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How to Have a Better Strategy for Marketing a Fitness Studio in California

This paper describes the approach and structure that will guide the research project,

entitled “Developing Effective Marketing Strategies for Fitness Studios in California, USA.”

There are various factors that determine the choice of research methodology and design,

including the research question, the type of data needed, the available resources, and the

research setting (Bell et al., 2022). The research questions would entail aspects such as

marketing strategies, consumer preferences and behaviors, current marketing practices, use of

social media platforms, and customer feedback and reviews, and how they may influence the

number of customers visiting the fitness studio in California.

Given the research questions, the study will be deductive in nature. According to

Woiceshyn and Daellenbach (2018), deductive research involves the development of

hypotheses or established theories as a starting point, which are then subjected to testing

using empirical data collection and analysis. To answer the research questions, a mixed

methods research design is more suitable. The mixed methods approach entails a combination

of quantitative and qualitative research methods (Bell et al., 2022).

Specifically, the study will employ a sequential explanatory mixed-methods research

design. A sequential explanatory design involves a two-phase research approach. The first

phase is quantitative, where the researcher collects and analyzes numerical data. This is

followed by a second phase that is qualitative in nature, where the researcher collects and

analyzes non-numerical data to help explain and contextualize the quantitative findings

(McKim, 2016). This approach allows the researcher to explore the complexity and context

of the research topic by collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data

(Mertens & Hesse-Biber, 2012).

The quantitative research method will be used to collect numerical data to determine

consumer preferences, behavior, and attitudes towards fitness studios. This will be done using

online surveys, which will reach a large number of participants and help to obtain statistical

data (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). The quantitative research method will necessitate the

analysis of dependent variables against independent variables, which will be guided by the

theoretical assumptions and hypotheses formulated (Bell et al., 2022). In the context of

marketing a fitness studio, independent variables could include the type of marketing strategy

used, while the dependent variable could be the number of customers visiting the fitness

studio.

In addition, the quantitative method will require data collection using surveys. To

facilitate data collection, the study will also target other fitness studios in California and other

parts of the U.S. The fitness studios will be the units of analysis, while the characteristics of

customers and the frequency of certain types of marketing strategies, such as social media

advertising, billboards, or direct mail campaigns, used by different fitness studios in

California, will be the units of observations. Other possible units of observation could include

the cost of different marketing strategies, the reach of different strategies in terms of the

number of people reached, or the effectiveness of different strategies in terms of the number

of new customers attracted to the fitness studio. The quantitative information derived from

units of observations will be useful for measuring cause-and-effect relationships and

determining the prevalence of particular characteristics or behaviors (Dzwigol, 2020).

The qualitative research method will be used to collect non-numerical data to

understand the motivations, beliefs, and perceptions of customers and industry experts

regarding the marketing strategies used by fitness studios (Valtakoski, 2019). In a qualitative

research methodology, the concepts of units of analysis and units of observation are still

important, but they are approached and defined differently compared to a quantitative study.
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On the one hand, units of analysis in a qualitative study refer to the broad categories of data

being studied. For example, in this study, the unit of analysis will be the marketing strategies

used by fitness studios or the social dynamics of the customers who frequent these studios.

On the other hand, units of observation in a qualitative study refer to the specific

entities or phenomena that the researcher is examining in detail. In the context of the current

study, the unit of observation will be the conversations between fitness studio staff and

customers, or the interactions between customers within the studio. This method will be

useful for exploring complex and nuanced issues, such as the motivations and perceptions of

customers, and it provides rich, descriptive data that can help inform theory development

(Valtakoski, 2019).

Through a mixed methods research methodology, the research will be able to gain a

holistic view of the marketing strategies used by fitness studios in California and identify the

most effective marketing strategies to help promote fitness studios in the region. Furthermore,

mixed methods will also provide an opportunity to use data triangulation, where findings

from different methods can be compared, contrasted, and validated (Baran, 2016). For

instance, data from social media analytics and customer reviews can be compared to identify

similarities and differences, which can provide a more in-depth understanding of consumer

behavior and preferences.

The mixed-methods research design is more suitable than either a quantitative or

qualitative research design alone. Firstly, a quantitative research design alone would limit the

scope of the research to solely numeric data (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009). While this type of

data is useful in determining consumer preferences and behaviors towards fitness studios, it

does not provide insights into the motivations and perceptions of customers towards these

studios. A mixed-methods approach, on the other hand, can gather both numeric and non-

numeric data to help gain a more comprehensive understanding of the topic (McKim, 2016).
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Secondly, a qualitative research design alone would also have limitations. A

qualitative research design is useful for exploring complex issues and gaining a deeper

understanding of the experiences and perceptions of participants (Bell et al., 2022). However,

it does not provide the same level of generalizability as quantitative data, making it difficult

to draw broad conclusions. A mixed-methods approach can use quantitative data to identify

trends and patterns and then use qualitative data to explore the meaning behind these trends,

providing a more comprehensive and generalizable understanding of the topic (Baran, 2016).
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References

Baran, R. (2016). How marketers conduct mixed methods research. Mixed Methods Research

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Dzwigol, H. (2020). Innovation in marketing research: Quantitative and qualitative

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McKim, C. A. (2016). The value of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods

Research, 11(2), 202-222. [Link]

Mertens, D. M., & Hesse-Biber, S. (2012). Triangulation and mixed methods research.

Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 75-79.

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Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating

quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. SAGE

Publications.
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Valtakoski, A. (2019). The evolution and impact of qualitative research in Journal of

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Woiceshyn, J., & Daellenbach, U. (2018). Evaluating inductive vs deductive research in

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