Marketing Management For Contemporary Strategy Analysis: A Case Study Of Fitness First, Essay.

Overview of the Company

Discuss about the Marketing Management for Contemporary Strategy Analysis.

Marketing management is regarded as one of the most vital elements for the development and growth of any company (Armstrong et al., 2012).The current aspect within the fitness and health considerations is to be properly applied in various organizations, which operates in the similar sector. The needs and the requirements of the customers are changing with time and the companies related to the fitness and hearths are getting more and more attention because of this change in the requirements. Fitness First is the company which has been focused in the report so that there can be in-depth knowledge of the marketing mix and various marketing objectives of the company (Teece, 2010).

Fitness First is recognized as one of the biggest private sector fitness and health club chain worldwide. In the year 1993, Fitness First was established and in present scenario it holds approximately 550 fitness clubs with presence in 15 nations and possessing a strong customer base of around 1 million. The Living Well Lady Clubs of Australia was also acquired by Fitness First. The company owns specifics customer base and target markets in various nations with diverse promotional activities and marketing objectives (Fitnessfirst, 2015)

There are three different attributes within the strategy of a business. These are positioning, targeting and segmenting and there is a need that all these three must integrate with the objectives and approaches of the business. Following is the discussion of the STP strategy in context with Fitness First (Armstrong et al., 2012).

The segmentation is a vital feature of the business and marketing prospect and they are required to be justified and adjusted inside the particular customer segments for building up the accurate consideration to the market. With several psychographic and demographic variables the market of Fitness First is segmented and these variables are also grounded on the geographic location integration through effective development and attainment of the approach or strategy (Kapferer, 2012). The consumers are segmented on the basis of their income or earning, based on age from the demographic perspective as well as on other several variables. After that the consumers are also segmented on the grounds of psychographic attentions such as the consumers who are non-professionals and who are professionals. All the customer groups are needed to be adjusted and accord in the segmented market.

The individuals who are aimed within the accumulated market are particularly clarified within the age and income range with their respective psychological consideration towards the fitness and health. In present scenario, there are varied customers like the professional individuals or the women homemakers who are middle-aged which are highly conscious relayed to their fitness and health. The AB and C1 are the two classes of the socio-economic which are considered as the target customers of the health and fitness companies (Shank and Lyberger, 2014). If any consumer is more considerate towards attaining better opportunities and lifestyle as well as if they have some leisure time then they are more likely to get attracted towards the fitness clubs. Fitness First have correctly targeted the individuals with particular requirements and needs and the individuals who can feasibly join the fitness clubs as they have sufficient earning to spend over such things (Armstrong, 2014).

STP Strategy

As per the positioning strategy of the company, it had tried to place itself as the top and first-classfitness club and hence it strived hard to establish itself as one of the highly persuasive business institution with adequate consideration towards the marketing and trade opportunities.  To give adequate attention to the specific customer base the company has developed high-end places and particular commercial buildings. By the targeting strategy various professional individuals and office workers have been targeted as well as Fitness First has attempted to institute its fitness clubs in the high society areas so that increased number of blue collar individuals can connect to the club (Buhler and Nufer, 2012).  Fitness First has tried to be analyzed with particular products and services integrated in the positioning system and which could be critically evaluated through the dimensional mapping with the market opponents. The positioning of Fitness First can be evaluated more clearly with the help of positional mapping.

Positioning Map

The macro factors which affect the company are the external factors which are required to be developed and discussed with individual consideration and structure details within the organization’s long-term attributes and prospects. Fitness First has to comprehend those aspects and then decisively implement those within the particular factors such as legal, technological, cultural, economic, political, social (Armstrong et al., 2012).

The legal and the political structure in any nation is required to be adequately applied to the policies of the club and the business as the company is focused towards the fitness and health attributes of the individuals. The fitness clubs are strictly bound by the government policies, regional and local laws. There must be laws and policies which should abide the companies to intrigue and open new branches and clubs in number of sectors (Hui, 2011).

There is a need that there must a proper integration among the business orientation, business conditions and the economic activities so that there can be increased development of the economic opportunities in the chosen country. The fitness clubs of the company are positioned and presumed as the first-class and the premium clubs and that is the reason they have been opened only in the selected areas where the individuals possess the purchasing power for buying the services and the products provided by the fitness club.

The socio-cultural elements also hold vital importance in the society. As mentioned above that the B and C1 class of socio economic are the most potential customers for the company. The change in the cultural and the social elements are considered to be favorable for the clubs of Fitness First as individuals are getting more and more concerned regarding their fitness and health aspects in the rapidly changing society. In the nation itself, because of the increased heath attention rates and higher cases of obesity, the customers perceive the fitness and health objectives at an increasing rate.

Segmentation

In gaining the business attention for the company, technology plays a vital role as there are several products and instruments which are required to be integrated and adjourn within the products are services provided by the company. There is a need that the fitness clubs must be highly complied and associated with the latest technological equipments and instruments so that the individuals can be offered the best suitable services. As well as for generating high profits and developing business sustainability there is a need to involve MIS integration or the involvement of social media and digital technology within the fitness clubs (Hui, 2011).

There are several opportunities for the company, Fitness First to integrate the environmental consideration for the fitness clubs as well as those are built within the clubs’ business context. There is a requirement that the services, operations and the products to be adequately integrating within the environmental collaborations and the standards so that there can be effective and successful environmental adaptation (Liu and Nie, 2011).

Micro factors are the factors which are significantly linked with the internal aspects of the business to attain the business details and perceptions of the company. For each variable there are individual policies and offerings which are integrated with the internal operations of the business such as employees, stakeholders, customers, media etc. (Teece, 2010).

Among all the micro factors the consumers are the most vital one as they are the one which depicts what all services and products are required to be offer. As the Fitness First is a service provided company so the health and fitness services are offered as per the requirements of the customers. Thus the advertising and the marketing strategies developed and implemented should be according to the specific customer range which is considered as the target customers so that they can be facilitate conveniently (Moreira and Silva, 2016).

The employees are the most essential part of an organization as they are recognized as the face of a company. They are the internal factors which possess the highest significance. The company makes sure that those employees are the part of the part which can easily adopt and adjust with the mission, values and aims of the company as the Fitness First provides the services related to the fitness and health of the people which are delivered by the competent employees. With more effective and sustained services there are chances that the customers can be retained for a longer time frame and for this purpose there is a need to introduce and trained the employees with the service and business quality within the organization (Dunn et al., 2012).

Targeting

The suppliers are the ones who offer the raw materials to the organization. But here in the case of Fitness First, the companies which provide the fitness instruments and equipments are the suppliers of the company which might incorporate with the club’s service. There is a need that these suppliers must be properly involve with the services of Fitness First so that the products or the equipments delivered by these suppliers offer adequate and required quality of services to the customers.

The individuals who are directly impacted by the company’s operations are the stakeholders. The stakeholder is a wider term which comprises of the society, employees, shareholders and the consumers. The business operations are required to be profitable and beneficial from the perspective of the stakeholders as well as for the company so that there can be effectual attention which can be offered to all the stakeholders. The happier the stakeholders would be the greater are the chances of the sustainability of the business (Dunn et al., 2012).

For Fitness First, a service provider company, the promotional aspects or the involvement of media is also a vital element. The increased positive media attention give rise to increased customer base and similarly the negative media attention decrease the customer base at an increasing rate. To enhance the sustainability of the business there is a need to operate efficiently and in a positive manner in the eyes of media (Yi, 2011).

Fitness First has utilized various positioning concepts and effecting marketing strategies for establishing themselves as well as their present several market development and expansion strategies in the current situation for further growth of the business. In this context, the organization possesses consideration and opportunity to improve the perception of the customers with the services and products provided by Fitness First (Surujlal and Dhurup, 2012).The organization has started with the approaches related to rebranding with the opportunities related to rebranding with adequate development as well as consideration of the business methods and processes (Perreault, 2011).There is rebuilding of brand and the logo with great focus over the consumer market from the future perspective. The company strives to establish premium services by providing finest equipment and services rather than offering additional assets such as swimming pool etc. With the support of the employees and the trainers the company became competent in offering best and suitable services to the customers through adequate management and establishment of the services. For repositioning itself in the market, Fitness First has striven hard by offering premium services as well as for facilitating the potential customers of the mass market; the company has also tried to institute the right business segmentation (Grant, 2010). 

Positioning

There is a need to attain the customer behaviour within the proposition of the business and it is required to be induced with the brand image and customer perception of Fitness First. The individuals who are extremely selective to the fitness and health traits are entertained by the separate unit (Sandell and Lagrosen, 2015). With the help of adequate offerings and sufficient information the market segments and the consumers are adequately constituted and hence the marketing as well as the rebranding campaigns are vital for Fitness First. For the customers, the company strives to present the health and fitness attribute as the primary factor of their lifestyles and therefore have attempted to provide the better feel and appearance for the brands (Wenjuan, 2012).

There are various marketing variables in the marketing mix such as physical evidence, people, process, place, promotion, price and product. There is a need to develop and advise these variables adequately in the business sector as well as needed to be execute effectively in the marketing objectives. Fitness First offers a wide range of services and products to the customers (Armstrong et al., 2012).

Product

The most essential and vital product of Fitness First is the services offered to the customers and those are associated with the activities regarding the fitness and health of the customers. The primary products of Fitness First are the fitness clubs which are established at several places. Apart from the fitness clubs, the lifestyle classes and the yoga classes are also assimilated within the product line (Chen et al., 2010).

Price

Fitness First has tried to facilitate the individuals by offering considerable prices for its services and products. But simultaneously the company had also maintained the quality of its products and services for providing at higher prices. The pricing approaches of the company keep on changing with the changed business objectives (Thompson, 2014).

Place

The place is regarded at the physical location where the services and products are made available to the customers. Regarding this, the company has established several fitness clubs in the high end and professional areas so that the targeted customer base can easily be attained. Though Fitness First is present in several nations, therefore the company possesses high pressure in all its functional aspects (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton, 2014).

Promotion

The promotion aspect is necessary for any company to get publically recognized. The company has incorporated several promotional actions within the services of the organization. Fitness First has attempted to assimilate with the digital and social media for acquiring several benefits from the digital aspects and those are linked with the promotional activities (Bakan, 2016). For promoting the business, the company is also implemented the re-branding strategy through which the objectives, design and the logo are changed. For achieving high promotional sustainability the company also has partnerships with various big events as well as with the Olympics (Buhler and Nufer, 2012).

Positioning Map

Process

The process comprises of various frameworks and methods for considering the services and products provided by the company. The process makes the consumer aware regarding the better and improved services as per the need of the customers related to their fitness and health.

People

The trainers and the employees are the people who are associated with the approval and delivery of the services offered by the company. There is a need that the people must be highly experienced and knowledgeable so that they can comprehend the diverse objectives of various customers and can offer services as per their needs (Wenjuan, 2012).

It is primarily the characteristics of the products and services which are offered to the customers by keeping an appropriate attention towards the various concerns of the customers related to their fitness and health. For proper integration of the physical evidences, there is a need that the equipments and instruments possess appropriate feature as well as they are maintained adequately (Funk, Alexandris and McDonald, 2016).

Conclusion

From this report on the company, Fitness First, it can be concluded that the company has been effectively analyzed with its business propositions and objectives and by integrating the lifestyle segment in its services offered (Murata, 2011). With an increased passion of the people of the high-end societies towards attaining proper fitness and health, the company is striving hard to provide those customers the adequate and tailored customer services so that they can be retained for a longer period of time. According to the current scenario of the business, the market orientation and the market objectives are also re-defined as well as the organization has implemented change marketing and rebranding policies. Therefore, there presents adequate business objectives needed to be framed grounded on the various theoretical structure and they will support the company to achieve growth and success in the fitness and health sector (Thompson, 2014).

Fitness First is based on the health and fitness industry and the organization is striving hard to incorporate and integrate the lifestyle segment within the company’s services and products which have been developed. For this purpose, there is a need that Fitness First should acquire several different fitness clubs. For increasing more tailored service and products the company must try to focus more on the acquisition of the intangible and tangible assets (Thompson, 2014). As Fitness First is specifically trying to facilitate the high end customers, there is need that the clubs must be located at the selected regions so that so that the target customer base cab be attracted easily.  And if the organization can bring diversity in its business of fitness and health then there are huge chances of future expansion for the company.

Macro and Micro Environmental Factors

References

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R., 2012. Marketing : An Introduction, Pearson Prentice-Hall, London, London

Armstrong, K.L., 2014. sport marketing, Contemporary Sport Management, 5E, p.293.

Bakan, J., 2016. Social marketing: thoughts from an empathetic outsider.Journal of Marketing Management, 32(11-12), pp.1183-1189.

Buhler, A., & Nufer, G., 2012. Relationship marketing in sports, Routledge.

Chen, H. D., Chao, F. X., Chen, H. J., Pan, L., & Li, D. M., 2010. A Study on the Managing Strategy on Large Commercial Fit Clubs in China [J], Journal of Beijing Sport University, 10, 009.

Dunn, A. L., Buller, D. B., Dearing, J. W., Cutter, G., Guerra, M., Wilcox, S., & Bettinghaus, E. P., 2012. Adopting an evidence-based lifestyle physical activity program: dissemination study design and methods, Translational behavioral medicine, 2(2), 199-208.

Fitnessfirst, 2015. Company background. Accessed on: 22^nd September, 2016. Accessed from:  https://www.fitnessfirst.co.uk/about-us/

Funk, D.C., Alexandris, K. and McDonald, H., 2016. Sport Consumer Behaviour: Marketing Strategies. Routledge.

Grant, R. M., 2010. Contemporary strategy analysis and cases: text and cases, John Wiley & Sons.

Hui, W. A. N. G., 2011. An analysis of the profit patterns of our country fitness clubs [J], Liaoning Sport Science and Technology, 1, 006.

Kapferer, J. N., 2012. The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking, Kogan Page Publishers.

Liu, G. F., & Nie, L., 2011. Research on the Influence of Brand Image on Customer Loyalty in Fitness Club, Journal of Beijing Sport University, 10, 007.

Moreira, A.C. and Silva, P.M.F.D., 2016. Complaint behaviour by third parties: exploring service quality, customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth in health clubs. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing,16(3-6), pp.152-171.

Mullin, B.J., Hardy, S. and Sutton, W., 2014. Sport Marketing 4th Edition. Human Kinetics.

Murata, H., 2011. The Business of Aging: Ten Successful Strategies for a Diverse Market, In The Silver Market Phenomenon (pp. 279-294), Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Perreault, W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J., 2011. Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Sandell, M. and Lagrosen, S., 2015. Health and Fitness Marketing-The Role of Relationships and Trust. In Marketing in Transition: Scarcity, Globalism, & Sustainability (pp. 62-66). Springer International Publishing.

Shank, M.D. and Lyberger, M.R., 2014. Sports marketing: A strategic perspective, Routledge.

Surujlal, J., & Dhurup, M., 2012. Establishing and maintaining customer relationships in commercial health and fitness centers in South Africa, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 3(1), 14-18.

Teece, D. J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation, Long range planning, 43(2), 172-194.

Thompson, W. R., 2014. Worldwide survey of fitness trends for 2015: what’s driving the market, ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal, 18(6), 8-17.

Wenjuan, L. R. N., 2012. On the Study of Information Demand of Consumers in Fitness Club Perspective from Purchase Experience and Product Knowledge [J], Journal of Capital Normal University (Natural Science Edition), 1,016.

XU, J., & WANG, Z. R., 2010. Study on America Sports Fitness Service Industry Development and the Enlightenments [J], Journal of Nanjing Institute of Physical Education (Social Science), 5, 023.

Yi, D. U., 2011. Our Country's Sports Fitness Clubs Business Ideas Based on 4C Marketing Theory [J], Journal of Hebei Institute of Physical Education, 5, 007.