Strategies for the Wavelength Gym - Essay Example

The target market

Since the location of the Wavelength gym is already established, the target market should belong to the population living in or near Deptford who can have easy access to the gym. The use of a Geo-demographic Information System (GIS) showed that most of the population living in Deptford is young falling in the under-35 age bracket though exceptions are present. (Burns, 2007, p. 21).

  Since the target market consists of youth and teenagers, the marketing and promotional strategies should be adequate for them. They are all more concerned about their health and the emotional benefits derived from exercise. Simultaneously the young market is also concerned about their looks and appearance and how they can be improved by exercise.

Marketing research objectives

 The Market research objectives for the Wavelength gym are as follows

Market analysis and observing and analyzing the needs of the target market.
Generation of facts to point out areas where promotional efforts need to be directed.
Identification of promotional methods which will make the most impact on the target market.
Determine means to implement the identified solution to the marketing problem.
Determination of the most adequate promotional mix
Identification of other means to increase the revenue of the Wavelength gym. (Justin G. Longenecker, 2009, p. 442)
Marketing research process and methodology

 The main research design for the problem is exploratory research. it will be used because of its high flexibility and the fact that impractical solutions are removed from the and practical solutions are generated after analyzing the gathered data. (Marketing research).

 The two basic types of data analyzed during a research process are primary data and secondary data. In this research, both sets of data will be used.

Secondary research will have the advantages of being cost-effective and cheap. Data will be gathered from surveys and other research which have already been conducted and their conclusions and findings will be used to generate a set of solutions.

 Primary data will be more expensive and time-consuming to collect and will mostly take the form of surveys and interviews. The Wavelength gym management will conduct both online and general surveys to find out more about the nature of the gym's customers. Online surveys can be deployed to survey sites that can effectively target the required audience. Whereas other surveys can be conducted at grocery stores, parks, libraries, and banks in Deptford.

 The surveys can also be conducted by telephone, which is both economical and more reliable.  A sample of the research survey questions is given below.

 This survey or a similar one can generate the views of the target market about health activities and the factors which can attract them to the Wavelength gym.

 The next step towards conducting more primary research is conducting a focus group interview. A focus group which will be a group of a few people say 10, will be gathered from Deptford and requested for a paid interview. This will be a longer interview which will be in-depth and will generate more information about the target audience. The interviewees will also fall in the same age bracket as the targeted potential customers so that the needs and the promotional methods of the potential customers and the interviewees are the same.

 This interview will question the interviewees about where are they most likely to be affected by promotional strategies and which promotional strategies are most likely to affect them. (The five basic methods of Market research)

The data set generated from the focus group, survey, and secondary data will help the Wavelength Gyms management reach a conclusion about the promotional strategies to be used and how and where to promote the gym.
This data will lead to conclusions as to where to concentrate and the promotional efforts for example grocery stores or banks or promoting online. This data will also determine the methods of promotion to be sued such as banners, pamphlets, promotional schemes, or online advertising. (Goldberg) After the market research, implementation and evaluation of the results will be the next steps in the Wavelength Gyms strategy.