Health Fitness Program
...oncern is to be careful not to drive anyone away with this new service we are offering. Our managers realize that dealing with individuals’ health and weight is a very personal matter that some people are just not willing to discuss or deal with. Knowing this information, we want to focus on the “Healthy Lifestyle” change, promoting life and good health rather than a “You’re out of shape and obese” change. Objectives for Corporate Fitness are to provide their customers with a health care cost management program for employees that will increase employee productivity and decrease overall business costs. Corporate Fitness seeks to accomplish the following benefits that are important to their customers: • Customization – CF will offer a totally customized solution for each company as well as each individual employee within the company. • Convenience – Customers will not use the service if it is not convenient. CF recognizes this and strives to make their services as convenient as possible for the targeted customer groups. • Results-orientated strategy – CF will need to improve a company’s bottom line in order to attract and maintain customers. While CF will strive to address all of their customer’s needs, the reality is that they must indeed provide significant value for the companies themselves. There have been 2 significant market trends in the last 5 years. There has been an increase in usage of fitness facilities by individuals. Exercising and “working out” has become a more mainstream activity in American’s lives over the last decade. Five to ten years ago, there were widespread reports of an impeding health crisis and obesity. Americans, relative their Western European counterparts, have higher incidents of obesity. To a large degree, this is correlated to the American’s unhealthy diet of fast-food and generally poor food choices. The poor diet is not the only factor, however. Americans were fairly inactive, with only 19% of people age 20-40 exercising three times a week. Luckily, that has changed over the last 10 years. The percentage of active individuals in the U.S. has increased to 43% as of 2002. More and more people are going to the gym after work or are incorporating some sort of outdoor activity into their daily routine. The second market trend is the incorporation of fitness memberships within the “basket of benefits” and making it a part of the total compensation package. As fitness memberships have become a more common element in the working American’s lives, companies have begun to incorporate membership as part of their benefit package for employees for a couple of reasons. One reason is that it is a flexible method to compensate employees. The second reason is that is has a positive effect on a company’s bottom line. Study after study supports the contention that a physically fit employee is happier, healthier, and more productive. For no other reason, offering fitness club memberships to employees is a smart cost-benefit decision. Corporate Fitness will begin by targeting small to medium-sized businesses in the state of MS. The first task is to convince senior executives of the benefits and needs of wellness programs. This will be accomplished by aggressively pursuing interaction and relationships with business professionals who would profit from using this service. Once a strong image is established, Corporate Fitness will use similar strategies to market its services to larger corporations and other areas within the region. The mission is a health service that helps businesses and individual workers attain one of the greatest gifts of all - good health. Personal gains, such as improved self esteem and self motivation, combined with measurable benefits will create tremendous advantages for both the employer and the employee. Our marketing objectives will be to generate a 10% yearly increase in sales, increase market penetration, and continue to promote CF’s image as the leading long-term wellness program provider. CF’s financial objectives are to decrease customer acquisition costs by 4% every 2 quarters, lower the cost of service delivery by 1% a quarter, and hold spending, as a percentage of sales, at a steady rate. The market for Corporate Fitness is not particularly segmented, as potential customers include all businesses that offer their employees some type of medical benefits, are experiencing escalating health care costs, and wish to more effectively manage their costs. Corporate Fitness, however, segments its services for individual organizations. Corporate Fitness will work with senior management to develop mission statements and provide incentive plans, and with employees to design personalized health and fitness programs. The targeted customers are corporate employees and manufacturing employees. Corporate Fitness will position themselves as the most effective wellness strategy and program developer. The positioning will be supported by statistics indicating an increase in worker productivity and a decrease in business operation expenses resulting from the implementation of corporate wellness programs. The single objective is to position CF as the most proficient wellness program provider in the state of MS. The marketing strategy will seek to develop customer awareness regarding the services offered, develop the customer base, and work toward building customer loyalty. The message that CF seeks to announce is that they can have a dramatic effect on the bottom line. This message will be communicated through various methods. The first method will be the production and disbursement of printed materials. The printed materials will describe all of the services offered and will give prospective customers some insight into CF’s past successes. CF will also rely on presentations to company’s HR departments. These presentations will allow CF to personally address any concerns or “pains” that companies have and indicate how a wellness program strategy can help their needs. Corporate Fitness’ marketing mix is comprised of the following approaches to pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion, and customer service. • Pricing – Prices for using CF’s services are comparable to those of higher-end fitness centers. An employee choosing to utilize a Corporate Fitness center will pay a $100 monthly fee. For each employee enrolled in the general wellness program, regardless of whether or not they use the fitness facility, the employer will pay $150 annually. The prices will encompass the quality of equipment and service. • Distribution – This will occur both at the company’s worksite as well as at CF’s facilities. ...