When you are planning your spa, you have to segment the market and choose your niche.  What is a niche?  Wikipedia describes a niche as Niche Market-a focused, targeted portion (subset) of a market sector.  Okay, do I really need one?

Yes, you need to know your spa target market–who will come to the spa, and your niche in the market.  For example, Who are you?

• men only
• teens
• young adults
• senior citizens
• club spa
• destination
• Ayurveda
• resort spa
• wellness spa
• yoga spa
• day spa
• skin spa

The list is endless, because the market segmentation is endless.  The key is to make sure that you have enough clients in your niche to keep your spa busy and profitable.  A teen spa in a predominantly senior citizen Florida city may not fare well, even though you have read how popular they are.  The example teen spa would not have enough clients to keep the spa profitable.

On the other side of choosing your niche, remember, you cannot be all things to all people.   As the spa industry continues to grow and morph, we will start to see niche markets that will become market trends. 

Once you find a niche in the market, make it yours and don’t deviate or waffle–your clients will become confused.  One spa in the area started out with a definite hip, Miami feel, attracting clients from 3 counties.  It was an auspicious start, but the clients it attracted could not afford to go to the spa.  So they changed the marketing and changed the marketing and changed the marketing.  Now, I’m not sure who they really are?

When you don’t know you are, how do you think your clients will know who you are?  Find your niche, and stick to it….they say like white on rice.

Click below to see the first attempt at the spa design.  It is incredible.

spa-floor-plans

When you start to see your ideas on paper, it can either be very joyful, or very scary or both.  You start to walk in you head from room to room.  What will you see, what will you feel?  These initial plans gave us the start for discussion of what would work and what needed revision.  If you want your baby to be perfect, you will need plenty of time to ponder, change, revise, and perfect….I’d say at least 9 months….now that is a perfect spa baby.

When you go to create a spa brand, where do you start?  With the bricks and mortar or the initial concept?  What will your chicken do or say? Where will the egg be laid?  Will the egg be gold or silver? Will the chicken be organic or green?  When you start to brand a spa, you must start at the very beginning…don’t lay a brick, don’t pay the architect.  What is your brand, how does it feel?  Does it smell?  Does it touch my senses?  What will I feel as a guest in your spa?  If you are having trouble with the chicken or the egg—get assistance!  The branding of your spa is one of the most important aspects of the business.  It is your intrinsic way of saying who you are, what you stand for and how you do business. 

Will your guests be swept away on a magic carpet, or do you have an oriental flare?  Play 20 questions and your brand will start to hatch, little by little, with guest feedback and an instinct of what your guests want in a spa.