A New Company Start-Up: Health Fitness Club Business Plan

Business Development Proposal

The start-up business plan considers the new entrepreneurial experience of establishing the Health Fitness Club in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. The business plan provides insight on the industry and company background, including the problems, issues, business opportunities, purpose and rationale for the research study. It also offers a review of the business factors such as the impact of social media marketing via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn on the business effectiveness in the target market. The business plan also provides information on the specification of the start-up project, comprising the research methodology, analysis of collected data and evaluation of the business implications. At the same time, the business plan offers the business model in both graphical representation and subsequent explanation of the considered elements such as website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing with respect to business development.

Finally, the business plan demonstrates the anticipated calculations for the future three years after the start-up. The business plan refers to the vision, mission and objective statements, including the marketing plan, organizational plan and financial plan. Finally, the business plan provides the implementation schedule through the Gantt chart with the following critical success factors and risk mitigation plan.

The Health Fitness Club start-up project is based on the entrepreneurial insights into the history of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. The important implication of the city and its interest for the Health Fitness Club is that it is the capital of the Kurdistan region and the largest city located in Iraqi Kurdistan with around 2 million citizens according to figures from 2014. Throughout its history, the Erbil has been under the control of many regional powers, including the Arabs, Greeks, Babylonians, Persians, and many others, which ruled its development beginning in 25th century BC until the 7th century BC. At the beginning of 2014, it became the Arab capital for tourism with the support of UNESCO and the Arab Council of Tourism. In terms of culture, Erbil has a lot to offer. For example, the city’s soccer team, Erbil SC, is a member of the AFC Champions league and plays at Franso Hariri Stadium in the center of Erbil. Kurdistan is located in the former upper Mesopotamia near the Zagros Mountains in the northern part of Iraq. The area of Iraqi Kurdistan is approximately 30,399 square miles with a current population of close to 10 million people.

The local language is Kurdish, which is common for the vast majority of the population in the Erbil. The culture is reflected in their clothing, cuisine and dances. The economy of Iraqi Kurdistan reflects the autonomous northern Iraq with the domination of tourism, agriculture and the oil industry. The overall region is mainly liberal in terms of the development of the economy in Iraqi Kurdistan, which makes it market oriented towards Syria. The overall position of the economy is liberal and macro stable with a focus on the industrialized neighbors such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey. One-third of the inhabitants of Iraqi Kurdistan are employed in fields related to the semi-skilled industrial jobs. Finally, Iraqi Kurdistan is currently undergoing a industrial revolution of sorts, with the average GDP of around $175 billion a year (Sourdel 2020).

Industry / Company Background

The Health Fitness Club is a type of the start-up business that expects rapid growth, with around a twenty percent increase in revenue every year. In addition, the Health Fitness Club is established in a way that takes advantage of different pricing levels to meet the needs of different customers. For this reason, it uses promotion strategies that are aimed at maximizing profits, including overall annual income, due the great value delivered to its target customers every single day. An example of such marketing strategy could be the advantages in the pricing policies that are managed with respect to the social status of its target customers, which would be based on their income (Light et al. 2018).

In addition, the Health Fitness Club expects to diversify its annual revenues by offering specialized individual and group health and fitness training with all the educational services internationally. In other words, the vast majority of its health and fitness practices, including the additional learning services are offered to the target customers both online and offline. It makes it an outstanding opportunity for the target customers to become interested in the Health Fitness Club and purchase its services both online and offline in greater numbers. Thus, it is expected that the annual revenues will increase by ten percent every year after the start-up launch. It is also anticipated that the annual income will increase by another ten percent with the launch of the online health and fitness club services, including all the additional educational services in the sphere of both health and fitness. At the same time, the Health Fitness Club is likely to see another ten percent increase in sales after offering its coaching and consulting services in both health and fitness that are enhanced with modern educational and learning services that are offered in the global context (Arthur 2017).

Problem / Issue / Business Opportunity / Concept

The problem of the start-up entrepreneurship plan is to concentrate on the factors that are influencing the feasibility of setting up the Health Fitness Club in Erbil. Thus, the preliminary research on the Health Fitness Club would revolve around the implications of value for its members that correspond to the need for differentiating target offers across the health and fitness industry. In fact, the vast majority of people visit these health and fitness clubs; however, it has become a lot more challenging to create a start-up health and fitness club that would motivate the masses to take care of their health and do something to be stronger and live a longer and happier life (Kotler & Kotler 2019).

For this reason, the Health Fitness Club is going to offer similar services but from a different angle. In fact, the idea of the Health Fitness Club is to become an irresistible offer that the vast majority of the potential members would not dare miss out on. It would be managed based on a particular focus on the most important implications of life such as body, mind and social well-being of people. The Health Fitness Club will offer the number of member services that will comprise life coaching and personal counseling services, including the support of people in every stage of their physical education. However, special interest would be placed in their personal development that would be possible through the Health Fitness Club since it will share the knowledge and experience of the most sophisticated minds in the spheres of health and fitness in Erbil. It means that the Health Fitness Club will provide not only the list of traditional services that are offered at regular health and fitness centers; instead, it will offer additional educational services that will add more value to the lives of its members (Aalst 2021).

Purpose and Rationale

The Health Fitness Club will achieve great success in the first year after its start-up based on its exceptional leadership practices in the health and fitness industry. It also intends to employ experts who are already engaged in the health and fitness market and could share their experiences with potential members in Erbil. Thus, the Health Fitness Club will be able to popularize its value by establishing specialized health and fitness educational programs. Today, there are many practices that exist separately and is already helping thousands of people globally change their lives for the better. Hence, the Health Fitness Club is going to help its members transform their lives from ordinary to extraordinary, which will help them live brighter lives by being physically fit and healthy in all the meanings of this word (Lee & Kotler 2018).

The Health Fitness Club is going to closely collaborate with the top educational institutions in the field of health and fitness with the idea of incorporating the wisdom of the top minds in the health and fitness industry across the globe. The purpose is to offer the best health and fitness practices by utilizing educational services at the Health Fitness Club in Erbil. Hence, the Health Fitness Club will provide not only the top services in the health and fitness industry, but it will also offer astonishing opportunities for its members in terms of growing personally and developing different spheres of their lives through the best health and fitness practices (Budelmann, Kim & Wozniak 2010).

Health Fitness Club will accomplish this by offering the level of services that cannot be found in the traditional of health and fitness industry. In such a way, the Health Fitness Club is the place that is willing to help its members grow personally by means of developing their competencies in relation to both health and fitness sides of life. Thus, the idea of the Health Fitness Club is to push humankind forward through a number of regular health and fitness practices that are enhanced with additional educational services, including the vast majority of traditional and non-traditional practices concerning the personal development of people in the health and fitness industry (Broughton, Higgins, Hicks & Cox 2020).

Terms and References

The three aspects of such additional health and fitness services will address the body, mind and social well-being of people that are not covered in conventional learning institutions. The “body” will emphasize on offering a number of services such as yoga and alternative energy practices, including different healing practices that could be managed by people at home through both health and fitness practices. The “mind” will focus on teaching club members the fundamentals of meditation, including manifesting and spiritual growth that will help the members become happier and live a more positive life. As a final point, the “social” aspect will cover the implications of health and fitness in relation to parenting and family, love and relationships that comprise overall skills of dealing with people in the community in the social life (Levinson 2020).

Research questions

• What are the first steps to take in order to become a start-up business?
• How can the Health Fitness Club establish a community within Erbil?
• What are the best ways to collect the knowledge and experience of the industry in one place?
• How can the offers towards the best practices of health and fitness be optimized?
• Which marketing implications should be addressed to promote the Health Fitness Club in the target market?
• What is the best way to bring more benefits and generate more value for the target customers in the niche by 2050?
• What are the best strategies to optimize and scale the business operations of the Health Fitness Club in Erbil?

Research objectives

The core strategy that will be implemented by the Health Fitness Club is establishing a community of people who are the owners of their lives. The key to such ownership is the knowledge and experience of the club members in the spheres of health and fitness. Overall, the range of services provided by the Health Fitness Club corresponds to the implications of personal development, building relationships with others, creating social networks in the sphere of health and fitness, becoming physical fit, and even developed in the area of spiritual life. As a result, it is expected that by the end of the fifth year the target audience will be around two billion people, which will comprise the overall community of the Health Fitness Club. It will also include the following generations of young adults who are being brought up with healthy habits and favorable approach to the challenges in life that could be easily faced with both health and fitness best practices (Kotler, Hessekiel & Lee 2012).

The Health Fitness Club will also diversify its revenue sources by managing ten different projects in the areas of health and fitness that will monopolize the target market. Hence, applying such a marketing strategy is the core idea of the Health Fitness Club. Overall, there is an expectation that such diversified services will bring more value to the target customers compared to its competitors across the health and fitness industry. Another inclination is to deliver an educational value with the offline and online health and fitness services to over 20 billion people by the end of 2050 globally. Consequently, in order to accomplish such objectives, the Health Fitness Club will focus on superior customer serving practices, which will offer a great number of health and fitness opportunities for the target customers globally (Kotler, Kartajaya & Setiawan 2010).

Research framework

Hence, the major areas of focus are the transparency of activities managed by the Health Fitness Club in relation to its employees and the overall community. Special attention will be paid on the recruitment of exclusive talents to incorporate superior marketing strategies in the global context. In addition, the Health Fitness Club expects to increase its capacity of operations by conducting daily training practices both online and offline. It would address the aspects of self-management, leadership best practices, health and fitness learning tools and personal development practices. As a result, based on such strategic approach to managing the Health Fitness Club, it is expected that the vast majority of its members will be involved in the community of people who perceive advanced opportunities in life (Accardi-Petersen 2011).

In addition, the use of operational management approaches, which is enhanced with the technological advancement, will contribute to the development of the Health Fitness Club in the global market. Thus, the heart of the future achievements of the Health Fitness Club will be its innovative approach that takes advantage of the most contemporary strategies in the sphere of helping members by offering them superior health and fitness services both online and offline. Therefore, the Health Fitness Club will continue its growth by monitoring the changes in the target health and fitness industry and adopting the most contemporary health and fitness practices in order to enhance its value in the target market and in the health and fitness industry as a whole (Kotler 2011).

Expected outcomes and significance

The bottom line of the start-up plan is to achieve an annual income of around $30 million annually within the next five years of its launch. It is expected to be managed by establishing a community of health and fitness engaged people who would be interested in sharing their professional knowledge and experience at the Health Fitness Club. It is anticipated that the number of people engaged every year would be less than one hundred, which would offer even more opportunities to the target customers by means of growing their potential with both health and fitness. The idea is to invest in the operations that will contribute to the lives of people by means of health and fitness and will improve their lives with transformational personalized services in health and fitness best educational practices (Kotler & Pfoertsch 2010).

Polishing Your Writing to Make it Shine

Business Review and Analysis of Factors

Since the Health Fitness Club is a start-up business that will be based solely on online interaction with the target customers in Erbil, it is important to evaluate the most visited online channels that could be used by the Health Fitness Club to promote its health and fitness services. For this reason, the focus will be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. Refer to the review of every factor that has a strong importance for the promotion of the Health Fitness Club online (Meyerson 2015).

Facebook

Facebook is one of the best working marketing channels for communicating with the target customers. Therefore, the Health Fitness Club seeks to establish an online health and fitness community via sophisticated social marketing channels like Facebook. It is essential to take advantage of the marketing campaigns that will help foster further development of the Health Fitness Club on the Internet and offline. Another reason to take advantage of the Facebook page is to place highly valuable content generated for the main website. The purpose is to achieve the highest possible number of re-posts for every single article. The greatest advantage of this marketing technique is the enhanced communication with the target customers that identifies their needs, which could be measured based on the number of re-posted articles and every single post in particular. It could also be used to determine the demand of the target market towards the future services of the Health Fitness Club. It could be tested with the quantity of people who register for the online-based promotion events. Another way to promote the Health Fitness Club is to make friends with people who have similar interests. However, it should be more valuable and entertaining compared to the other fun pages and interest groups in the Facebook channel. The major goal is to attract the vast majority of the target customers to the online and offline events offered by the Health Fitness Club. These people will be potential members of the Health Fitness Club (Greenberg & Kates 2013).

Twitter

Twitter is another social media channel that is comparable to Facebook. It makes sense to use Twitter in order to advertise highly valuable information online using short messages that the target customers perceive as similar to the online promotions. In such case, it is important to publish the headlines of the articles that are taken from the blog on the website that should also be followed by links to them. Furthermore, Twitter could be used to make friends with the prospective members by inviting them to see the website of the Health Fitness Club. Twitter could also be used to look for the analogous information on the Internet placed in other Twitter accounts to re-tweet it. The main goal is to make the most valuable content public so that the current and future club members could take advantage of it depending on their interests. Consequently, the goal of using Twitter is to promote the Health Fitness Club website with a great variety of valuable information. Thus, the posted content on the Twitter account will help generate interest in the Health Fitness Club website (Krüger & Stumpf 2013).

YouTube

YouTube is another marketing channel that could be used to post the video content that promotes the offers of the Health Fitness Club. The purpose is to duplicate similar content in parallel to the other social media channels. The networking that would be created in succession will help the Health Fitness Club increase its number of followers. This goal could be achieved by placing highly valuable videos online through both the website and YouTube channel. However, it is important to make a video no longer than seven minutes; nevertheless it should provide the target customers with extremely valuable content. The Health Fitness Club can take advantage of its YouTube channel by uploading a weekly newsletter. Thus, the target customers will receive a tip of the day from the Health Fitness Club. The idea is to share highly valuable information in terms of both health and fitness areas. Therefore, it makes sense to place additional links to other social media channels, including the website of the Health Fitness Club. Consequently, the Health Fitness Club will promote its videos by offering health and fitness tips in every video that would altogether make a hundred video posts. It also makes sense to place a subscription link at the end of every video. As a result, these actions will direct its target customers to the website of the Health Fitness Club. It will correspond to the future promotions of the health and fitness services using the promo coupons and free invitations to the following online and offline events of the Health Fitness Club. Overall, the marketing of the video content, including the promote campaigns in different social media channels will attract more target customers to the Health Fitness Club. Simultaneously, the use of e-mail marketing along with the social media marketing will increase the amount of potential customers. Subsequently, such actions will result in greater annual revenues for the Health Fitness Club (Holt 2013).

Instagram

Instagram is yet another social media channel that could be used by the Health Fitness Club as an alternative marketing source of communication with the target customers. It makes sense since the sphere of health and fitness requires the use of graphics and imagery to demonstrate effectiveness and value of the provided services. Thus, services of the Health Fitness Club could be promoted through the use of images that offer results with a short explanation below them. This marketing method would help the Health Fitness Club take advantage of the voting option, which is important when seeking to determine the needs of the target customers. Therefore, the Instagram page of the Health Fitness Club will share the photos taken by its members in order to promote the health and fitness services online. It is useful since such demonstration of results works better than words. Furthermore, it could be used to promote the health and fitness services of the Health Fitness Club more effectively in the target market. Thus, it will create an atmosphere around the community of the Health Fitness Club by using the online channel of communication such as Instagram. The purpose is to offer potential members an opportunity to review the quality of the offered services. As a result, it will encourage them to participate in the online and offline events that have a demonstration of the highest quality in terms of the health and fitness services, including the additional offers of the Health Fitness Club. It could also be used to attract more target customers by reflecting on their feedback on the photos posted in the Instagram page of the Health Fitness Club. Consequently, it will entice some of the target members to join the community of the Health Fitness Club, which will simultaneously improve the performance of the Health Fitness Club in the target market. Overall, the visionary elements are the essential part of the communication that is used in the social networks such as Instagram. Moreover, the target customers will have more trust and understanding of the services and alternative offers at the Health Fitness Club, which will make it a reputable source of information on the health and fitness (Kahn 2013).

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the final social media source that could be used by the Health Fitness Club in order to promote its services to the target customers. It is important since LinkedIn allows the Health Fitness Club to attract the business people with such kind of interactions and communication within the health and fitness community. The purpose is to provide highly valuable information on the health problems that are common among business people. As a result, they will become interested in the fitness services of the Health Fitness Club, which will help improve their lifestyles. Business people could also be invited to visit the website of the Health Fitness Club with the help of the information provided in the profile of the Health Fitness Club page. It makes sense to share valuable details related to better health lifestyles for business people by helping them to solve their problems with different fitness services offered at the Health Fitness Club. Therefore, the use of the LinkedIn social media channels will ultimately be the best source for attracting business people by encouraging them to live healthier with the fitness services of the Health Fitness Club. As a result, it will help them solve their health problems by acquiring positive fitness habits. Overall, the purpose of the LinkedIn marketing channel is to attract more target customers from the business world by helping them find solutions to their health issues. The idea is to advertise the better health of people through the value of fitness lifestyles that could be possible in the community of the Health Fitness Club. Simultaneously, the LinkedIn profile should be managed with respect to the marketing implications in order to promote the Health Fitness Club. This could be achieved by attracting more target customers with the authority of the business people who already use the health and fitness services. However, it is important to express the reasons why the target customers should take advantage of the offers at the Health Fitness Club. Thus, it would increase the number of the target customers who strive to improve their health issues by being encouraged for a better health lifestyle in the community of the Health Fitness Club. In this way, more people will be involved in valuable health and fitness habits (Maya 2012).

Research Design

The research is designed to approach the data based on the hypothesis that will examine the start-up practices of the entrepreneurs who are interested in the establishment of the Health Fitness Club. The purpose is to take full advantage of the findings based on the start-up practices of the entrepreneurs and review of the relevant literature related to start-up businesses. In order to examine the business in the phase of the start-up, the business development proposal will be aimed at understanding the best start-up practices that could be applied at the Health Fitness Club. This approach to the research methods is important since it adds more value to the final outcomes of the business proposal that is based on all the collected information. The purpose is to cover the aspects that will help in understanding the specifics of the start-up practices in terms of the creation of the Health Fitness Club. The study measures the methodology results based on the limitations and challenges that exist in the start-up practices today and have a substantial impact on the establishment of the Health Fitness Club. The goal is to obtain valuable information from entrepreneurs who will participate in the primary research in order to provide insight on how to launch a successful start-up business. All the sections of the business proposal will provide recommendations and conclusions that include practical solutions that could be applied in the challenges of the start-up business practices of the Health Fitness Club (Kotler & Lee 2011).

Information Needs Specification

The secondary data is acquired by analyzing the information, data, case studies, research, reports, and surveys that are directed at the factors of starting and running a new business as an entrepreneur. The idea is to obtain as much practical experience as possible in order to keep the business afloat after its start-up. Therefore, all the information is evaluated based on the research models, problems solving, challenges, and other implications that are significant for the accuracy of the research findings and could be applied in the real-life practices of a start-up business in place of the Health Fitness Club. The purpose is to provide valid explanations related to the implications of the Health Fitness Club and its operations management practices. Consequently, the study will discuss both the theoretical implications of starting and running a Health Fitness Club based on the best entrepreneurial practices collected using both primary and secondary research studies. Hence, the overall study combines the primary and secondary data to obtain adequate information and take advantage of the insightful explanations on how to start and run the Health Fitness Club effectively in its target market (Bell & Berry 2007).

Research Methodologies

The research is based on the collated information concerning the start-up best practices in relation to the Health Fitness Club. Therefore, the research outcomes will address the existing theoretical and practical findings, comprehensive examination of the hypothesis, in-depth evaluation of the research data, and its analysis, including the validation of the research findings. The assessment of data discourses the assortment of literature resources and exploration of the entrepreneurial insight on the on the best start-up practices. Consequently, the study is both descriptive and exploratory. The basis for the research is a combination of information taken from different areas, such as online contacts with different entrepreneurs who are engaged in various business practices and who could add more value to the start-up launch. The goal of this business proposal is to review the successful start-up practices and gain all the relevant knowledge that could be used for launching the Health Fitness Club. Special attention will be paid towards the Internet operations since the vast majority of successful start-ups launches were generated exclusively through online marketing strategies. Another source of information is the variety of literature online sources and related studies on aspects related to the start-up best practices, including the ways to deal with the business difficulties more effectively in the real-life scenarios (Becker, Huselid & Ulrich 2001).

Sample unit (target respondents)

The business proposal will be based on the online survey questionnaires and personal interviews with the entrepreneurs who have a high level of experience and could assist in starting and running a successful Health Fitness Club based on the outcomes of the primary study. Such research procedures allow collecting convincing information directly from the research participants. The investigation of such data allows for generating highly valuable information in terms of the best start-up practices, which also makes it possible to draw applicable conclusions and apply them in the real-life practices in accordance with the recommendations of the entrepreneurs (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano 2006).

Sampling method

Therefore, the primary research will be semi-structured to manage private interviews, evaluate the answers from the online questionnaire with regards to the review of relevant literature. Organizing the study in this manner makes it possible to collecting instantaneous results based on both primary and secondary data findings. Therefore, the interpretation of the primary results will be based on the clarifications of the participants and the findings from the literature review. Managing the data and conducting an independent primary research will allow the entrepreneurs to share their honest experiences about the hardships of the start-up business practices in relation to the Health Fitness Club. Consequently, the findings will be statistically analyzed to provide the reader with appropriate graphical representation of the retrieved data. Simultaneously, this will make it possible to support the findings of an online survey with the data obtained during the literature review (Hauser 2006).

Sample size

The sample size of the research is less than one hundred entrepreneurs who are involved in different kinds of businesses and could assist in the start-up launch of the Health Fitness Club. In fact, these entrepreneurs are from Erbil, which allows for taking advantage of various experiences in the real life practices (Kaptein 2004).

Survey location

The survey takes advantage of multiple responses of the entrepreneurs from Erbil. A specific impact of such findings will be used to launch the Health Fitness Club with the help of Internet marketing solutions of the 21st century (Schwartz 2005).

Collection method

The methods of conducting the study are aimed at understanding the implications of the start-up businesses in relation to the Health Fitness Club. The data is obtained from the online survey questionnaire and supporting interviews that seek to find out about the most important entrepreneurial practices of the start-up launches. The online survey will comprise a number of questions that seek information on the implications of the best start-up business practices and how they could be applied in relation to the Health Fitness Club. The research utilizes both quantitative and qualitative approaches to conducting the study since it consists of the insights on the start-up business practices that are based on both the review of relevant literature and online responses of the entrepreneurs (Walsh 2008).

Ethical issues

The entrepreneurs were asked not to reveal any personal information for social awareness. Therefore, the confidentiality was held within the research framework. The ethical procedures are essential in order to protect the respondents who have doubts about sharing their personal details. The research is managed to provide the maximum value for the public and ensure that no harm was done to the participants of the research. Otherwise, such business proposal will not justify its purpose and will not provide adequate results towards the findings. Thus, this research required ethical approval, which is important for the study. In fact, the entrepreneurs who participated in the online survey are also interested in the outcomes of this business proposal so that they could also improve their marketing and business strategies and reapply them in the existing businesses in Erbil (Zenger & Folkman 2009).

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire design is important since it addresses the main points about the sample. In addition, it discusses the projections of the business proposal regarding the marketing research on the best start-up practices. It also evaluates the responses of the entrepreneurs that add more value to the Health Fitness Club as an entrepreneurial start-up project. The business proposal also compares the findings of the secondary and primary data results in order to meet the objectives for the business and marketing plans in terms of the Health Fitness Club. Hence, the design of the online questionnaire is targeted towards the implications covered in the secondary research findings (Light & Kiddon 2009).

Data Analysis

The data analysis addresses the difficulties of starting up a business such as the Health Fitness Club. Therefore, the business proposal evaluates the best start-up solutions that are important in terms of both their positive and negative implications of the Health Fitness Club. In terms of ethics, the research addresses various issues that create some interest from the position of the entrepreneurs who participated in the online survey and shared their experiences during the personalized interviews. The essential tendencies are aimed at understanding the principles of start-up business practices with a special focus to the launching of online business. The research planning phase involves the process of collecting the data, managing the resources and supporting the business implications with the evidence from various literature resources and responses of the entrepreneurs. The purpose is to take advantage of the best available instruments (Whitelaw 2012).

Primary Data Analysis

The online survey is managed in support of the findings in the review of relevant literature on the start-up best practices. In particular, the study examines the online implications of starting and running the Health Fitness Club. The findings could be useful for understanding theoretical concepts and taking advantage of the practical recommendations of the entrepreneurs in terms of the start-up launch of the Health Fitness Club. The primary data results will bring together all the data that will be statistically analyzed to provide the explanations on various aspects of the start-up practices, including both positive and negative sides of running a Health Fitness Club as a business. In fact, the entrepreneurs agreed to participate in the online survey since they were also interested in obtained the best start-up practices from around the globe. The idea is to take advantage of the best experiences on the successful start-up launches, which is why they decided to share their opinions and experience openly for the target audience (Zoratti & Gallagher 2012).

Based on the retrieved data, the significance of the online digital marketing strategies could be perceived through the value that is offered in various business channels.

Refer to the graphical representation below for more details:

• Crafting new marketing campaigns 7%
• Providing services with high converting rates 12%
• Performing in-depth competitive analysis 9%
• Creating advanced commercials that drive traffic to the promo campaigns 11%
• Promoting original marketing campaigns 8%
• Constructing fresh social media and digital networking channels 11%
• Developing landing pages to advertise the top services 11%
• Remodeling split-tests to optimize landing pages and generate more profit 14%
• Exploring information in pursuing for sources that increase traffic and generate higher sales 10%
• Replicating the offers in various services 7%

Percent Males-65%, Females-35%, Total-100%

Business Implications

Since the research uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the outcomes of both studies will be applied in terms of starting and running the Health Fitness Club using online and offline business and marketing best practices. In fact, the business proposal will also include clarifications from the entrepreneurs in terms of applying the best start-up practices in different types of business. In parallel, the research will take advantage of the interviews with respect to the replies of the respondents that will be considered as an interpretation of the start-up launch of the Health Fitness Club. This approach to conducting both online survey and personalized interviews will go in parallel with the findings from the relevant literature. As a result, the outcomes of the business proposal will be used to interpret the research results more effectively. In addition, the positioning of the primary research is open-ended, which encourages discussion and thus allows the entrepreneurs to share highly valuable information for its accurate usage in the practices of the Health Fitness Club. This will ensure that all the information retrieved during the research for the business proposal will be valid, credible and reliable. Thus, the overall approach to conducting and managing the data also means that all the information provided in the business proposal is unbiased and could be surely used in the start-up launch of the Health Fitness Club (Weinreich 2011).

Business Model

The business model is based on the combination of all the marketing elements in one marketing tool that will promote the services offered by the Health Fitness Club in Erbil. The business model will be presented with a number of marketing instruments that are used to publicize valuable information in the online resources. It makes more sense compared to the advertising in the offline resources since today the vast majority of the target customers are oriented towards searching for the best places to improve their health on the Internet. The major concern is the fitness centers that will be the perfect match between the Health Fitness Club and the target audience in Erbil (McGrath & Macmillan 2005).

Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas includes such elements as the website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing that in turns presents the social media and digital networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn (Ryan 2014).

Business Model Elements

The elements of the business model were considered with respect to launching the Health Fitness Club as a start-up business in Erbil. The idea is to deliver the highly valuable information to the target customers thus attracting them to the Health Fitness Club through the number of social media and digital networking channels. In addition, the business model elements refer to the need for taking advantage of the website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing. All the elements of the model are explained in detail below (Moser 2013).

Website marketing

The benefits of marketing the website refer to the ability of the website information to advertise the services of the Health Fitness Club online. Consequently, it is important to provide the target customers with the best offers in the target market over the website. The idea is to present the target customers with the overall representation of the value that is delivered by the Health Fitness Club. It will also serve as the method for encouraging its members to improve their health with the benefits of the fitness lifestyles. One of the important elements that could be used by the Health Fitness Club on its website is banner advertising, which will invite the target customers to take advantage of future events. Therefore, the website of the Health Fitness Club will have a field where it will collect the names and e-mails of the prospective members who visit the website by delivering them an overview of the offered health and fitness services. For instance, it will include video instructions of tips from the top health and fitness experts in the world that will be available for instant download. However, in order to receive the bonus videos, the target customers will be asked to provide their names and e-mail addresses so that the Health Fitness Club can send them the highly valuable content directly. The other valuable element of the website is the opportunity to preview the services offered by the Health Fitness Club both online and offline. The idea is to demonstrate the results of real people who achieved success with the number of simple but yet effective health and fitness practices. Thus, the other significant element of the website promotion is the number of testimonials of people who have already experienced similar health and fitness services. The purpose is to promote healthy living based on fitness lifestyles. The other essential element of the promotion strategy used by the Health Fitness Club is to offer a great number of free web resources. These resources could be used by anybody accessing the website openly and free of charge with the simple registration and download of the health and fitness materials. In addition, the Health Fitness Club will take advantage of content marketing and social media marketing instruments as a way to promote its services more effectively. The goal is to provide the target customers with highly valuable information collected on the website of the Health Fitness Club with respect to both health and fitness implications. Its major idea is to support the target customers with the most valuable health and fitness solutions in advance. In other words, the content marketing and e-mail marketing instruments will deliver highly valuable information akin to a test drive service offered completely free of charge. Overall, all of the above mentioned marketing elements should be used on the website of the Health Fitness Club simultaneously (Powell 2008).

E-mail marketing

Another way to promote the health and fitness services of the Health Fitness Club on the website is by asking for the e-mails of the potential members, which could be managed by offering great value absolutely free of charge. Such value could be the health and fitness training program aimed at both males and females. Therefore, the Health Fitness Club should take advantage of e-mail marketing since this is considered as one of the most conventional techniques. It serves to attract the target customers to the community and thus generating higher annual revenues. However, it is essential to develop a subscription that will advertise all the service of the Health Fitness Club with respect to meeting the broad demands of the target customers. At the same time, it is important to make sure that such subscription lasts for the next hundred days after the target customers share their names and e-mails. In addition, the prospective members should not feel pressured to purchase every single service. Instead, the purpose is to ask the target customers about their most sophisticated needs and position the right services of the Health Fitness Club in a way that best provides value. Furthermore, if the e-mail message sent to the target customers is managed based on the above mentioned benefits, they will be more inclined to evaluate the Health Fitness Club and its website for more information. It is also likely that they will invite their friends and relatives to visit the website of the Health Fitness Club in the next several days. Moreover, the e-mail newsletter should be used to advertise future events and offer the prospective members the possibility of purchasing completed promotional services at a discounted price. Overall, the goal is to take advantage of all the aforementioned aspects at the same time. Most importantly, there is no need to spam the target customers with a great variety of data on the aspects that they do not need (Scott 2014).

Content marketing

The use of the website marketing and e-mail marketing could be improved with the use of the content marketing best strategies. Therefore, the content marketing best practices could be used to enhance the offered information on the services of the Health Fitness Club with the help of additional data in the related subjects to both health and fitness matters. It refers to the positive habits such as healthy meals and physical wellbeing. However, such information should be offered completely free of charge in order to help the target customers understand the importance of the health and fitness lifestyles. Overall, the use of content marketing could be combined with social media and digital networking channels by incorporating the content marketing best practices that have the greatest recognition in the web promotion. The purpose is to provide the target customers with highly valuable information based on articles on the website of the Health Fitness Club. However, it makes more sense to attract the target customers to the health and fitness community that is promoted through the use of highly valuable content. Therefore, the target customers will be willing to improve their health with the use the vast majority of services offered by the Health Fitness Club. Overall, it would be possible with the help of the content marketing techniques that are combined with the website marketing, e-mail marketing and social media marketing. As a result, the use of the above mentioned ways of advertising could provide potential members with more value with the help of content marketing best practices. However, every website article should have one simple idea of adding more value to the health and fitness lifestyles of the members. For this reason, each article should not be greater than a thousand words in length. Nevertheless, all the information shared in the article should be highly valuable and given from a practical viewpoint since it eliminates all the possible theoretical assumptions and includes just the pure benefits addressed towards the health and fitness benefits (The Economist & Ellwood 2014).

Social media marketing

Social media marketing is the final element that should be used to promote the services of the Health Fitness Club online through the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn channels. Indeed, the content shared in each article on the website of the Health Fitness Club should be duplicated in all the selected social media and digital networking channels. The idea is to provide the target customers with similar information through the use of video, audio, text and imagery across the website of the Health Fitness Club. Thus, such a strategy of promoting the highly valuable content online will consequently result in the use of the social media marketing. It makes sense since Google recognizes such data as totally new and thus the website of the Health Fitness Club will not fall victim to the filters of Panda or Penguin that could spoil the overall marketing strategy. At the same time, the owners of the Health Fitness Club could offer even more value to the target customers by delivering highly valuable content through the combination of the website data, e-mail subscription, social media and digital networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. Simultaneously, such information could be perceived by the target customers as the means of communication that addresses the vast majority of needs of the target customers. Consequently, as a result of using the best practices of the social media marketing, the Health Fitness Club will cross-reference the highly valuable content across all the social media and digital networking channels. Thus, the Health Fitness Club will attract more target customers to its services using all the best online marketing instruments. As a result, the target customers will be gifted with the greatest value in the target market of the health and fitness services, which will lead to greater annual revenues and complete recognition of the Health Fitness Club brand. Therefore, members of the Health Fitness Club will be fortunate enough to receive everything they expect through the effective use of social media and digital networking channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn (Scott 2013).

Business Plan for Three Years

The business plan will be presented with respect to the vision and mission statements, including the objectives of the Health Fitness Club for the next three years of its start-up and further development. It will also include the implications of the marketing plan, organizational or operational plan, and financial plan. At the same time the implementation of the entire business plan will be presented with the help of the implementation schedule through the use of the Gantt chart. Finally, the business plan will include the critical success factors and risk mitigation, including the contingency plan to address all the possible obstacles of the start-up Health Fitness Club project (Temporal 2011).

Vision and Mission

The Health Fitness Club intends to become one of the most preferred places in Erbil by providing members with the top health and fitness services, which will be managed by delivering the high quality experience at a premium level and at reasonable prices (Tybout & Calder 2010).

Objectives

• To deliver premium fitness service and offering healthy lifestyles in the target market of Erbil;
• To provide members and prospective members with top fitness services using the website, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing solutions every month;
• To open a second Health Fitness Club branch in the next 24 months;
• To offer both health and fitness services of premium quality and at reasonable prices;
• To create an extraordinary customer experience by promoting health and fitness lifestyles in the community of Erbil.

Marketing Plan

The vast majority of the start-up businesses fail today due to their inability to take advantage of contemporary marketing strategies. For this reason, the Health Fitness Club is going to use the best marketing strategies with respect to the website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing solution. However, in order to make these marketing strategies effective and profitable for the Health Fitness Club, it is important to provide the health and fitness services that are in demand by the target customers of Erbil. It makes sense to launch the Health Fitness Club start-up project almost entirely on the Internet. However, in order to achieve greater results there is a need to take advantage of the rules that lucrative online-based companies already use in the target markets. Consequently, the Health Fitness Club will implement the proven marketing strategies for making the launch of the start-up project profitable online. The idea is to take advantage of the best practices of the website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing. At the same time, it makes sense to take advantage of the continued dynamic strategy of the Health Fitness Club in order to maximize annual revenues after the first year. It could be achieved with the optimization of the online solutions for the health and fitness services of the Health Fitness Club. In fact, such marketing instruments already work for the vast majority of highly profitable businesses that operate in different niches online. Hence, as a result of implementing such marketing strategies, the Health Fitness Club will be able to increase its income by ten and twenty percent in the next three years accordingly. Overall, it is important to use the same concept of marketing as it is demanded by the target customers and with respect to the needs of the target industry. Therefore, it makes sense to optimize the best marketing strategies in order to promote the health and fitness services of the Health Fitness Club in Erbil. The purpose is to optimize the use of the website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing best practices considering the rules of the top health and fitness companies in the target industry.

Thus, the Health Fitness Club will take advantage of the following conception in order to promote its health and fitness services in the target market of Erbil (Millman 2012):

• Crafting new marketing campaigns;
• Providing services with high conversion rates;
• Performing in-depth competitive analysis;
• Creating advanced commercials that drive traffic to the promo campaigns;
• Promoting original marketing campaigns;
• Constructing fresh social media and digital networking channels;
• Developing landing pages to advertise the top services;
• Remodeling split-tests to optimize landing pages and generate more profit;
• Exploring information in pursuing for sources that increase traffic and generate higher sales;
• Replicating the offers in various services (Millman 2012).

Organizational / Operational Plan

The plan of operations on the start-up Health Fitness Club project will be based on offering its health and fitness services by taking advantage of several factors. For example, it is important to ensure the services of the Health Fitness Club are a hundred percent valuable before offering them to the target customers. At the same time, it makes sense to create the fitness environment to promote the health community of the Health Fitness Club based on the strong teamwork skills that are combined with the achievements of employees in both high personal and professional spheres of life. Simultaneously, it is essential to offer both offline and online services for both the employees and members of the Health Fitness Club. At the same time, the management of the operational business processes should be accomplished through the following strategic action steps: needs assessment, strategy and planning, implementation, quality control, measurement and feedback, continuous improvements. The entrepreneurial actions should also be based on the control of the duties and responsibilities of the employees as well as their fulfillment in the workplace.

The purpose is to manage the workflow and apply the skills and talents of the employees in order to guarantee the highest health and fitness results of the target customers. Overall, the idea is to implement the operations strategy with respect to making all the business processes of the Health Fitness Club effective altogether, which will be possible if they are highly effective separately. However, the continuation of the operations should be managed with respect to the feedback of the target customers on the level of quality in terms of the health and fitness services. The idea is to provide the target customers with the 100% satisfaction guarantee considering the health and fitness services that are offered both online and offline. At the same time, all the offers that the Health Fitness Club promotes should be personalized based on the specific needs of the target customers, which could be measured and improved through the use of the best practices in terms of management, leadership and mentoring, coaching and counseling, personal consulting, innovating health training, fitness online education. As a result, it will lead to the ability to offer the health and fitness services of the premium quality in the target market of Erbil in Kurdistan (Scott 2011).

In addition, the Human Resource Management of the Health Fitness Club will be aimed at employing the greatest talents in Erbil. The purpose is to hire the leaders of the existing communities by creating a free health and fitness event to promote the services of the Health Fitness Club. It will be managed with respect to those employees who are able to work effectively in teams and will be able to cooperate with the management and other subordinate members of the Health Fitness Club. Hence, the process of recruitment will be based on the accomplishments of people in terms of both health and fitness. At the same time, the core implications will be the personal qualities and professional qualifications of people that could be applied in the sphere of health and fitness at the Health Fitness Club. The idea is to promote the healthy lifestyles through the fitness community in Erbil, which will be managed over the website and referring online marketing instruments such as website marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing and social media marketing. The employees will be hired with respect to their competencies and qualifications based on leadership and mentoring, coaching and counseling, personal consulting, innovating health training, fitness online education (Richey & Ponte 2011).

Critical Success Factors

The operation of the Health Fitness Club should be managed in order to guarantee superior level of the health and fitness services in Erbil. For this reason, the critical success factors are considered with respect to the aspects of profits, people, and planet as follows (Fisk 2010):

• Profits refers to delivering the premium health and fitness services to the target customers using both online and offline marketing strategies, which will guarantee the annual of growth of revenue in the target market of Erbil;
• People refers to the value of the health and fitness community that provides the target customers with the knowledge and experience of the top people in the target industry through the top customer servicing, highly qualified networking and community engagement, and enhanced benefits that reflect both personal and professional sides of life;
• Planet refers to the dedicated contribution of the Health Fitness Club to the improvement of the lifestyles for the people in Erbil terms of time, efforts and money invested in the health and fitness services (Fisk 2010).

Risks Mitigation / Contingency Plan

The risk mitigation and contingency plan is managed considering the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are faced by the Health Fitness Club both today and in the future referring to the target health and fitness market of Erbil. However, it is important to emphasize the following risk implications considering the highest value towards the talent management, employees, target customers, and existing competition in the target market of Erbil.

Overall, the risk mitigation and contingency plan should be managed effectively in accordance to the following aspects (Hill 2011):

• Use of the potential income in order to sustain the business operations;
• Maintenance of the business capacity towards the operations of the Health Fitness Club;
• Development of the offline and online health and fitness programs;
• Recruitment and education of the personnel;
• Improvement of the existing marketing strategies considering the changes in the target health and fitness market;
• Optimization of the expenditures to support the labor force and community of the Health Fitness Club;
• Dedication to offering the top health and fitness services for club members in Erbil (Hill 2011).