sure they are taking medication and understand whether they need to seek medical attention. These “health coaches” essentially serve to remove extra burden from overworked primary care staff, at the same time lowering medical costs in patients’ treatment through ensuring adherence to medicine and other prescriptions (Bennet, Coleman, Parry, Bodenheimer, Chen, 2010).  This partnership will serve as the main initial strategic goal- this is because the partnership will be on a contract basis and will serve as a steady source of revenue in order to build other operations.

The firm will also seek partnerships with gyms and grocery stores to build membership among consumers.  Gyms and grocery stores were chosen because they tend to have individuals interested in the service; as well as there is synergy between the firm’s service offering and the offering of these establishments.

Goal of the Product

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis of the service offering may lead to a deeper understanding of how the marketing plan accentuates the strengths and tries to convince consumers of the services value (Harvard Business Review, 2005).  The aspect of a “life coach” has been well established in some quarters among consumers- especially among individuals in higher social classes that see the need for someone to help balance and translate life.  There are three main strengths to the service offering.  First, the general public generally knows and recognizes the value that a life coach can provide for their life.  Surveys taken among those with the most intensive exposure to the service show a high degree of satisfaction- this serves as a strong endorsement for the service in general.  Second, even among those that don’t necessarily understand or see the value, the service is packaged in a number of ways that allow skeptical consumers to sample and pick and choose the services they want.  For example, a full-life coach package may not be in the price range of many consumers; however, that is why the service has been segmented to include “virtual sessions” with life coaches, goal-setting sessions, and other services that provide similar value for the consumer at different price points.  Third, due to the innovative business model, this service has a first-mover advantage (citation here) in which the business is able to move first into an emerging commercial space ahead of other competitors.

There are two main weaknesses to the current service business model. First, consumer retention is likely to be an issue.  Although the segmentation of service offerings allows consumers extra choice in acquiring a service package they can afford; at the same time, the consumer is not “locked-in” to purchasing the service over the long-term that will likely lead to higher consumer churn. Second, there are low barriers to entry for the industry that could mean initial profits are competed away- particularly if our partners in different spaces start to compete with us rather than simply cooperate.

From a preliminary market analysis, there are two main opportunities in the space. The first opportunity the service provides is to create synergy between a numbers of disparate elements.  For example, our putative partners for this service, gyms and organic grocery stores, also have problems with maintaining customer retention and keeping consumers excited about their offerings. The life coach and remembrance system may potentially help to increase customer retention for these different businesses as well.  The second main opportunity is the leveraging of social media.  Although there is (warranted) skepticism towards the use of social media in promoting products, social media, if successfully leveraged in this service offering, may open up a number of different consumer options.  For example, individuals will be able to Twit their results and goals- whether it is related to fitness, financial, or professional.  This “buzz” will not only help to reinforce the individual’s adherence to the goals, but will also serve as advertising for the firm.

Finally, there are numerous threats to the business model.  One of the main threats is that the model is essentially monetized away by successful competitors.  Although the service is based on an extremely low cost-base, and is only rolled out in a number of selected urban cities, there will likely be more savvy individuals to monetize the business model.  Thus, the firm must be vigilant regarding competitors and our own pricing scheme.

Marketing Plan

Based on the above SWOT analysis, the following market plan is presented focusing on four main areas of emphasis: 1) In-store marketing; 2) Internet; 3) Social Media; 4) Parties/ Conferences.  Each of these different marketing foci are part of the larger marketing analysis that emphasizes the above SWOT analysis (Ferrel & Hartline, 2010)  .

In Store Marketing

The foundation of the service offering and the marketing plan is the joint marketing that will take place with our selected partners.  In the initial stages of the product’s roll out, the partnerships will focus on partnerships with gyms, grocery stores (both organic and otherwise), and inclusion with corporate health plans.  In the case of inclusion with corporate health plans, there is essentially a captive audience in that health insurance subscribers are automatically enrolled for the service.  Even with this captive audience, however, marketing efforts will be needed to reach out to the membership including health promotion events and free sessions with coaches based at the corporate campus of the subscribers.

In the case of gyms and grocery stores, we plan to have a number of “promotion nights” where there will be free energy drinks and energy bars (at the gym) and free health food sampling at the grocery store.  In addition, there will be coaches and managers on hand to discuss the service offering with interested consumers.  The partnerships with local gyms and groceries will be imperative in order to access consumers and have a platform to sell the product.

Internet and Social Media

The internet and social media will be a key marketing channel to cultivate new consumers and keeping up brand recognition among existing consumers.  The company will create and maintain a web site that will serve as the main marketing face and center for distribution on information about the company.  Indeed, although the company will maintain small offices in the identified cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago), due to initial investment limitations, the web site, with full multimedia capability, will serve as the main “headquarters” for the company.

In addition to the web site, the firm will take out ads on Google focusing on a number of key words that are related to the business including: health advice, nutrition, financial advice, etc.  The ads will drive interested consumers to our site.  In addition, the firm plans to offer initial discounts for service offerings through the Group-On service.  The coupons would likely be worked out with our partners- for example offering a discount on a month gym’s membership and the life coaching service- or a discount on a  ceratain health food that would come with a consultation.

The last part of the internet marketing strategy would include a robust presence on Twitter, including bloggers that use our services.  The firm will have a Twitter account that will serve as a channel for providing information to individuals regarding special offers, customer testimonies, and corporate information.  The Twitter account will be backed up  with a series of bloggers, who will be customers blogging about their customer experience with the service and how it has improved their life.

Due to the monetary limitations the company will face in the start-up period, the internet and social media marketing plan will play a predominant role.

Sponsored Parties and Conferences

Sponsored parties and conferences is the last aspect of the marketing strategy.  While the off line presence will be key in initially drawing consumers to try the service, as the service becomes more established, the firm will begin to roll out numerous parties and conferences focused on helping individuals live better, healthier lives.  The idea of parties fit into the urban demographic: they will serve as sessions where clients and potential clients can meet at a trendy restaurant where there will be a speaker on issues related to maintaining a healthy mind and a healthy body.  The purpose of the event is to create a sense of community among clients- which is important due to the decentralized state of the business model and initial emphasis on a heavy internet marketing component.  Conferences will also be held as a means to increase visibility among stakeholders and corporate clients who have access to the service via health insurance.  The topics will be more medical in nature: focusing on aspects related to aging, chronic disease, and weight loss.  The parties and conferences have two main goals.  One, current clients will be able to mingle and invite non-clients in order to find out more about the benefits of the service.  Clients are often times the best spokesman for how it has helped them to achieve their goals.  Second, the parties and conferences will help to create a buzz and community among members that will be important in attracting increasing the number of clients for the service.

Implementation Plan

The following text has laid out a basic introduction for the product, strategic insights into how it will be rolled-out, and the three main targets of the marketing plan.  This section of the marketing plan will give a rough layout of how that plan will be implemented.  Because the firm has acquired two years of initial funding via venture capital and hedge fund backers,  the plan will be divided into four main parts: 1) Prelaunch-0-6 months; 2) Post-launch 6-12 months; 3)12 months-18 months; 4) 18 months to 24 months.

Pre-launch- 0-6 months

The critical period of marketing will occur during the prelaunch and immediate 6 months after the launch.  This time period will emphasize the online marketing campaign: the website will be rolled out and ads will be placed on Google and other websites.  The main strategy is to drive traffic to the web site that will serve as the main marketing face of the company.

Post-launch-6-12 months

After the company has officially launched, the marketing strategy will marginally change to deal with both short and long term strategic concerns.  While the firm will continue to develop online and social media platforms, in the 6-12 month period the party and conference marketing events will also begin in earnest.  In particular, there will be one party for clients and one conference focusing on the topic of “how to age gracefully.”  These events are intended to have synergy with the online platform, as well as provide initial exposure of how the marketing plan will continue to develop.

Mid-term- 12 months to 18 months

There are two main marketing milestones during this milestone.  First, there will be a full reassessment of the marketing program after one year: Mainly the online marketing campaign, but also the first events for the conferences and parties, will be reviewed as part of the firm’s marketing strategy.  Three main questions will be evaluated: 1) What is the traffic to the main web site?  2) How successful has online advertising been in generating web site traffic? 3) What was the feedback regarding the  parties and conferences?  In addition to having a roundtable of internal investors and executives, there will also be a marketing consultant tapped to critique the efforts.  Based on the panel and consultant’s findings, the allocation for the marketing budget may be changed depending on the feedback.

End of term- 18 months to 24 months

The fourth term represents the end of funding and the end of marketing strategy.  The revisions made during the third term will be implemented in this period.

Conclusion  

This paper has presented the marketing strategy for the “Life Coach System.”  In addition to providing basic information on the product, it also included a marketing strategy based on a SWOT analysis of the product.  A time schedule was also provided for the implementation of the plan.

References

Bennet, H.D., Coleman, E.A., Parry, C., Bodenheimer, T., Chen. E. (2010)  Health coaching for patients with chronic illness.  Family Practice Management, 17(5), 24-29.

Ferrel, O.C., Hartline, M. (2010). Marketing Strategy.  Boston: Cengage.

First Research (Dun and Broadstreet). 2010.  Industry Report on Fitness Centers. Available at:http://www.csb.uncw.edu/people/farinellaj/classes/IMB532/Case%202%20Industry%20Profile.pdf.

Pawlowski, A. (August 1, 2007).  Getting ‘unstuck’: does your life need a coach? CNN. Available at: http://articles.cnn.com/2007-08-01/living/wlb.life.coaches_1_life-coach-international-coach-federation-icf?_s=PM:LIVING.

Pollock, J. (2005).The power of partnership brand marketing. PBM Marketing Paper.  http://www.csb.uncw.edu/people/farinellaj/classes/IMB532/Case%202%20Industry%20Profile.pdf

Harvard Business Review. (2005). SWOT analysis II: looking inside for strengths and weaknesses. Harvard University Press: Boston.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010, January 12). USA Quickfacts: Medium Income. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from http://quickfacts.census.gov.

Ferrel, O.C., Hartline, M. (2010). Marketing Strategy.  Boston: Cengage.