Marketing Plan of Triathlon

Question: Discuss about theMarketing Plan of Triathlon. Answer: Positioning Analysis Positioning analysis is the process of analyzing the brand perception among the consumers. The process helps to understand how the product fits into the targeted market (Cant et al 136). The target market here comprises of those people who are sports and fitness oriented and athletes (Richter 81). Triathlon is perceived as a popular brand for athletes, which gives the people a platform to enhance their sports skills. It is perceived as an elite brand which brings people from different background together, who compete with each other to groom their talent. Market Potential and its Segmentation Market segmentation helps to divide the wide range of consumers into segments based their characteristics. It helps to identify the markets which lead to product development as per their requirements (Weinstein 21). Market can be segmented based on demography, geography, psychographs and behavioral components. For sports section, demography component would help to understand the various market segments. Demography: The people who practice sports can be divided on the basis of their age, gender and educational level. The people who practiced sports in the year 2015 have been found belonging to the group of 15-19 years, followed by the group of 20-24 years which is followed by the group 25-34 years (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). The people above 75 years of age played minimum sports. Further, on the basis of educational level, around 85.2% of the students played sports, which was followed by 79% of single people living with their parents (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). Students who were pursuing tertiary education were found to be around 73% of their group (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). 65.5% of the working people played sports in the year 2015 (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). The number of men who played sports was found to be more than that of women. From the above statistics it can be derived that youngsters are more sports loving than the aged people. Professional status also played a very important role in influencing the people for sports. People who were unemployed or single at home preferred sports more than the people who had a job. In order to understand the market potential, a clear picture of sports statistics need to viewed. Cycling was the most preferred sports followed by swimming. Hiking and mountaineering stood at number 3 and played by 31.9% of the people (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). The other sports such as running, football, tennis, basketball and chess were also preferred. Thus, the market was dominated by the sport cycling and was a major attraction among the people. Hiking also remained to be an influential sports activity. The main motivator of the sports activity was to stay fit and adopt a healthy lifestyle. Fun and entertainment was also an influential factor for the activity. Health factor played a significant role in attracting the people and the major population belonged to youth category (WHO). Definition, Analysis and Development of the Product Triathlon Madrid After thorough market analysis, it has been found that after cycling, hiking and mountaineering is the most preferred sports in Spain. Therefore, hiking and mountaineering would attract number of people from the country. The sports activity would consist of three phases namely mountain climbing, mountain trekking and rappelling. Mountain climbing is a thrilling sports activity which requires full strength of the body to climb up the mountain. This is a risky activity and thus safety and precaution are of great concern here. People need to wear safety equipments such as rope, helmet, shoes to protect the body from getting harmed from the steep mountains. The people also need to go through the instructions before they can begin to climb. Once people have climbed the mountain, then they would start with their hiking through a vigorous walk in order to give some rest to their body. The people would get a chance to have a beautiful view of the mountains. In this phase, people would be served with refreshments so that they could revive their energy. Refreshments could involve healthy and energy drinks which would energize the climbers. This phase would offer a unique experience to the participants and would take them through an adventurous tour of the mountain and forest. Once people have completed their hiking phase, then they would climb down from the mountain through rappelling. Again this is a risky activity and safety and precaution are of utmost concern. This activity can be conducted where the cliff is steep and cannot be descended easily. The activity involves lot of fun and entertainment because of its adventurous nature. A great technique would be required to conduct this activity by developing rope access for the descendents. Thus, the Triathlon Madrid would comprise of a sport activity called hiking and mountaineering with the sports activity mountain climbing, hiking and rappelling. Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Hiking and mountaineering is a complete fun and adventurous activity which would be enjoyed by the people of Spain. From the market analysis, it has been derived that people of Spain are very health conscious and love sports activities which involve physical exercise. The unique selling proposition of hiking and mountaineering would be its involvement of physical strength to climb up the mountain. Its another major attraction is the picturesque view of the hills and mountains which would give an opportunity to the members to admire the beauty of nature. Mountain climbing has several health benefits such as it enhances cardio-respiratory fitness and muscular fitness. People who do hiking have very lower chances of suffering through heart disease and having heart stroke (Adams). Further, hiking and climbing also reduces cholesterol and increases the density of bone (Robinson, Kara Mayer). The people who do this kind of sport are likely to get depressed and have better quality sleep because of the physical exertion. Another advantage of mountain climbing is that it also reduces weight because every hour burns around 370 calories. This also reduces the risk of death by 40% (Wise). Thus, hiking and mountaineering sports activity has been found to be very healthy for the adults and increases their immunity which reduces the chances of heart diseases (Loughman). Apart from adults, it has also been proved to be healthy for kids and builds their physical strength. The kids who perform this sports activity have lesser chances of gaining excess weight and developing cardio diseases. The children are also less prone to depression and have quality sleep at night. Apart from offering fitness, the sports activity would also offer scenic beauty and people would be able to live within the nature for several hours. The people of Spain look towards some excitement in their lives because they get bored of their daily routine activities (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport). Students and adults both prefer to have an adventurous day to add some excitement to their lives. One day close to nature would mesmerize them and cheer them up. Adventurous sports have become one of the attractive and lucrative activities in the country and this sport activity would attract people from every segment of the country including men, women, children, working and unemployed. Establishment of the Market and Growth Strategy To establish the market for the new Triathlon Madrid Sports, the federation needs to put effective efforts by excelling into three areas: course, capability and conviction (IBM). The management team needs to understand that they need to set the right course for the growth of the sports. This require a clear and concrete layout of a plan which would not be only limited to the history but would rather have its own identity. Passion, participation and performance are the three pillars on which the strategy would be framed. These three pillars reflect the values and beliefs of the organization and the gives a course of direction to the triathlon (Triathlon Australia). The core strategy of the new triathlon sports would revolve these three pillars. Passion would build enthusiasm among the people for the sports activity which would increase the level of participation among the people. This would all the way lead to strengthening of the performance of those who are excellent sports players or athletes. The strategic plan would focus on three major areas including engagement, access and pathways. Engagement would give an opportunity to engage with around 46 million people who are keen to participate in the program (Worldometers). The new sports activity would be the key driver of interest among the people of Spain. The program seeks to attract the elite sports players of the country. Engagement would be carried out through seeking aid from the government, event organizers and other possible influential stakeholder. The program details would be uploaded on all the digital platforms including website, social media etc. The awareness among the people would be conducted through media, public relations, brand building and other marketing activities. The focus of the product would be on two major segments of 15-19 years students and 20-24 years adults. This demographic segment has been analyzed to be the most contributing segment toward sports activities. Access would help to create a sense of belonging for the members. Clubs and coaches would assist in the process of access to the people. The clubs would be given the freedom to attract new members by collaborating with the government. They would also be responsible to design the promotional activities to attract the new members. The last focus area pathways would ensure to provide lifelong journey of sports to the members. Sports oriented people would be able to alleviate their career through the sports activities. Stage Planning Stage 1: Setting goals and objectives In order to start the process of introducing new product of triathlon, it is important that the goals and objectives are very well defined (Gilligan and Wilson 43). The mission of the triathlon team is to imbibe the culture of sports into the nation by instilling enjoyment, achievement, dignity, courage and belongingness among the people. Thus, the purpose of the triathlon is to revive the concept of sports within the nation by challenging them which they are willing to accept. Stage 2: Assessing the current scenario The current situation of triathlon is that its ongoing sports activity of cycling, swimming and running has begun to decline because of team distraction. This has resulted in breakup of the current team and new president of the team has been elected who has suggested the introduction of new product in the market to attract the members. The new sports product hiking and mountaineering would blow peoples mind across the nation and attract huge number of people. Stage 3: Marketing Mix (4Ps) Marketing mix is a foundation concept which helps an organization to carry out its marketing objectives through a set of marketing tools (Kubicki 19). Traditionally, there are 4Ps of marketing mix which are product, price, place and promotion. Product: The product is created to satisfy the needs of the consumer. Hiking and mountaineering is the product which has been designed considering the need and requirement of the consumer. The product in this case is intangible because people would get to experience the sports activity. A product has its own life cycle which includes growth phase, maturity phase and sales decline phase. Price: Price is the amount that is paid by the consumer for buying the product. In this case the members have to register themselves with the club to enjoy its sports services. Promotion: For promotion different channels would be used including digital media, offline media, public relations and events and activities. Digital marketing would involve marketing through website, social media, and other digital platforms. Place: Place refers to the place of stores and outlets where consumers can come and purchase the service and product. The place here would be the hilly and mountainous region, where people would enjoy sports activity. Stage 4: Implementation of Plan Once the strategy has been designed, it would then put to implement to drive the results. The team would be responsible for carrying out the activities which are defined above in growth strategies involving coordinating and partnering with the companies, government and other influential stakeholders. Apart from this, the team members of triathlon would also be responsible for attracting new members through different promotional activities. References Adams, Jeff. The Many Benefits of Hiking. Active, https://www.active.com/outdoors/articles/the-many-benefits-of-hiking. Cant, MC et al. Marketing Management. Juta and Company Ltd, 2009. Gilligan, Colin and Wilson, Richard M.S. Strategic Marketing Planning. Routledge, 2012. IBM. The growth triathlon. Forbes, https://images.forbes.com/ibm/pdfs/GE510-3992-00F.pdf. Kubicki, Morgane. The Marketing Mix:Master the 4 Ps of marketing. 50 Minutes, 2015. Loughman, Alison. Benefits of hiking: There's science behind the feel-good workout. Daily Camera, https://www.dailycamera.com/get-out/ci_26280550/benefits-hiking-theres-science-behind-feel-good-workout. Richter, Tobias. International Marketing Mix Management:Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2012. Robinson, Kara Mayer. How Hiking Is Good for Body and Mind. Webmd, https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/hiking-body-mind. Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Survey Of Sporting Habits In Spain 2015. Mecd, https://www.mecd.gob.es/servicios-al-ciudadano-mecd/dms/mecd/servicios-al-ciudadano-mecd/estadisticas/deporte/ehd/Survey_of_sporting_habits_in_Spain_2015_Synthesis_of_results.pdf. Triathlon Australia. Our Strategy 2016-2019. Triathlon Australia https://www.triathlon.org.au/Assets/Triathlon+Australia+Digital+Assets/2016-2019+Strategic+Plan.pdf. Weinstein, Art. Handbook of Market Segmentation:Strategic Targeting for Business and Technology Firms, Third Edition. Routledge, 2013. WHO. Spain Physical Activity Factsheet. WHO, https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/sport/library/factsheets/spain-factsheet_en.pdf. Wise, Abigail. Proof That Hiking Makes You Happier And Healthier. The Huffington Post, https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/how-taking-a-hike-can-mak_n_5584809. Worldometers. Spain Population. Worldometers, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/spain-population/.