Marketing plan case study. Zenivity Wellness Centers SWOT Analysis.

1. Introduction
SWOT is an acronym which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Companies conduct a SWOT analysis as a critical strategic step in developing a Marketing Plan. SWOT analysis may be completed for an individual, a product or company.
Why This Matters: A SWOT Analysis helps individuals and businesses discover their own unique qualities and gain insight on what differentiates them from competitors.
Your Task: In addition to your assigned reading on SWOT Analysis, review the following Sample Case and SWOT Analysis . As you review all the materials, consider how each of the SWOT categories relate. After reviewing the Sample Case and SWOT Analysis, review the Practice Case as preparation for generating your own SWOT Analysis. Respond to each category (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) with three to five bullet points that outline potential impacts on the success of your business.
2. Sample Case and SWOT

Red Zone Gym
Red Zone Gym is a small chain of three gyms located in South Florida designed for the dedicated gym-goer, body-builder or competitor with serious ambitions. Red Zone owners and staff are International Federation of Body Builder Pros and National Physique Committee competitors themselves and started the gym to provide other ambitious fitness and body building competitors a specialized place to train and prepare for competitions. The first gym began five years ago shortly after the owners completed their first state competitive title and took over managing two other locations two years ago after completing their exercise physiology degrees.
Red Zone has a unique atmosphere, including the staff and the motivational artwork throughout the wall. Their social media marketing is very strong. They have more than 15K followers on Facebook and Instagram with active, engaged users. Although their current marketing efforts have gained attention across social media, it is clear that their efforts can be improved. The Red Zone owners have indicated they would like to increase their membership base,however key challenges include the price point difference between Red Zone and competing gyms and lack of awareness of their uniqueness of their gym setup.
The competitive fitness industry as a whole is experiencing a growth trend by 10 percent annually with more and more individuals entering into amateur and professional level competitions. South Florida is also a mecca for water and beach activities, and some areas have become known as the East coast Venice Beach attracting many outdoor fitness enthusiasts. As a result, Red Zone has considered expanding their gyms, which would require additional capital investment sources. They have considered other ways to increase revenue and awareness, such as including other fitness related market segments who might become interested in the fitness competitive realm, such as gymnasts, or sponsoring competitions themselves, which would increase Red Zone’s prominence as a competitive gym.
Although the competitive fitness arena is gaining momentum, there are several regional and national gym chains in South Florida that offer a much lower price point for gym memberships and appeal to the beginner or recreational fitness enthusiast. As a newly hired marketing professional, you are tasked with the role of analyzing the current marketing, branding and growth potential and designing a strategy for increasing the potential for expanding the gyms.
Sample SWOT
Internal External
Potential
Strengths
Customer: Loyal customer base who are active in referrals and competitions
Uniqueness: We focus on competitive bodybuilding/fitness, not general fitness
Staff: Professionally certified specialists who are also industry leaders
Social Media: Active, engaged followers
Opportunities
Fitness Trends: Fitness/bodybuilding competitions continue to grow by 10% annually
Market expansion: Reaching out to additional markets including cheer & gymnastics
Brand Awareness: Increase brand through sponsorships of local groups and competitions
Challenge
Weaknesses
Lack of capital: Growth funds need to come from loans, investors, revenue
Experience: Owners' first business venture
Branding: May be too narrow for consistent growth
Threats
Competition: Customers aren't aware of the difference between our gym and general gyms
Gyms: Price point of chain gyms
Local trends: Competing with beach/outdoor activities
Discussion
Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors that impact a company’s success and growth. These internal factors rely on decisions that the company must make about the four Ps/Cs as well as management, branding, funding, etc.
The opportunities and threats are external factors that the company must be aware of when planning their strategies related to the four Ps/Cs including growth, development, etc.
3. Practice Case Analysis SWOT
Now it’s your turn. After reviewing the following case analysis, complete a SWOT Analysis describing three to five strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could impact Zenivity’s success.
Zenivity Wellness Centers
You are a marketing manager who has been hired by Zenivity to manage a promotional campaign to increase brand awareness and expand customer base. Since it opened in 2012, Zenivity has attracted loyal “zeni’s” devoted to its wellness lifestyle approach to fitness and yoga that caters to the urban professional trying to maintain a work-life balance and has expanded to include five additional urban locations.
Zenivity offers a number of events, many of which are a unique blend of yoga and fitness classes, with a few specialized wellness/lifestyle/sustainability related workshops and retreats. The minimalism in the class style supports the company's brand image, as reflected in the “zen” like quality in the décor of the locations. Zenivity has been fortunate to have a loyal membership base with a strong word of mouth referral base. Their members are more actively engaged in user generated content, contributing to 80 percent of the overall social media on the site.
The small chain has gained popularity with its unique, personal style classes and centrally located urban center. Due to the higher rental rates for retail space in the downtown locations, the owners are considering whether to expand to additional cities and/or add suburban style locations.
While there are more and more fitness styles and locations popping up everywhere, there is a very small trend gaining traction to combine fitness and wellness centers. Zenivity wants to find a unique method to further promote this growing trend.