Final Marketing Proposal PDF

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Chen Li...

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Marketing Plan Aradia Fitness London

Group members: Isabella Buchelt Chloe Corkery Tanishq Joshi Kelly Schultz Jonathan Stoll

Class: Marketing 201 - 063

Instructor: Chen Li

Due date: March 1st 2018

Company & Industry Summary

Company Summary:

Aradia Fitness was founded in 2003 by Tracy Gray and Christine Boyer in Vancouver, British Columbia. Aradia Fitness has since expanded to include 21 franchise locations across North America, with 14 of those locations in Canada. The objective of the company is to target woman by offering challenging yet fun non-traditional forms of fitness to increase strength, promote a sense of sensuality, and boost flexibility. Andrea Tierney, the owner of Aradia Fitness London, noted a high attrition rate as students were unable to advance after the level 3 progression due to the lack of upper body and core strength. Tierney believed that by offering new TRX suspension training classes as a complement to the existing pole dancing classes, she would be able to capitalize on new and existing clients. Aradia Fitness London already has a loyal group of female clients that want to advance further. While new clients would appreciate the woman-only TRX classes and the individualized approach offered by Aradia Fitness London. Industry Summary: Due to an increase in obesity rates in Canada there has been an increase in the demand for the fitness industry. Physical inactivity cost taxpayers $7 billions in 2007, which equals to 3.7% of country’s healthcare cost, percentage is forecasted to increase gradually over the years if there are no changes. As a result from this the health club membership rates have jumped enormously by 20% from the years 2005 to 2010 in an effort to fight this. A variety of technological developments have made it easier for people to track their fitness. TRX training targets people who are looking to build their core, joint, and muscular stability at a faster rate, people who want to see their fitness improve through a nonconventional way. Management Summary: Isabella Buchelt - CEO (Chief Executive Officer) will be the head of management Kelly Schultz - COO (Chief Operating Officer) will manage day to day operations, make sure everything is executed efficiently Chloe Corkery - CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) will develop a marketing strategy by determining the best methods to advertising Jonathan Stoll - CFO (Chief Financial Officer) will strategize the program and fitness costs to maximize enrollment Tanishq Joshi - CIO (Chief Information Officer) will make sure all technology is running smoothly Mission Statement:

At Aradia Fitness London, we dedicate ourselves to encourage female self-confidence and sensuality through the combination of our existing pole dancing program and TRX training enabling female clients the opportunity to increase their strength, flexibility, and conditioning in a safe and friendly environment.

Goals & Objectives:

The goal of the marketing plan is to aid Aradia Fitness London through the various stages and processes required for the integration and launch of their new TRX training program. The first objective that we as a company wants to achieve with our marketing plan is to effectively identify our target customers as well as the competition that we are facing within the market and how they are satisfying consumer needs. This is a key step in the process because it will enable us to properly place our brand and product within the market. Even though we are already established in the fitness segment our primary focus has been on a different discipline. Furthermore, a goal of the marketing plan is to develop an effective pricing and promotional strategy that will differentiate us from our competitors and give us a competitive advantage. More specifically it will allow Aradia Fitness London to map out a strategy to reach our target audience and allocate our resources and budget specifically towards our goals. Furthermore, it will serve as a guideline and useful tool to manage the performance of marketing efforts. By developing an effective marketing plan we hope to achieve the strategic placement of the TRX training program as a complement to our current pole dancing class to reduce attrition rates and at the same time attract new customers. The single most important objective of the marketing plan is to develop a marketing strategy that will help us stand out among other gyms offering TRX training programs and continue our current emphasis on the importance of self-confidence amongst women in a safe and comfortable environment.

SWOT Analysis S - Strengths Aradia Fitness has one the fastest growing brand equity and brand awareness. It is considered an up and coming brand. The strengths of the company is the key attributes of the services that are offered to the customers. The studio offers the same service that other fitness

studios do, but the strength lies in the uniqueness of the service provided. With a small size all female class, individual attention can be given which makes the customers feel that their money is well spent. Location is another strength because TRX is a type of exercise which requires ample space to practice. Aradia Fitness provides a more unique and comfortable environment to provoke sensuality, empower women, and encourage fitness among the clients with the help of its professionally trained staff who are certified to provide such kind of service. Apart from the attractive and appealing ambiance in the studio, customers prefer Aradia Fitness studio because of better quality services like the newly established TRX training programs. This continues our current emphasis on the importance of self-confidence amongst women in a safe and comfortable environment. W - Weaknesses AFL’s high priced classes may be unaffordable for their young target market of women in their late 20s to early 30s. Currently they offer pole dancing classes for $159.99 for 6 weeks or $29 per class, this may be hard for some of their customers to pay. They can price their dancing classes like this because they are the only ones offering them, however, if they introduce TRX, which other gyms also offer they may need to lower their price to be competitive. Another weakness may be that their clients only associate them with the sensuality of pole dancing and do not feel that it matches the high intensity and strain associated with TRX. Due to this many pole dancers may not be open to trying TRX because it is such a different form of working out. In addition to this they have a relatively small demographic (only 25-34) that they are currently targeting which could lead to issues once their current customers become older and are no longer capable of doing certain types of exercise. If this should happen then their current customer base disappears but they have also done very little to attract younger females that could be clients for a longer time. Lastly, a weakness may be their lack of promotion and advertising. They are in competition with much larger gyms and therefore may often be overlooked due to the fact that they spend almost no money on promoting themselves and rely almost exclusively and customer retention and word of mouth.

O - Opportunities Given that Aradia Fitness is entering into a continuously growing market there are a few opportunities that are there that could be taken advantage of. First of all, this is the ideal time for them to be expanding since there has been in increase in the level of activity of the overall population. In addition to this the number of people looking to an alternative way to exercise has increased. Furthermore, the most popular classes in the industry are small group training, demographic-specified programs and dance focused exercise classes. With their current mix they

fall into all these areas and can use this to their advantage. The first opportunity that they could take advantage of would be the growing trend in technology. Canadians have started tracking their physical activity and results using smartphone applications, online websites and other various electronic devices. Due to this they could develop an app that allows individuals to track their progress and eventually make it a subscription program that offers at home TRX exercise plans and workout videos. Furthermore, this could be used for scheduling purposes and online sign up to make it easier for customers to see when classes are and how many spots there are available. Another opportunity that they could take advantage of would be their previous relationship with Campus recreation at London’s Western University. Due to the demographic of their studio and the increasing younger population that wants to exercise this would be an ideal opportunity to benefit both the students at the university and Aradia Fitness London. None of their competitors offer any sort of discount programs for students so this would offer them a competitive advantage and expand their demographic. Currently their customer base is mostly in their late 20s and early 30s and this would expand their market to include a younger population ranging from as young as 17 to mid 20s. The closest segment approximation for this group is 2024 which grew 2.12% from 20061-20112. Furthermore, they could also use the opportunity of the female population growth of London, Ontario. According to Statistics Canada 2006 and 2011 Census profile, there has been a growth of the female population from 25-29 of 8.86% and a 4.81% growth in the number of 30-34 year olds and from 2006-2011 in comparison to an overall population growth of only 3.9% so continuing to market specifically to this group provides a fast growing market. The last opportunity that Aradia Fitness could take advantage of would be the fact that they are the only gym that offers exclusively all female classes. The way they could take advantage of this would be to create their class schedule around the gaps in their competitors schedules of all female TRX and “fill in the blanks”. This way they would offer classes at times when their competitors don’t and can attract customers whose work schedule conflicts with the other fitness studios TRX group exercise classes. T - Threats Aradia Fitness London plans on entering into a new market for TRX suspension, which is already offered by many gyms in the London area. The Athletic Club has two 24 hour locations in London, which are located nearby AFL. Another competition includes GoodLife Fitness, the largest health and fitness company with over 300 locations in Canada. The other competition include smaller gyms that offer TRX suspension classes at higher prices. Since AFL doesn't have resources comparable to larger companies, the cost will most likely be higher than most of the competition. Andrea will find it hard to convince loyal customers from other gyms to bring their business over to AFL. Nearby companies with market share in TRX could reduce their prices by 1“2006 Census Area Profiles.” (see Appendix I for details) 2 “2011 Census Profile.” (see appendix II for details)

running promotions, in order to prevent AFL from gaining popularity and taking their market share. AFL is unable to offer Co-ed classes, which are offered by competition, as it would take away from the ideology of the company. The Athletic Club also offers women-only TRX classes twice a week, so AFL wouldn’t be able to differentiate themselves as the only company to offer women-only classes.

STP Analysis

Segmentation: Group One: The existing customer (Pole Dancer) We chose to segment AFL’s customer into two main groups (existing and new customers) based on their geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics. Firstly, AFL looks to maintain their current pole dancing customer. Geographically, these customers predominantly live in London, Ontario, an urban city possessing a population of 383,822 people. The current customer is typically a woman ranging anywhere between sixteen and sixty years of age, however the majority fall in between their late twenties and thirties. In terms of

psychographics London leans more towards being a white collar city. More specifically, AFL’s current customers enjoys participating in non-traditional forms of exercise, such as their pole dancing, and they participate in such activity for a variety of reasons; weight loss, heightened fitness, heightened sensuality, and forming new relationships are some examples of this variety. Lastly, their behavioral characteristics are most comparable to those of a complement loyal. These customers are already very loyal to AFL and are goal-oriented. They strive to reach higher levels in the existing pole dancing program and know that succeeding at TRX can help them achieve this goal. If they find that TRX can help them become more advanced at pole dancing, the current consumer loyalty to AFL and its new TRX program can increase. Group Two: New customer (TRX) AFL’s second target customer is the new customer they are trying to attract through the TRX classes. This customer already enjoys doing TRX workouts and will be attracted to AFL because of these classes. Geographically this customer lives in the urban city, London, Ontario where the population is 383,822 people. Demographically they range in age from 16-60 years old, but the primary customer is between 25-34 years old. This customer is female and makes around $46,607 a year. The lifestyle of this customer is very healthy and interested in traditional forms of exercise but open to more innovative forms of exercise. They eat healthy foods in order to stay fit and focus on upper body strength in their fitness routine. They are generally white collar works, as this is the most common working classification in London, Ontario. Behaviorally they are functional loyal users because they enjoy doing TRX to get fit and would not easily change to another form of working out. They like the aggressive and traditional nature of a TRX workout so they will remain loyal to this form of exercise. This customer needs to be convinced that they will get effective TRX training at AFL in order to become a new member of the gym and possibly leave the gym they are currently a member of. It will be challenging to attract this new customer, however that is a crucial part of making the TRX classes at AFL a success. Targeting: The targeting strategy that Aradia Fitness is going to utilize is concentrated (niche) marketing. This means that we will target a number of small segments that have the same, or similar interests. Through this targeting method we will be the first player in the market of all female exercise groups focusing on pole dancing and TRX classes. The segments that we should focus on in terms of targeting is a good mix of the demographic and psychographic segments that were mentioned in the segmentation portion of the analysis. This means that in terms of demographic we should keep tailoring our program to appeal to women from age 25-34. However, in the long run and given the current opportunities that we have within their market in terms of partnering with the local university we could eventually target a slightly younger demographic based on the ages of the college students. The most important segments that we need to be targeting is the psychographic one. This

is the fastest growing segment of our customer base and also the one that can attract the most new clients. Furthermore, by targeting this segment and continuing our current mission of “encourage female self-confidence and enabling female clients the opportunity to increase their strength, flexibility, and conditioning in a safe and friendly environment” Aradia Fitness London will be able to keep their current customer base by continuing to appeal to their lifestyles and personalities but also attract new customers that identify with the same things. In terms of psychographic segmentation we need to target females who are interested in non-traditional forms of exercise, such as pole dancing, and participate in such activity for a variety of reasons; weight loss, heightened fitness, heightened sensuality, and forming new relationships are some examples of this variety. A primary reason to be focusing on these segments in terms of targeting is because these are already segments in which they have a strong foothold and have been successful in working with. Furthermore, since the psychographic segment goes hand in hand with symbolic self completion this will result in a very high retention rate due to creating a sense of belonging for customers.

Positioning: To middle to upper class woman interested in developing a healthier lifestyle, Aradia Fitness London offers a safe female-only environment that provides contemporary forms of exercise to promote strength and self confidence. AFL models an individualized approach developed to target each women’s specific goals and optimal image. London, Ontario is home to young and prosperous female professionals that will appreciate the gym as a place to go with their girlfriends. AFL’s female population would be able to build connections and friendships with others within their city. AFL plans to become the most innovative and community-oriented gym in the city by taking part and sponsoring in loyal events and activities. By building a community-oriented gym, AFL plans on establishing brand awareness and promoting word of mouth among woman in the community. AFL plans to adapt to growing trends in the industry by offering new technology that allows their clients to workout from home, when they are unable to go to the gym and to target clients outside the city. The new subscription program includes TRX exercise plans and workout videos, allowing the “working woman” to plan exercising into their busy schedule. The company is expected to see growth due to the movement of woman into the city and with a potential collaboration with students at London’s Western University.

4P’s Analysis Product: We are aiming to develop the TRX program as both a progressive and general product. To attract new customers, the TRX classes must be practical for beginners. However, they must also be advanced enough for the existing pole-dancing customers. To achieve this, we will offer both beginner and advanced TRX classes. The instructors must be able to be experienced enough to teach both levels. This will provide a more welcoming atmosphere to potential new members who wish to try TRX for the first time. However, it will also allow for us to maintain the existing pole-dancing customer base by keeping them intrigued and interested in furthering their poledancing abilities at a high and progressive level. Price:

Program

Price

6-week program

$279.99

Individual class

$50 per class

Individual class (for existing pole dancing students ONLY)

$39.99 per class

6-week Bundle for Pole Dancing and TRX (value of $440)

$369.99

Aradia Fitness London vs competitors Gym

Price

Aradia Fitness London (6-weeks)

$279.99

Goodlife Fitness (6-weeks)

$199 + membership fee ($40 or $60) Total: $239 or $259

Other TRX program offerings (8-weeks, recalculated to 6-weeks)

8-weeks: $360/8=$45*6 6-weeks: $270

There are two reasons for which the 6-weeks program is priced slightly higher than its competitors programs. First, Goodlife Fitness is the largest gym in Canada and due to this has a much larger customer based. They have revenue from multiple other sources than just TRX and can therefore afford to provide it at a lower price. Secondly, the reason that Aradia Fitness London’s TRX program is slightly more expensive than all other small gyms offerings is due to the fact that they provide a completely unique service. Unlike the other gyms they offer small female only classes and no co-ed. Due to this there is a much more comfortable and personalized experience provided that increases the value of their specific program....