Introduction
In the fitness industry, marketing methods incorporate a variety of approaches and strategies to raise brand awareness and, as a result, membership sales. One will have to experiment with different marketing strategies until one finds the ones that work best for their business. One will figure out what works best for acquiring new members, keeping existing ones, and, eventually, growing the business. A combination of basic marketing methods goes hand-in-hand with the marketing mix in the fitness industry.
Reasons for Marketing Mix Strategy
A Marketing mix is vital for fitness businesses since it will help them keep their marketing efforts effective and stay ahead of other related businesses by more steps. In scenarios where one marketing tactic stops abruptly, the business will not have to panic since they shall have tried and tested some other ways to back up the situation. Looking at the two assigned business centers, both have implemented social media and digital advertising as their excellent marketing strategies. Still, in reality, they cannot rely on them alone. As it has always been, the marketing mix goes hand in hand with a combination of basic marketing strategies. The following section brings out the comparison between the two-fitness companies. The allocated pair of companies are Menshealth and Mensfitness.
Marketing Mix variables
With so many fitness marketing platforms accessible to the fitness sector, the two Men’s health and Men’s Journal have used their members, budget, and success across all of them to increase club exposure and bring in new members. Both companies have produced a fitness marketing tactics guide to save them and their customers time by summarizing the most significant methods and placing their information in a more accessible manner.
Even though the fitness industry appears to be declining in growth, with individuals needing to lose weight and get in shape, several fitness industries have been growing day in and day out. The low-cost approach used by the two companies Men’s health, and men’s journal fitness has been seen to be the most reason for their development ahead of other fitness advertising companies. With a good marketing mix, the two companies have been fast-growing businesses.
The marketing mix that these companies have used are:
- Product.
- Pricing.
- Promotion.
- Place (Distribution).
- Customer Relationship management.
Product
This is the first and foremost marketing mix and can be an actual product or the service being offered. The two companies offer great products that assist in maintaining body fitness and the kind of media advertisement that they use are less the same. It is very simple and easy to locate the products within the two company websites, making it easy to navigate, thereby user-friendly. The two companies are also open 24 hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. They also accommodate both staff and non-staff individuals, but the non-members have to sign up with the company to access their products and services.
Contrary to the above similarities discussed between the two companies, there also exists a huge difference between the two fitness companies. Men’s Journal fitness company offers great products and a wide variety of services to their customers compared to Men’s health fitness company. Men’s journal fitness offers free weights, advanced weight-lifting machines, and cardiovascular equipment.
Place
In marketing mix strategies, the place has been described with a lot of concerns since it determines where the customers can access the business, their products, and services and where general inquiries can be made. As it has always been, the product becomes useless to the customer or clients when it cannot be found when needed. In their adverts, the two companies, Men’s health fitness, and Men’s journal fitness have indicated the places where they have been located and how to reach out to their support staff for general inquiry.
Contrasting the two, Men’s health fitness company is living and breathing the fact that they should be easily located in most places across the country. Indeed, Men’s Health fitness has tried to locate all its workout centers in small shopping centers close to where its members reside or their places of work, unlike Men’s Journal fitness, which only locates its workout centers in the major cities across the country. Men’s health fitness is also growing at a very high rate; they have been opening new clubs at a rate of more than one a week all over the country, and they have been partnering with some of the international fitness companies that provided them with a better fitness program for their customers. Additionally, they have also been among the fitness companies that have succeeded in small population centers that well-established fitness companies previously ignored.
Pricing
One could believe that the lowest price usually wins. This remark could hardly be more inaccurate. A true statement is the best price for goods or services. The two fitness companies are similar in several ways; they offer their customers fair prices monthly. They provide a service that is more than simply a gym. I’m not sure of what they have to offer, but it looks like they have activities for kids, rock climbing lessons, and a space to rest. So, the price offered to their customers is a terrific value for certain folks.
In essence, men’s journal fitness is slightly different from men’s health fitness. The gym included a variety of group training courses and individual trainers, so it becomes very simple to train with them since they have multiple gym instructors all over the room. There was also a smoothie bar and a huge locker room with a sauna at a relatively lower price for the services provided. However, this club only provides a basic workout facility, as I previously stated.
Promotion
When planning a promotion, keep in mind that one needs to budget for it. Promotions are also an element of a strong marketing mix, as are publicity and public relations. Men’s health fitness is not just among the world’s largest fitness club franchises, but it’s also the fastest expanding. In 2020, they nearly doubled in size, going from 328 to 600 clubs. In 2025, they hope to open their 1500th club. A price promotion was one of their offers that people take advantage of; by charging a lower cost compared to Men’s journal, this was a special offer for the grand opening.
Customer relationship management
Client relationship management (CRM) is a system that enables big and small organizations to organize, automate, and synchronize all aspects of customer engagement. Marketing, sales, customer care, and support are all examples of CRM systems. Organizations use most CRM solutions to analyze customer interactions and improve customer relationships. The two-fitness business can analyze the selling rate of their services to their customers by analyzing the selling records and the number of customers they receive daily. Their website is developed with google analytics technology to know exactly how many users have visited the site and how many logged in to the system to check out their products.
Conclusion
A strong marketing mix is made up of many distinct elements. Even though there are just four primary categories, these points are divided into several subcategories. This is all part of a well-thought-out marketing strategy. The market is extremely competitive, with everyone vying for the same clients. The firms that prosper can attract a significant number of these clients. As one can see, various people have varied ideas about what constitutes a good bargain.
References
Jalloh, M. A., Barnett, M. J., & Ip, E. J. (2020). Men’s health-related magazines: A retrospective study of their recommendations and the evidence addressing them. American Journal of Men’s Health, 14(3), 155798832093690. Web.
León-Quismondo, J., García-Unanue, J., & Burillo, P. (2020). Best practices for fitness center business sustainability: A Qualitative Vision. Sustainability, 12(12), 5067. Web.
Putranto, T. D., Sugihartati, R., Isnaini, S., Widodo, S., & Garcia, E. M. A. (2021). Discourse of Indonesian men’s body fight in men’s fitness contest. Bricolage: Jurnal Magister Ilmu Komunikasi, 7(1), 019-030. Web.