{"id":1928,"date":"2014-08-11T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leonorapolonsky.com\/food-for-thought\/powerful-marketing-lessons-from-canyon-ranch"},"modified":"2014-08-11T04:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T04:00:00","slug":"powerful-marketing-lessons-from-canyon-ranch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/?p=1928","title":{"rendered":"Powerful Marketing Lessons from Canyon Ranch\u00ae"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just spent a transformational week at Canyon Ranch®, a health & wellness resort in Arizona. I went at the suggestion of a client who had just been… I learned a lot about health and wellness, as expected. I also got some powerful lessons on brand building:<\/p>\n

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  1. Power of purpose<\/span>, which emerged from the founder’s personal wake-up call and transformation — at age 52. Canyon Ranch® exists “To create an inspirational environment where people could come to pursue optimal health and wellness, and appreciate “The Power of Possibility”.\"\"<\/li>\n
  2. Power of word of mouth<\/span>. My decision to go was entirely due to ONE person’s personal testimony. <\/li>\n
  3. Power of target choice and understanding<\/span>. Focus is women 40+ with whom the ranch mission resonates, and the understanding of and empathy for this group was palpable throughout the experience.<\/li>\n
  4. Power of “Point-of-Market-Entry”<\/span>. Recent grads (aged 14-24) are FREE with a paying adult during off season. This undoubtedly makes an imprint, and increases odds that a “grad” will be a paying guest in future. <\/li>\n
  5. Power of building Trial AND<\/em> Loyalty<\/span>. A 20% discount is used to attract new guests; AND membership options reward guests who commit to a week a year for 10 years.<\/li>\n
  6. Power of flawless execution of the desired consumer experience<\/span>. Everything about the experience fits the purpose. For example, cell phone use in public areas is strictly forbidden. Once I recovered from withdrawal, this was a delightful rule! \ud83d\ude09<\/li>\n
  7. Power of Employees as Brand Advocates<\/span>. Employees are encouraged to use the facility at no cost, and naturally become Brand ambassadors. They interact with guests, but aren’t given a message track that would undermine authenticity. Each had a personal story to tell.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Power of Storytelling<\/span> starting with the California “fat farm” story about the founder, now 85 who still lives on and largely owns the ranch.\"\" <\/li>\n
  9. Power of exceptional customer service<\/span>. Attention to detail, going extra mile, and terrific staff-guest ratio, support this. Example: during your last meal, you order a “to go” meal, which is waiting for you, nicely packaged, in your car at departure.   <\/li>\n
  10. Power of putting guests best interest at heart<\/span>. There were things to buy, but no hard sales. Rather, they offered web-links as resources for myriad wellness products\/services. <\/li>\n
  11. Power of community<\/span>. I participated in a group program focused on healthy weight. There were 20 of us in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, and walks of life. We fast became a community… now we’re on cyberspace. This enriched our experience and our affinity with Brand. <\/li>\n
  12. Power of the familiar (vs. radical habit change)<\/span>. The philosophy is all about modifying existing habits. Examples: Reduce portion size vs. changing foods consumed; adding interval training to a favorite workout. <\/li>\n
  13. Power of Personalization<\/span>. Everyone is encouraged to customize a health and wellness program to meet his or her personal needs. What is the best kind of exercise to do? The kind YOU enjoy the most!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    For me, Canyon Ranch®, was exactly as billed: “<\/span>an inspirational environment where I could pursue better health and wellness, and appreciate “The Power of Possibility”. <\/em>And as a bonus, I got a great dose of inspiration on<\/span> “The Power of Brilliant Brand Building”. <\/em> Here I share that with you. And if you want a ‘dose’ of tips for Healthy Living, a wonderful quick read is: “Mel’s Tips for Healthy Living” by Mel Zuckerman, Founder of Canyon Ranch®. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

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    Images are from Canyon Ranch website and are used to illustrate learning points.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I just spent a transformational week at Canyon Ranch®, a health & wellness resort in Arizona. I went at the suggestion of a client who had just been… I learned a lot about health and wellness, as expected. I also got some powerful lessons on brand building: Power of purpose, which emerged from the founder’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1928\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmhosted.com\/lpa_archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}