TABLE OF CONTENTS Topic
Page Number
Section I: Executive Summary
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Section II: Introduction
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Section III: Research Methods Used in the Study
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Section IV: Findings and Conclusions of the Study
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Section V: Proposed Strategic Plan
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Section VI: Bibliography
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Business Overview: Gold’s Gym is an athletics center in Redmond, Washington who aims to help their customers reach their fitness goals. They have 11-‐12,000 customers in their 75,000 square-‐foot facility. Gold’s Gym earns around $2-‐3 million per year. Problem: Gold’s Gym is in need of a new generation to target as customers. We have been asked to create a market research manual to develop a new generation of Gold’s Gym customers, as well as recommend promotional strategies in order to reach them. Research Methods: These following research methods were used in our study:
Golds Gym Website Analysis
Secondary Research
Gold's Gym Employee Interview
Gold's Gym Target Market Survey
Key Findings: • Gold’s Gym offers a variety of membership opportunities • Gold’s Gym is not found on any social media platform • Their location is has slow traffic during the hours of 11am-1pm • The Generation Z is an underserved market Proposed Strategies: • Create a Twitter handle in order to connect with customers • Offer opportunities for high school sports teams to train at the gym at a discounted rate •
Implement human resources campaigns to educate the employees about how to market to Generation Z and communicate with them effectively
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II. INTRODUCTION A. Description of the Business or Organization Golds’ Gym specializes in helping members find their own strengths through fitness. As the most recognized name in fitness, the company realizes that strength comes in many forms; whether that be strength as a friend, strength as a parent, or strength as a person. This mission of Golds’ Gym is discovering strengths and highlighting them through healthy diets, education, and physical progress. Monthly, the Redmond location of Golds’ brings in two to three million dollars monthly through membership purchases and exercise class opportunities. They offer two different types of memberships for their customers; first is their most popular option, the multi-club card. This card will give members the opportunity to get involved in three or more clubs throughout their time as a Golds’ member. The clubs include different classes, for example spin classes and hot yoga. This gives the member a variety of choices for their membership. The other option is a single club membership card, which gives the member one choice of class during their membership. With eleven thousand customers at their Redmond location, Gold’s employs sixty-five full-time employees and seventythree part-time instructors. In their 75,000 square foot facility, the employees strive to create the best customer service experience. When a customer enters the doors of Golds’, they are greeted by a front-desk consultant right away. The consultant will seat them, put their information in the Golds’ system, and go over the different membership offers. After treating the customer to a tour of the
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facilities, the consultant will then explain the specifics of becoming a member. This includes pricing, office hours, and popular amenities.
B. Description of the Community The city of Redmond benefits from a unique partnership between local government, business and the community, to create a truly “business friendly” environment. This ecosystem allows big business to access a richly skilled, technologysavvy workforce while the encouraging smaller businesses to flourish and grow. A number of world renowned Global 500 corporations already call Redmond home including Microsoft, Genie, Aerojet, Honeywell, Nintendo, and AT&T. They, along with other national and globally recognized names, employ hundreds of thousands in the Puget Sound Region. Our ultimate goal is to create lasting business relationships between these companies and Golds’ Gym Redmond. Redmond fosters a thriving and innovative community. Located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and surrounded by the Puget Sound region, Redmond is fast becoming the place to be for culture, cuisine and overall quality of life. Continuously being developed by the City of Redmond, its community-based lifestyle and vast accessibility to outdoor recreational opportunities makes Redmond the place where residents expect to stay for generations. Locally-based, world-class educational institutions help staff the city’s
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leading-edge employers, making Redmond an ideal destination for the most dynamic and diverse companies.
C. Overview of the Business’s Current Target Market The primary target market for Gold’s Gym Redmond includes men and women ages 3554. This market includes the working public, especially those who are employed by the nearby corporations like Microsoft and Nintendo. These men and women have stable work hours, like a 9-5 shift, and earn an annual income of greater than $50,000. In addition to their work life, they live in a suburban area in the town of Redmond, preferably within a 10 mile radius of the gym to make for an easy commute. The secondary target market is retired male and females, ages 6574. This market includes Redmond citizens who are no longer working and have time to go to the gym around the hours of 1-4pm. Geographics Residents of Redmond Lives within 10 mile radius of the Golds’ Gym location
Demographics Men and women Ages 35-54
Lives in a suburban area
Annual income of greater than $50,000
Psychographics Works a 9-5 shift Like individualized attention when it comes to creating an exercise program Lives a healthy lifestyle
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Geographics Residents of Redmond Lives within 10 mile radius of the Golds’ Gym location
Demographics Men and women Ages 65-74
Lives in a suburban Annual income of area or retirement home greater than $50,000
Psychographics Retired Like individualized attention when it comes to creating an exercise program Likes to keep in shape at an older age
The secondary target market is retired male and females, ages 65-74. This market includes Redmond citizens who are no longer working and have time to go to the gym around the hours of 1-4pm.
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III. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY A. Description and Rationale of Research Methodologies Selected to Conduct the Research Study Table #1: Research Goals
Gain necessary background information of Gold's Gym
Learn about Gold Gym's marketing strategies How to serve Generation Z
Primary Research Rationale We have conducted extensive primary research in order to gain specific and important information on Gold’s Gym as a whole. This includes information regarding their target market, customer trends, special offers/deals, corporate partnerships, popular amenities, and a close look at what a typical day at the gym would look like. This reaserch includes 3 in-depth interview with the general manager and receptionist at Gold’s Gym, a local gym-goer, and an employee. Next, we have utilized a focus group in order to centralize our information even further with surveys to xxx amount of students
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attending high school (Z generation). Table #2 will provide more information regarding a description of our primary research. Personal Interview
Survey #1
Survey #2
Table #2: Primary Research Description: Our personal interview with Michael Allen (General Manager) took place on September 18th, 2014 at Gold’s Gym in Redmond, WA. Rationale: Our rationale for this personal interview was to learn more about the Gold’s Gym facilities, advertsing, marketing strategies, and the day-to-day process that occurs. This helped us to discover possible target markets that Gold’s Gym could better serve to. Description/Rationale: We created a survey sepcifically for athletes who not only would apropriately higlight our target market, but provide facts and details for us to narrow down how we can attract more customers from Generation Z. Decription/Rationale: We created a second survey for non-atheletes in order to further our exploration of generation Z and how we can not only attract athletes, but non-atheletes as well. This will provide us with information needed in order to create new marketing strategies fro Gold’s Gym.
Secondary Research Rationale Our secondary research includes necessary information needed in order to gain more background knowledge of Gold’s Gym. We used online websites, social media sites, and print advertisements to further expand our knowledge of target market trends and specific marketing strategies. Using the interent as a major source of our secondary research, we found it most helpful in discovering what outlet customers, specifically Generation Z, use, want, and need the most as a means of accessing information to
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Gold’s Gym. Table #3 will provide more information regarding a description of our secondary research. Internet Websites:
Social Media:
Print:
Table #3: Secondary Research 1. Gold’s Gym website: http://www.goldsgym.com/ 2. OneRedmond website: http://www.oneredmond.org/ 3.Five Tips For Marketing To Generation Z: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2013/12/16/fivetips-for-marketing-to-generation-z/ 4. Generation Z Spending Habits: http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-zspending-habits-2014-6 Twitter Facebook Instagram Yelp Gold’s Gym direct mail Gold’s Gym Extra Newsletter Gold’s Gym coupons
B. Process Used to Conduct the Selected Research Methods Gold’s Gym Eployee Interview: Prior to meeting with Michael Allen of Gold’s Gym, we created a portfolio of possible questions to lead the interview in the direction we were hoping would produce all of the information necessary to start the research project. We used our secondary research of the Gold’s Gym website, Facebook page, direct mail flyers, and other background information to guide the executives.Throughout our interview with Michael Allen at the Redmond Gold’s Gym location, we inquired about their underserved market, their promotion techniques, and their primary target markets. Please refer to the following graphic for some of the questions we asked during our interview:
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What is your primary target market?
What is your most effective promotional technique?
Which is your most popular membership option?
Which market do you feel is underserved at Gold's Gym?
The Underserved Market
What is your customer service process?
Target Market Survey: We developed and sent out an extensive survey in order to gain information about our target market, or Generation Z. The participants of our survey ranged from ages 11-19. The information we gathered included daily exercise habits and preferences, as well as feedback from customers. Our ultimate goal of this survey was to see if our target market primarily athletes, as well as if they were interested in having group gym practice sessions at Gold’s Gym Redmond. After distributing an online survey to multiple marketing classes of Woodinville High School, we received 72 completed surveys. Our most important and effective question in the survey was “Where do your sports trainings take place?” This lets us know whether or not our target market already participates in the group sessions offered at Gold’s Gym, or somewhere else. Here are few short examples of questions we asked on our surveys:
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Athletes
Non-Athletes
Does your sport require practices? Does your sports team have group trainings? Where do your trainings take place?
What do you do most often for exercise? Do you wish to get more daily exercise?
Which do you like best? Individual exercise, group exervise, or classes (yoga, cycling. etc.)?
IV. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY A. Findings of the Research Study According to our survey, although 85% of our survey participants have group trainings for their team sports, only 24% of those utilize a gym to carry out those practices. This shows that there is a great need for gyms to enter the market and offer team trainings for those 73% who do not go to a gym like Gold’s. In addition, 98% of those surveyed admitted to using a punchcard to earn rewards and loyalty, as well as admitting that they would use a punchcard if Gold’s Gym offered one. Below are pie charts that explain the data said above.
Where Participants Practice
Group Trainings Yes No
Gym or Athletics Center Somewhere else (\ield, etc.)
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B. Conclusions Based on the Findings Through our research studies, including surveys and interviews, we have discovered that there is a need for sports teams to work out at discounted rates through a gym or athletics center. Thanks to our survey, we concluded our original hypothesis that Gold’s Gym can dive into the market of team sports, especially in surrounding high school areas. For example, Gold’s Gym can invite sports teams from Redmond High School, like the Women’s soccer team, to train at their Gym at a flat rate to not only gain a new market within Generation Z, but also create a sense of community between the surrounding Redmond area. We can add the data we gathered from the survey question about the punchcards as well, giving teams an incentive to keep coming back and training for an award or discount. This bring in a new target market then previously described to us through our interview at Gold’s Gym, which was middle aged men and women.
V. RESEARCH METHODS USED IN THE STUDY A. Objectives and Rationale of the Proposed Plan In regards to the product and service the Gold’s Gym offers its customers, we wish to not change anything. We feel that Gold’s Gym holds itself to a high standard of fitness education and exercise equipment and we just want to help them reach an underserved marketing. As for the Redmond location, we feel that having Gold’s Gym in the heart of the city is essential to the transportation used by our target market (high school students
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in Generation Z) where they can personally transport themselves in cars- or take busses when needed. What we do want to change, however, is how Gold’s Gym can promote to this market. STRATEGY #1: TWITTER According to our survey 81% of our participants were avid Twitter uses. We wish to bring the Twitter handle, @GoldsRedmond, to life in order to reach the younger generation. Through this Twitter account, we can talk with our customers and invite them and their sports teams to train at our faciliites. Our ultimate goal is to reach out to surrounding high schools and local sports clubs and provide them with the opportunity to train at Gold’s Gym, at a wellknown and well-equipped facility. STRATEGY #2: VISITING HIGH SCHOOLS We first want to reach out to the student athletes at Redmond High School by inviting one of our trainers to speak with the students about the opportunites provided at Gold’s Gym Redmond. By personally connecting with our customers, we feel that the student athletes and their teams will be more likely to become members with our gym. STRATEGY #3: HUMAN RESOURCES CAMPAIGN In addition, we will implement a human resources campaign where our employees will have one-hour trainings every Wednesday in order to be able to communicate with our new target market effectively. These meetings will consist of how to effectively run our Twitter accounts, speak to students at high schools clearly, and also general customer service techniques.
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STRATEGY #4: PUNCH CARDS Ontop of this, we want to implement punch cards for the teams, where every five sessions with a Gold’s Gym trainer gets the team one free hour-session. We feel that this would reach our market because 100%
5 sessions, get 1 free!
of our survey participants say that they would utilize a punch card if given one by Gold’s Gym. We want to tap into this market by providing punch cards to customers in order to create a loyal customer base. With our combonation of punch cards, new social media accounts, and human resources campaign, we feel strongly that Generation Z will be effectively reached by Gold’s Gym Redmond.
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B. Proposed Activities and Timeline
Create @GoldsRedmond Twitter handle
September 1st, 2015
Communicate with our customers over Twiter and promote our upcoming class and training schedules
September 2nd, 2015
Announce over Twitter the implementation of our punchcard program
September 5th, 2015
Offer customer surveys at the door to gather information on how the customers found out about Gold;s Gym
Have trained emplyees and Gold's trainers speak at local High Schools and hand out punch cards to student athletes and sports teams
Train our employees one hour a week through our Human Resource campaign
September 16th, 2015
September 14th, 2015
September 6th, 2015
Assess how many new customers in the \irst month of our plan have been coming due to our new techniques
Keep @GoldsRedmond regularly updated with news and current events
Measure the success of our punch card campaign, Twitter followers, and human resource campaign and re-‐evaluate
September 18th, 2015
September 19th, 2015
September 30th, 2015
We will start our promotional campaign on September 1st, 2015, which is the day that Fall Season Sports commence for High Schools in the area. After one month of implementing our changes to Gold’s Gym Redmond, we will conduct a meeting with the Human Resources department, employees, trainers, and management to assess the effectiveness of our promotional plan. If we see positive changes in customer loyalty, sales, and employee satisfaction, then we will continue the process detailed above. If there are little to no changes in these areas, then we will re-evaluate with our surveys and
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employee interviews to find out the weaknesses and threats in the campaign and develop strengths and opportunities accordingly.
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VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY Method
Information
Websites
Gold’s Gym website: http://www.goldsgym.com/ OneRedmond website: http://www.oneredmond.org/ Five Tips For Marketing To Generation Z: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2013/12/16/fivetips-for-marketing-to-generation-z/ Generation Z Spending Habits: http://www.businessinsider.com/generation-z spending-habits-2014-6 Michael Allen- General Manager of Golds’ Gym Redmond Survey Website: Surveymonkey.org
Personal Interviews Surveys
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