Question

Topic: Strategy

New Service Offering: Start A New Business?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/1/2014 at 10:29 PM ET 250 Points
Hi there,

I currently own a couple Massage Therapy Clinics. We only focus on massage therapy, and have been rather successful.

I will be launching a new business. An "athlete recovery lab". The business will include massage therapy and will most likely add athletic therapy. I will also include self serve regeneration modalities such as cold baths, compression boots, etc Essentially tools that your average joe can't afford to buy. There will be retail items and nutrition. The "athlete recovery lab will be situated within a gym, so it different from our current spaces which are in strip malls.

I'm uncertain whether I should leverage my current two business. As we are ranked well with seo and have a good reputation. It would minimize start up costs and can easily do cross marketing.

Or will it be too confusing to the customer to have the new offering at the 3rd location? I realize this idea is somewhat unique so it will require consumer education. If i were to start a new business, is there a way I can still leverage the success created with my two massage clinics?

thanks
mike



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RESPONSES

  • Posted by telemoxie on 6/2/2014 at 7:31 AM Accepted
    I am not an expert on search engine optimization or branding, but it seems to me that "sports injury" might be a better term than "athlete", especially if you are also marketing to teenagers and children.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/2/2014 at 8:09 PM Accepted
    My instinct says that the new business needs a new/different name and identity, since the target audience is different and the core positioning benefit is different. But that doesn't mean you can't draw from the current business as part of the credential, or reason-why. This is a neat positioning challenge, and may require some very specialized expertise.

    I would also respectfully disagree with telemoxie on the way you want to refer to the business. It seems to me that you want to focus on the benefit, or solution ("athlete recovery"), rather than the problem ("sports injury"). People will form an image of your company pretty quickly, and I think you'd want to be known for "recovery," not "injury."

    To really address the issue in specific terms we'd need to have more details, including the name of the current business, profile of current clients, etc. It's difficult to offer useful advice with just a general briefing. The strategy is going to be critical to your success with the new venture. We won't do you any favor by treating the subject lightly..
  • Posted on 6/2/2014 at 9:57 PM Author
    Thank you for the advice. Mgoodman you are exactly correct, we want to position our business as "athlete recovery".

    The name of my current business is Massage Athletica. We position ourselves as sports massage specialists focusing on injury and performance care. The majority of our customer base is athletes such as runners, triathletes and crossfit athletes.

    The gym that we are opening in is a crossfit gym in a high traffic area that will attract a lot of travellers (professional teams) staying in nearby hotels.

    Let me know if you need anymore info
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/4/2014 at 12:50 AM Accepted
    How about "Recovery Athletica"? It'll allow you to tie in "Massage Athletica" and expand in this new direction cleanly.
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