MKT 574 Week 2 Target Markets and Positioning Example

Explorers, Facilitators and Date-Night Adults: Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning a Louisville Aquarium for Repeat Visits

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

MKT/574: Marketing: Social, Mobile, and Analytics

Week 2 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Riverfront Aquarium, its visitor data and its segments are composites written for a model paper.

Week 1 concluded that Riverfront Aquarium, a composite nonprofit aquarium on the Louisville waterfront, faces a value gap: a strong first visit but few reasons to return, reflected in attendance falling to 620,000 and membership renewals dropping to 64 percent. The proposed value proposition emphasized seasonal discovery, close encounters and conservation for people who want a place to return to. Turning that proposition into marketing requires knowing who those people are. This paper segments the aquarium's market, selects targets and develops positioning for each.

Why Segment

Smith (1956) distinguished product differentiation, in which a firm tries to shift demand toward its product through promotion, from market segmentation, in which it adjusts its offerings to fit the needs of distinct groups within a diverse market. He argued that segmentation recognizes real differences in demand and allows a firm to serve groups more precisely. The aquarium has largely differentiated through advertising aimed at everyone. Its visitors, however, differ greatly in why they come and how often.

Wind (1978) reviewed segmentation research and noted that the choice of segmentation basis should follow the decision at hand: segments for pricing decisions may differ from segments for new product or communication decisions. Because the aquarium's decision concerns how to encourage return visits, the basis should be one that predicts returning.

Motivation-Based Segments

Falk et al. (2008) studied adult visitors to zoos and aquariums and found that their identity-related motivations shaped what they did during visits and what they took away. They described explorers, driven by curiosity; facilitators, focused on enabling others' experiences, often children; experience seekers, visiting a must-see attraction; professionals and hobbyists, with specialized interests; and rechargers, seeking calm and restoration. The motivation typology fits the aquarium's survey data well and predicts behavior better than demographics.

The Five Segments

Combining survey responses from 2,400 visitors with membership and ticket data produced five segments. Local family facilitators, parents and grandparents bringing children under 12, make up 34 percent of visits and most memberships. Curious explorers, adults without children who come to learn, often for talks and new exhibits, make up 14 percent. Young adult experience seekers, aged 21 to 35, visit mainly for evening events and dates, about 8 percent today. Tourist experience seekers, visitors from outside the region seeing a top attraction, make up 41 percent of visits but visit once. Rechargers and hobbyists, including retirees who come on quiet weekdays and aquarium hobbyists, make up the remaining 3 percent.

Evaluating the Segments

Each segment was scored from low to high on five criteria: size, growth, value, which combines spending and repeat visits, reachability through the aquarium's channels and fit with the Week 1 strategy of return visits and conservation. Local family facilitators scored high on size, value, reachability and fit. Curious explorers scored moderate on size but high on value and fit, since they return for new exhibits and talks. Young adults scored low on current size but high on growth, as the city's downtown population has grown, and high on reachability through social and mobile channels. Tourists scored high on size but low on repeat value and fit with the return-visit strategy. Rechargers and hobbyists were small, though loyal.

The largest segment by visits is not the most valuable one, because tourists come once and families come back.

Target Choices

The aquarium will target local family facilitators, curious explorers and young adult experience seekers. Tourists will be maintained through travel partnerships and regional advertising at a lower share of the budget, since they still provide much of the admission revenue. Rechargers and hobbyists will be served with quiet weekday hours and a hobbyist talk series but not actively marketed.

Positioning for Families

For Louisville-area parents and grandparents who want outings that delight and teach their children, Riverfront Aquarium is the place where there is always something new to discover together, unlike the zoo's fixed exhibits and the trampoline parks' noise, because seasonal exhibits and keeper encounters change every few months and membership makes every visit easy.

Positioning for Explorers

For curious adults who enjoy learning, Riverfront Aquarium is the region's window into rivers and oceans, offering talks, behind-the-scenes tours and new exhibits that go deeper than any museum visit, backed by scientists and keepers who share their work directly.

Positioning for Young Adults

For young adults looking for something different to do downtown at night, Riverfront Aquarium After Dark is the most memorable evening on the river, with music, drinks and glowing jellyfish, unlike another bar or movie, because few places let you spend a night among sharks.

Perceptual Map

A perceptual map based on survey ratings places local attractions on two dimensions visitors used most: novelty on repeat visits and depth of learning. The zoo rates high on learning and moderate on novelty. The science museum rates high on learning, low on novelty. Trampoline parks rate high on novelty for children but low on learning. The aquarium currently rates high on learning but low on novelty for repeat visitors. The positioning moves it toward the high-novelty, high-learning corner, which no competitor occupies.

Reaching Each Target

Families will be reached through membership communications, school partnerships and parent-focused social channels. Explorers will be reached through email, local media and partnerships with universities. Young adults will be reached through social media, mobile offers and downtown partners. Later weeks will develop these channels.

What Each Target Is Worth

Membership records show why families matter most. A family membership costs $189 a year, and member families visit an average of 4.6 times, spending about $22 per visit on food and retail. Non-member local families visit about 1.3 times a year. If the aquarium converted 2,000 more local families to membership and kept renewal at 70 percent, it would add about $380,000 in membership revenue and roughly $200,000 a year in food and retail spending on those members' visits. Explorers spend less per visit but attend paid talks and tours, while young adults at evening events spend an average of $41 each on tickets, food and drinks.

Segments Over Time

Segments are not fixed. Many young adults will become family facilitators within a decade, and many families will become rechargers as children grow up. A visitor who forms a habit of returning in one stage is more likely to continue in the next, which strengthens the case for building relationships with young adults now.

One Brand, Several Positions

The three positioning statements share the brand's core idea of discovery on the river while emphasizing different benefits. Consistent visual identity and tone will keep them recognizable as one aquarium.

Conclusion

Segmenting Riverfront Aquarium's market by motivation reveals five distinct groups with different values to the organization. Targeting local families, explorers and young adults supports the strategy of return visits, while tourists remain important but secondary. Positioning statements and a perceptual map show how the aquarium can occupy an open place in the local market, high in both novelty and learning.

References

Falk, J. H., Heimlich, J., & Bronnenkant, K. (2008). Using identity-related visit motivations as a tool for understanding adult zoo and aquarium visitors' meaning-making. Curator: The Museum Journal, 51(1), 55-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2151-6952.2008.tb00294.x

Smith, W. R. (1956). Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies. Journal of Marketing, 21(1), 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224295602100102

Wind, Y. (1978). Issues and advances in segmentation research. Journal of Marketing Research, 15(3), 317-337. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224377801500302