Marketing Strategy for Comfort Cabs Business - Essay Example

details Marketing Strategy for Comfort Cabs Business Summary of Comfort Cabs Service Comfort Cab service is an individual small-scale business that is aimed at providing the services to the citizens around the Seattle area. In addition, this company will extend its scope to target the tourists who frequent this region. Therefore, the services to be provided by Comfort Cabs will be inclusive of travel agency in this sector that has been marked to be one of the rapidly growing sectors in the economy. In addition, Comfort cabs aims at capitalizing in planning for the travel as a way of the exploring unlimited business opportunities that are available in the northwest region of the Pacific. Information needs of target market It is important that our customers be informed of our locations, especially our head and branch offices where they make inquiries and launch appropriate complaints. The storefront of all our offices will face main streets with clearly visible entrances. We target to rent 1,550 square feet of fully serviced space for erecting our head office at a prevailing market rate of $27,099 per annum. To make the head office even more appealing to our visiting customers, additional $25,000 will be withdrawn from the business account for internal refurbishment. To cut on the costs, some of this work will be done by our staff with assistance of a few professionals. Because of our convenient location, a simple address will be detailed in our business card with a small map guiding the customers to the main office. Our contacts will clearly be displayed on our cabs for any potential customers to contact us when they need our services. Based on the fact that modern communication is even more advanced (Kate 28), the displayed contacts will include our business website (confortcab.com) and the telephone address of the main office. Should the customer establish a closer relationship with a specific cab, such customers can be given the address of the specific cab driver to enhance more convenient contact when their services are needed. Personal selling Through the personal selling approach, the individuals make “cold” calls to the potential customers informing them of their products and services and requesting these customers to try these products (Gooderl 135). In Comfort Cab business, personal selling will be a very important approach through which we will influence the customers in Seattle area. As our cabs move within the town, the drivers will stop at the strategic bus passenger collection stages to carry the wiling customers. In addition, the follow-ups calls will be made to our previously served customers to inquire about their opinions to our services, inquire of their willingness to be served by our cabs and to request for their recommendation to other potential customers. Through follow-ups, the customers are given details about our whereabouts and contact in order to contact us any time they need of our services. Through personal selling approach, Comfort cabs will be able to tailor the information to potential customer in real time. Through this direct contact, our sales personnel will address the customers concerns. In addition to the personnel responding to the customer requests on phone, others will embark on a street promotion campaign that will be targeted at informing the public of the new business, the location covered, incentives, and the charges. This information will be detailed in small cards that will also contain the company name, physical address and phone contact. Training Increasing the number of staff will be an important move by Comfort cabs. This is based on the fact that at this stage, many promotions and marketing are to be undertaken in order to create awareness of our services to the public. After recruitment, these individuals will be taken through an all-encompassing training program to improve on service delivery. The current staffs are passionate about the adventure vacations offered by this business. This is an enthusiasm that we intend to maintain through constant skills training and product development. Our aim here is recruitment of individuals with similar interests as the company. Through this common interest, it becomes easy to maintain an enjoyable atmosphere in our Company. Incentives to sales force According to the market research, publicity has been observed to have the strongest impact on what people particularly choose as their travel agents for their vacation (Stephen 37). These decisions are likely to be influenced by recommendation from colleagues, relative or even friend. Advertisement in the press is one approach that has not been very effective in this sector. This is based on the finding that in every advertisement in the press, only one out of seven customers is influenced to contact us for our services. In our public road shows, we target highest level of incentives. This is the approach through which we will inform the customers of various rewards and incentives available to our lucky customers. These incentives will be inclusive of winning free trips in monthly draws and discounted services on certain week days. Promotion of the staff morale is also very important. For that reason, a target will be set after which these staff will be rewarded through promotion to higher positions and pay rise. Communication objectives Through our selected communication strategies (discussed in the next topic), Comfort Cabs targets to publicize the services offered not only in Seattle region, but also in the foreign countries where the tourist visiting this town come from. When the customers are decided on the service to use, they are likely to maintain the contact for later use. On arrival to the country, these customers can call our offices and have our cabs disbursed to conveniently collect them from the airport. Communication strategies Personal selling is the major communication approach that is expected to attract majority of our customers. Through this tool, we target to develop buyer conviction and preference. This approach is to be developed in two dimensions: 1. Personal attraction: Through this process, an interactive relationship will be developed between our staff and the customers. Our staff will have a good opportunity of observing and reporting on the reactions of the potential customers. 2. Response: After listening to the sales talk from our staff, the customers will be swayed to try our services. Advertisement media Comfort Cabs Company has been established at period of rapid technology advancement, resulting to introduction of the most advanced advertisement media. Various advertisement media will be explored by Comfort Cabs for maximum benefit. These media are summarized below: 1. Social media and website: The social sites are inclusive of Facebook and twitter among many others (Kate 29). These are the most highly visited chatting sites whereby numerous advertisements have been posted. Should Comfort Cabs explore this alterative, it is highly likely to attract the tourists and cab users below 35 years who are frequent visitors to social cites. 2. Displays: These will be inclusive of bill boards located strategically on Seattle streets, posters, signs, hoardings and banners. 3. Local broadcasting stations and televisions capable of covering our business environment. However, this approach will not highly be utilized based on the fact that it is expensive and unreliable for this region-specific business. Public relations program The initial step will be hiring of a PR agency. This approach will enable us to design where to locate our business for ultimate visibility. The public relations will be charged with the responsibility of regulating the press releases. The Public relations advisor will assist us in writing, copying and locating publications editors. Sales promotions To be effectively equipped in sales promotions, our staff will be provided with excellent skills vital for this specific business through training. Moreover, we will “audit” our staff through observation of one day of their sales promotions activity every month. This move will be followed by feedback provision detailing observed strengths and weaknesses for appropriate measures. Measuring advertisement and promotion effectiveness The effectiveness in promotions and advertisement will be measured by calculating the financial performance after the first six months of business. At the initial stages of this business, advertisement and promotions are expected to be the key moves through which customers will be attracted to our business. Therefore if the business performance will be as growing, these promotional approaches will prove to be affective and will be continually utilized. Marketing costs One of the most important marketing media for this company is social media and website. The company website development will cost $ 34,000. Registering to the social media such as Twitter and Facebook will incur negligible costs to the company. In personal selling, $10, 000 will be initially utilized to cater for the staff salaries and incentives, customer incentives and other overhead costs. To run an advertisement in the television and radio station, the total cost has not yet been ascertained although it is not expected to exceed $34, 945 of the company’s total expenditures. Setting prices The cab businesses in Seattle have join hands to regulate the lowest prices that can be charged to the customers for healthy competition. This control is also approved by the government. In order for us to prevail amid existing competition, the price charged will slightly be lower that the currently existing rates although not below the required minimum charge. Frequent customers will be given a 5 % discount as a sign of appreciation. Temporary price promotions The “pull” strategy will be employed by Comfort Cabs to ensure that demand is first developed. As earlier mentioned, the price will initially be charged below the currently existing price to ensure that more customers are attracted. Therefore, $ 34,600 has been set aside to cover the costs that will initially be incurred while charging the price below the equilibrium demand and supply point. We understand that our main competitor, Yellow Line Cab, charges$45 to transport a customer from Seattle town to the airport. In our case, this price will be reduced to $39. However as we continue to grow, the price will be adjusted towards the prevailing market charges. Expected profits The profits for our business will depend on the sales that will be realized. In order to project our profits, we expect that in every three inquiries made in our office, one will automatically request for the cab service. This estimate can actually be very conservative. Actually, we expect that a steady accumulation of customers visiting this building will inquire about our services. Moreover, the inquiries will also be influenced by our promotional activities with time, eventually overtaking those inquiries made by the customers visiting the business premises where our offices are located. Should this projection be achieved, more than 600 adventure tourism vacations are expected to bring revenue of $166, 560. Moreover, cab business within town and its outskirts is expected to bring in a profit of $215 every day per each cab. After parting with the necessary expenditures, a profit of $415,096 is expected by the end of the first financial year. By the end of the third year, the profits are expected to rise to a new level of $678,045. Works cited Gooderl, Justin. “Small Business Management: An entrepreneurial emphasis”. Small Business Resource Center. Ohio: Cengage Learning. 2006 : 134-178. Print. Kate, M. “The Future Looks Bright, with Marketing Expanding, and Online Exploding.” B to B, November 22, 2011. 28. Stephen, J. “Comparing the Application of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in Magazine Ads Across Product Type and Time,” Journal of Advertising 36, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 37. Read More