GALWAY BAY HEALTH FARM - Download MS Word file

Introduction

Marketing rural tourism is different from promoting tourism, generally. Agritourism, as rural tourism is often called, seeks to target those segments of the market who want environmentally satisfying holidays, away from congested visitor centres. The aim is to attract those who wish to explore the landscape, culture and heritage of an area. Margaret and Gerry McNulty of Oranmore, Co. Galway, are an example of the innovative opportunities that exist for agritourism development, and have earned recognition for their entrepreneurial initiatives. In 1996, they were regional winners in the competition to identify ‘Development Farmers of the Year’. They were also regional winners in the 1997 ‘Family Farm of the Year’ and winners of the 1998 ‘Innovation in Marketing Awards’ held for businesses in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.

Enterprise Conception

In 1990, when the McNulty family moved from Australia, back to Ireland, they began looking for a place to live and a location to start a business. Margaret and Gerry decided that Oranmore in County Galway was well situated for their needs, as it is only ten to fifteen minutes away from Galway City. In 1991, they bought 50 acres and applied for planning permission for a house. By 1993, Gerry and Margaret’s Georgian style residence was built, and they had decided to develop a health farm. Mary Kate, Margaret’s sister, had been studying holistic medicine and was their inspiration for starting a health farm. Margaret and Gerry realised it was a risk, given that Margaret was a nurse and Gerry was an engineer, and as they had no previous experience in the area. However, they figured if the venture failed, they could always run a B&B.

Loughaunrone/Galway Bay Health Farm

On the 24^th of August 1994, Margaret and Gerry opened the doors of Loughaunrone Health Farm for business. No launch was organised for the opening. The advertising they had organised was a direct mail shot sent to doctors whose names they acquired from the yellow pages. In addition, they placed a few ads in the local newspapers.

Staffing at the health farm was largely a family affair. It consisted of Margaret who worked as the chef and cleaner, Gerry who organised and led walks through the countryside, and Mary Kate who was the aromatherapist. In addition, a nutritionist/dietician and psychologist were employed.

In the first week of business, they had eight customers, six of whom were complimentary guests. Margaret and Gerry needed to find out if their business idea would work and to discover whether their product was suitable. Therefore, the only requirement of their eight customers in that first week was to give their honest feedback on every aspect of their stay. Margaret and Gerry believed that the time they devoted to their first visitors was extremely valuable and they took the opportunity to learn from every mistake they made.

In the second week of business, there were no customers. Between August and December of 1994, there were only 25 guests. In 1995, Gerry and Margaret spent £10,000 on advertising. In that year, a total of 111 guests stayed on a 5-day programme, which was the only programme on offer. Although the level of custom attained over twelve months was a marked improvement over the original seasons complement, Margaret wondered whether the money spent on advertising was a worthwhile investment? Part of the problem was that Gerry and Margaret did not have a clear idea of who their potential customers might be and where they could be found.

During 1996, Margaret enrolled in a course in Tourism and Marketing at the Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology. One of the valuable lessons that Margaret learned was to be customer, rather than product led. Hence, more programmes were developed to meet the differing needs of guests, such as one-day holistic and pampering visits, weekend, and extended three, four and six day residential visits. Moreover, Margaret learned how to improve the return from advertising. She also ascertained how to obtain publicity for her health farm. Her first form of publicity was a small slot on Gay Byrne’s Radio show. Finally, it was decided to change the name from Laughaunrone to Galway Bay Health Farm. Essentially, Laughaunrone was too difficult to pronounce, spell and did not adequately reflect the business.

Health Farms of Ireland Association

Margaret believed that approval of Bord Fáilte, the Irish Tourist Board, was essential to gaining access to potential markets. However, there was no a mechanism within Bord Fáilte to approve health farm accommodation. In general, awareness of Irish health farms was poor and there was no representative body for the Irish health farm sector to address the lack of recognition. Margaret enlisted the support of about 12 other health farms and B&B’s offering ‘health weekends’, developed a portfolio, and sent it to Helen Keogh, Chief Executive of Health Tourism at Bord Fáilte. Helen Keogh invited the health farm proprietors to attend a meeting with the aim of forming an association. In late 1997, the Health Farms of Ireland Association was established and by April 1998 a brochure was launched by the Minister for Tourism. In addition to managing her own business, Margaret is the Secretary for the Health Farms of Ireland Association with all of the attendant duties associated with this national role.

Galway Bay Health Farm’s Business Vision

Currently, Galway Bay Health Farm can accommodate a maximum of 10 people on a 4 to 5, or 6 day residential programme. However, demand is strongest for the one-day holistic/pampering and weekend programmes. Future developments include building an extension to incorporate a relaxation room, yoga room, counter stream swimming pool, five more treatment rooms and to enlarge the dining room to accommodate 50 people.

Margaret’s short-term vision for the business is for the extension to be built within the next year. In addition, she aims to run select residential programmes and shorter pamper days with greater intensity. Margaret’s long-term vision is to operate an up-market, ‘unadulterated’ health farm. In essence, Galway Bay Health Farm will not

become a ‘beauty’ spa offering a list of beauty treatments. The scope is much wider and aims to educate people about living a more balanced healthier life. Margaret and her family are living the values that are embedded in the business. The health farm is an expression of their values and lifestyle. Hence, the business mission is to facilitate clients in developing a healthier mind-set and lifestyle.

Product Development

Margaret relies quite heavily on customer feedback and suggestions to give her an indication of how the health farm should develop and what services to offer. In addition, Margaret travels to Australia, where the health industry is more progressive, to gather ideas for her own premises. As a result of these efforts, Margaret will be expanding her premises to incorporate a yoga room, relaxation room, dining room for 50 people, 5 treatment rooms and a counter stream swimming pool. Plans for the expansion are drawn and approved. Margaret aims to have the extension completed within in the next year. Currently, she is waiting to learn if she will receive a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) towards the building costs. In the chance that funding is not forthcoming, then only the plans for a swimming pool will be delayed by two to three years.

In addition to the physical product attributes, Margaret continuously monitors and updates the services she offers her clients. She acknowledges that her own training in aerobics, nutrition and marketing have greatly facilitated product development, as she is able to identify and employ the most suitable people for providing product services. Ultimately, Margaret believes that it is the quality of customer care received that people remember most from their stay at Galway Bay Health Farm.

Product Benefits

Margaret asserts that the primary benefit clients receive is a ‘kick-start’ to a healthier lifestyle. The relaxed atmosphere is a great way to learn and to try something new, whether it is a treatment or exercise, for the first time. Many clients leave Galway Bay Health Farm with greater motivation and determination to make changes in their lives. Clients have a variety of reasons for coming to the Galway Bay Health Farm. Among the most common are to:

• Have a break from their current pressures,
• Take an opportunity to revitalise and renew their batteries,
• Relax and pamper themselves,
• Give themselves space to reassess their life,
• Grieve for the loss of a loved one,
• Facilitate them in making a change or a new start in their life,
• Have a safe place to holiday on their own,
• Develop a programme for weight-loss,
• Cleanse and begin a healthier lifestyle, and
• Commune with a partner.

Analysing Customers

People who come to Galway Bay Health Farm are predominantly women (80%), between the ages of 24 to 44. They come from a variety of occupations such as housewives, teachers, nurses, medical personnel, professionals, pensioners, and self-employed. Those who come for a day are often younger women and students who want to have a day to pamper and indulge themselves. Many professionals who come for 2-3 days are looking to take some time off from their normal routine and have a short holiday. Those who come for the longer residential programmes are often:

• brides who want to take a week of health and beauty,
• single women who want to have a holiday on their own,
• people who want to lose weight and start a new regime, and
• those who need a respite from the stresses in their lives.

In addition, Margaret does cater to local companies that seek a customised product either to entertain customers or to reward staff. These firms usually buy packages of pamper days that can be tailored to suit the needs of customers and staff. Another development in the corporate sector is the recent deal agreed with Boots Chemists in the UK and Ireland. Boots has bought a number of gift certificates for pamper days that will be incorporated into their gift hampers for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc. Each hamper includes a number of cosmetic and beauty products as well as a ‘surprise gift’, which is usually a gift certificate for a health/beauty service. Galway Bay Health Farm is the only Irish health farm to be included among the possible ‘surprise services’. Margaret believes that this access to a wider audience will translate into favourable word-of-mouth publicity at a far greater return on investment than other forms of advertising she might have undertaken.

In 2000, approximately one-third (33%), of the 700 people who come to Galway Bay Health Farm annually, are repeat clients. Of those who come to the health farm for the first time, 40-50% will come as result of word-of-mouth recommendation and/or through the receipt of a gift certificate. Margaret’s efforts to maintain contact with clients are principally conducted through direct marketing efforts such as direct mail, and e-mail. The database of clients is a useful tool for segmenting, targeting and positioning purposes and is instrumental in guiding her marketing efforts for Galway Bay Health Farm. Table 1 gives the breakdown of clients according to their country of origin and shows that the majority of people who come to Galway Bay Health Farm are from Ireland.

Table 1: Breakdown of Customers by Country of Origin

Source: Galway Bay Health Farm, 2001.

Marketing Communications

It is interesting to note that when Margaret had started her business, she had envisioned that she would spend between £3,000 to £4,000 per year towards marketing communication efforts. However, it was not until her seventh year in business that she was able to reduce her budget to that level. Margaret believes that much of her marketing efforts, in the earlier years, were wasteful, unproductive and did not merit the return-on-investment.

The tools that Margaret finds most useful in promoting her business are word-of-mouth, the internet, sponsorship, brochures delivered through direct mail, advertising in the Golden Pages, and attending trade shows. Figure 1 gives the relative breakdown of funds spent on marketing communications in 2000.

Source: Galway Bay Health Farm, 2001.

Lessons from Being in Business

Margaret and Gerry have learned from their experiences and most importantly from their mistakes. However, they believe that nothing is wasted from building and testing the product. In fact, they would be happy to do it all over again. Their advice to others who are starting a business, regardless of the industry, is to be sure that you really like the business you are in, be prepared for hard work and have a positive mind set. However, developing a business is a continual process of improvement. The question is how should Margaret and Gerry advance their health farm? They firmly believe bigger is not better and that perhaps, manageable growth is their aim. How would you advise Margaret and Gerry in developing their marketing communications plan?

1. How would you segment Galway Bay Health Farm’s customers?
2. What recommendations would you make for positioning Galway Bay Health Farm?
3. What kind of communication tools should Margaret McNulty avail of in promoting Galway Bay Health Farm?
4. Based on your analysis of the case, develop a marketing communications plan for Galway Bay Health Farm.