1. IN THE ZONE
FITNESS CENTER
Tony Mirabito
Marketing Plan
SMGT 548

2. In the Zone
 Began in 2004 by owner Steve Turpening
 He wanted to create a facility that the whole family could
use and come to rather than opening just an ordinary gym
 In the Zone offers memberships, an indoor turf training
area, fitness center, sports camps, and also holds birthday
parties

3. In the Zone Facility
 22,000 Sq. Ft. Multi-Sport Training Complex
 5 Batting cages
 2 Full length basketball courts
 Fitness Center
 Turf training area
 Snack Bar

4. LOCATION
 BATH, PA
 Population- 2,678
 Male-1,276
 Female-1,402
 Median Age-34.7
 Families-65.3 %
 Average household size- 2.52
 Median household income- $40,825
(MuniNetGuide, 2010)

5. NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
 Bethlehem-Allentown metro area
 Population- 282, 554 (increase 5.80% from 2000)
 Median household income-45,234
 School districts- Bangor, Bethlehem, Easton, Nazareth,
Northampton, Pen Argyl, Saucon Valley, Wilson Area
 Population 3 years and over enrolled in school: 70,501
 Grades 1-12: 44,851
 165 schools
 6th fastest growing county in PA
(PAHomeTownLocator,2010)

6. TARGET MARKET
 Children, Young Adult, Adult
 Children (Male and Female 5-14)
 Youth Athletes
 Local teams
 Public/Private schools
 Traveling and AAU teams
 Children’s birthday parties
 Summer campers

7. TARGET MARKET
 Young Adults (Male and Female 15-18)
 High school athletes
 Individual training
 High school teams
 Local teams:
 Summer campers
 Fitness Enthusiasts

8. TARGET MARKET
 Adults (Male and Female 19-75)
 Parents- the parents of the children that come into the
facility
 Coaches-bringing their teams to the facility
 Recreational Facilitators
 Adult Athletes
 Adults Teams

9. SWOT ANALYSIS
 Strengths  Opportunities
 Multi-Sport Facility  Very populated region with a
 Respected business and owner large target market (schools,
 Growing number or members
businesses, etc.)
and users  No such multi-sport facility in
the surrounding area, including
 Weaknesses
individual trainers
 Lack of marketing or
 Exposure to nearby community
advertising
 Threats
 Lack of awareness to
surrounding communities  Smaller facility/ staff
 Multiple large gym’s in a 20 mile  Economy
radius  Other gyms and fitness centers
in the area

10. COMPETITVE ANALYSIS
 Direct Competition
 Hitter’s Edge
 Multi-sport facility located about 30 miles away
 Substitute Competition
 Surrounding gym’s
 Gold’s Gym, LA Fitness, Snap Fitness, St. Luke’s North
 Surrounding Recreational Facilities’ and Parks’
 Hanover Community Center, YMCA, Bicentennial Park
 Indirect Competition
 Populated Lehigh Valley area with a lot of other forms of entertainment
 Movie theatres, shopping malls, Semi-pro teams, youth and high school
competition

11. FITNESS RESEARCH
 A survey by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention:
 2008 and 2009: 28% of the U.S. population is obese
 2008- 31.9% engaged in physical activity
 2009- 34.7% engaged in physical activity
 Diminished disposable income in 2009 causes consumers
to spend less on exercise- consumers want more bang for
their buck-
 Group exercise- class oriented
 Running- indoor and outdoor
 Basketball
 Tennis
(More Americans Exercising, 2010)

12. FITNESS RESEARCH
 Since 2000, certain fitness activities and competitive
sports have shown significant growth:
 Pilates training- 8,653,000-456.2%
 Elliptical Motion Trainer- 26,521,000-259.8%
 Table Tennis- 19,301,000- 51.8%
 Stationary Cycling (group)- 6,831,000-45.1%
 Tennis- 18,534,000- 42.9%
 Treadmill- 51,418,000- 37.9%
(More Americans Exercising, 2010)

13. FITNESS RESEARCH
 Since 2008, these sports have shown double-digit growth in participation:
 Tennis (41.8%)
 Kickboxing (20.1%)
 Yoga (13.2%)
 Table Tennis (12.2%)
 Most popular sports and fitness activities based on overall participation
(age 6 and above) 2009 rank
 Walking 110,095,000
 Bowling 57,293,000
 Treadmill 51,418,000
 Free weights 45, 934,000
 Running 43,892,000
 Billiards 43,005,000
 Fishing 40,961,000
 Bicycling 40,140,000
 Weight/resistance machines 39,752,000
(More Americans Exercising, 2010)

14. FITNESS RESEARCH
 Leading Team Sports in USA (age 6 and above)
 Basketball 24,007,000
 Soccer 13,837,00
 Baseball 13,691,000
 Touch football 8,959,000
 Slow-pitch softball 8,525,000
(More Americans Exercising, 2010)

15. FITNESS RESEARCH
Table 1. Work-out Participation by Age Group

16. FITNESS RESEARCH
Table 2. Work-out Participation by Age Group (Male)

17. FITNESS RESEARCH
Table 3. Work-out Participation by Age Group (Female)

18. FITNESS RESEARCH
Table 4. Work-out Participation by Household Income

19. OBJECTIVES
 Generate more revenue than the previous year
 Develop brand awareness
 Increase clientele base

20. STRATEGIES
 Promote the In the Zone brand
 Utilize local sponsors
 Enhance community relation efforts
 Increase attendance

21. STRATEGIES
 Develop “outside” the facility programs
 Media plan execution
 Attract new members
 Market the unique multi-sport aspects of the facility

22. TACTICS
 Utilize local sponsors to put signage throughout the facility to
increase revenue
 Reach out to local businesses, restaurants, sports leagues.
 Advertise and market In the Zone through different media channels
 Newspaper
 Morning call:
 Power of 4 package: starting at $550.oo- reaches 329,227 adults in Lehigh,
Northampton and Carbon counties
 MVP Sports Package: reach 71% of male readers and 57% of readers with an
annual income of $50,000
 Express Times: Packages ranging from $53- $183 (4 lines- 5 days, 6 lines -30
days)
 Local radio
 AM: 790 WAEB-Allentown, 1320 WTKZ-ESPN Allentown, 1230 WEEX-ESPN
Easton
 FM:95.1 WZZO- Bethlehem, 96.1 WCTO- Easton, 104.1 WAEB-FM-
Allentown
(HTL, 2010)

23. TACTICS
 Sports Teams, Gyms, Church Bulletins, Etc.
 Iron Pigs Program
 Display tournaments and different events through posters and
brochures at local gyms
 Develop an informative and user friendly website
 Enter.net package: Web hosting as low as $9.95 a month
 Register for camps, pay bills online, order product online, check
schedules, etc.
 Reach out to local schools to inform them of
camps, tournaments, and special events
 Give them team discounts for camps or special events
 Offer speed and agility camps
 Offer individual training

24. TACTICS
 Promotions
 Promotional product give-a ways with logo and name on the
product at different venues and events in the area
 Promote the talent of the trainers and athletes In the Zone
staffs
 Ex-professional NBA player
 D1- softball and football players
 Develop a survey or feedback form
 Online survey of what they liked or didn’t like
 What else customers might enjoy
 Develop a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter
 Customers could be reached by mail or email
 Increase notifications about events and other news

25. TACTICS
 Create more classes and add equipment/sports to appeal
to growing participant audiences
 Group exercise- Pilates, spinning, kickboxing, yoga
 Tennis
 Tables tennis
 Touch football league

26. CREATIVE COMPONENT
 Tagline-
 In the Zone Fitness Center “More than just working out”
 Importance of being able to use all the aspects of the
facility whether it be for individual fitness, training for a
sport, a cool place to have a birthday party or just having
fun playing basketball and using the batting cages

27. REFERENCES