The Objectives:
Our determined marketing objectives, target markets, and marketing mix rests on the Demmer Center’s vision of a recreational facility that is educational, fun, and available to nearly every age group. To reiterate, the objectives of this project are the following: gain new customers, connect digitally to customers, and connect further with MSU’s student body. An increase in student and family traffic, followers via social media, trial rates and profit are expected outcomes of our proposed strategy.
The Target Markets:
The Demmer Center deals with two market segments primarily. One is 20-29 year old college students in Ingham County for team sports and recreational purposes. The other consists of families in the area of indiscriminate family size, life cycle and social class for mainly recreational purposes. Both segments’ skill level may range from novice to expert. So, respective campaigns should be implemented for each target market, and the campaigns will have some overlap in the communication channel.
An unmentioned target market presented itself in our results: 20-29 year old females. Though 87.5% of female respondents had never visited the Demmer Center before, a 75% willingness to learn how to use a bow or firearm fell into our lap. As such, we are confident that a campaign targeting 20-29 year old females will prove to be successful.
The Marketing Mix:
Through our investigation we determined that the Demmer Center’s offerings (a.k.a. product), distribution and pricing do not need to be changed; their means of promotion is where potential improvement lies. In order to facilitate our problem-finding process after our meeting with Michael, we conducted a survey through Qualtrics for the purpose of estimating awareness and perception of the Demmer Center. The respondents to our survey were almost entirely comprised of Michigan State University students.
Our survey results highlighted, not surprisingly, a substantial lack of student awareness. We prefer to look on the bright side of this scenario: the potential for trial rates and new customers is great, especially within the scope of MSU. Students prefer to be communicated to through social media and on-campus events, so digital networking and on-campus events should be implemented accordingly. Digital communication will prove to be beneficial, including cleaning up of the Demmer Center website and regular participation in social media. Potential on-campus events may include shooting tournaments, classes taught in collaboration with Residential Life or a day at The Rock to garner attention. Collaboration with the Kinesiology department to create a new MSU course could prove to be beneficial as well, since students will have to rent equipment and use the facility for credit. In appealing to the 20-29 year old female target market, the Center should advertise their classes for women with a message that encourages them to empower themselves by gaining hands-on shooting knowledge and experience.
Other community events, such as competitions and workshops, should also be created for the purpose of attracting the Demmer Center’s familial target market. Places like the Hannah Community Center provide venues that attract Lansing-area residents that may otherwise be wary of traveling to campus. Social media updates may also be targeted toward families, informing them of promotional rates and events.
