Marketing Strategy for Car Rental Businesses

This assignment delves into the development of a comprehensive marketing strategy for car rental companies. It requires an in-depth analysis of the car rental industry, including market size, growth, and key trends. Students must identify target customer segments, understand their needs and preferences, and analyze competitor strategies. The assignment emphasizes the application of various marketing concepts such as pricing, distribution, promotion, and customer relationship management (CRM) to develop a successful marketing plan for a car rental business.

Assessment 2: Marketing Plan
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Main Body..................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
Reference List..........................................................................................................................15
2

Introduction
Marketing Plan is a detailed group blueprint that is utilised by individuals in order to create
a strategic method through which advertisement along with marketing efforts can be detailed
for the coming future. It is important to create a marketing plan since it provides the doctor
through which marketing campaign can be created. As per the previous assignment, in this
analysis, GreenShareCar will be selected. For this rental organisation, a marketing plan will
be created through which emphasis will be given upon aspects such as segmentation,
targeting and positioning and other organisational aspects, which the business needs to focus
upon.
3

Main Body
1. Develop a marketing plan
a. Identify objectives and issues as well as marketing logic to create customer value;
The various objectives of GreenShareCar for the coming few years shall be illustrated
here:
 To help develop new rental schemes that will help in growing the customer pool of
the organisation in coming three months
 To help make the services of the organisation become more affordable so that higher
sales and profit can be made
 To incorporate the vehicle technology so that pollution free products are available by
the business.
In Australia, one of the main issues that students and retired people face that they do not
process their own vehicles so that they can travel long distances and travel to multiple places.
In order to mitigate this issue, it is important for a business to be initiated that provides such
utility so that absent need is fulfilled in the market. The marketing logic which is present for
GreenShareCar to address this need is to create an advertising campaign that will showcase
that people of this age are do not possess a car and requires at a short period.
Multiple ways are there in which GreenShareCar provides customer value in the market.
This value is provided through various benefits such as providing free petrol for rental cars,
giving access 24 72 rental services, availing online payment methods, being less expensive
when compared to competitors, and more (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015). All of these aspects
help the organisation in differentiating itself from other businesses and competitors in
Australia. In addition to this, other customer value such as parking on return, and vehicle
insurance is also provided on a rental car that is provided in various parts of Melbourne
where the organisation operates.
b. Segmentation, targeting and positioning as well as marketing strategies
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning or STP is a significant method through which the
target audience of a business is subdivided further so that a business can evaluate how to
focus on specific consumers.
4

Segmentation
Various types of segregation that is present in segmentation that includes geographic,
demographic, psychographic, and behavioural divisions. Geographically, Melbourne will be
selected and demographically, focus will be given on both male and female genders with
income between AU$30,000. Psycho-graphically, students and retired people with relaxed
lifestyle will be primarily focus upon who have a higher margin of need of utilising rental
vehicles (Philip, 2017). Behaviourally, consumers with repeat usage of rental car services
will be advertised towards
Targeting
Based on the above information that has been provided, consumers in places such as
Elizabeth Street, Little Bourke, and others will be targeted. In these locations, focus will be
given upon small families, which have a high larger likelihood of renting out different
vehicles. In addition to this, educated families will be aimed towards acquiring since these
people have a higher probability of properly utilising the vehicles that are provided to them.
In addition to this, people with more extroverted and introverted will be aimed towards. If
consumers are able to be loyal then they will be provided with higher margins of discounts
and other benefits (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2019).
Positioning
Based on all of the information above, the organisation will provide high quality and high rise
car rental service that will put emphasis upon giving a good riding experience to consumers.
While there are other companies with lower prices, quality is the primary concern with this
organisation and the way it can be obtained.
Marketing Strategies
Product: The organisation provides car rental services through a variety of vehicles with
high and low prices are available in Melbourne, Australia. Further new car models will be
introduced so that the product line can be diversified further to attract new consumers
Pricing: GreenShareCar provides these types of rates that include casual, economic, and
every day. Through this scheme, AU$55, AU$11, AU$29, are provided to consumers
effectively. This strategy helps in attracting different types of customers effectively (Ansoff
et al., 2018).
5

Distribution: Multiple types of distribution channel that the organisation utilises in order to
create awareness about itself and reach out to a higher margin of consumers. These include
creating awareness on social media, utilising its own website, have in physical stores, and
other methods (Armstrong et al., 2018).
Promotion: Promotional strategies such as Facebook posts, social media marketing to
videos, celebrity endorsements, and others will be utilised in order to create awareness about
rental services.
c. Action programmes
Specific Actions
What will be done?
The organisation will create a video ad campaign through with the benefits of the rental
services can be showcased. Brand endorsements will be performed as well through large
celebrity in Australia (Deepak & Jeyakumar, 2019).
When will be done?
This will be done in the next coming three months and multiple places in Melbourne will be
targeted at will yield the most level of sales of rental scheme.
Who will do it?
The managerial heads of the organisation will initiate this campaign so that all of the different
aspects such as content, tone of the brand, and other aspects are correctly implemented and
misinformation is not provided to the market.
How will it cost?
Particular Amount(AU$)
Fixed assets 10000
Taxes 1000
Labour 4000
Furniture and fittings 5000
Office electronics 8000
Marketing services 2000
6

Quality measures costs 4000
Legal compliance costs 3500
Total cost (AU$) 37500
Table 1: Budget
As per the above created budget it can be understood that the costs for implementing the
marketing campaign shall be AU$37,500.
What will be the control measures?
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns that is being initiated for
the rental scheme. The organisation will focus upon implementing different types of control
measures that include:
 Evaluate the increase in the amount of profit margin in the coming six months
 The amount of production impact there has been after eight months (Rothaermel,
2016)
 The amount of goodwill the organisation has generated to social media online
2. Outline the followings:
a. Define clearly the value proposition of your chosen business, product or the brand;
GreenShareCar provides a multitude of value proposition to its own consumers. This value
can range from various benefits in relation to the car schemes that ranges from free patrol,
24/7 rental channels, online payment facilities, and others. In addition to this, the rental car,
with the future of parking on return, which provides consumers, the chance of availing any
type of payment they have made during visiting specific location. The organisation provides
insurance as well consumers to drive feel from one location to another and not worry about
minor accidents that might occur. It has consumers obtain the feeling of owning a car without
actually making a large investment in a specific product.
b. Critically evaluate the business's situation (provide a summary of SWOT/TOWS
analysis from the assessment 1 and suggest appropriate marketing mix strategies:
SWOT analysis is of internal analytical framework, which has helped the business in order
to understand the different capabilities, which are present. Along with which, the way it can
be utilised for further competitive advantage
7

Strengths Weaknesses
 Insurance, less expensive, free patrol,
and others
 No mobile application, not all cars are
sustainable, and others
Opportunities Threats
 The organisation can fully digitise,
interviews mobile applications, and
performed other activities
 Melbourne possesses low population
and an increased level of car-rental
competition
Table 2: SWOT analysis
TOWS analysis is the interconnected framework whereby which strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and other aspects of SWOT analysis will be evaluated in the context of
GreenShareCar.
Critical Evaluation
Based on the above summary, as postulated by Baker (2014), environmentally friendly
vehicle currently are high in demand as they decrease the margin of pollution. However, they
are more expensive in nature and it is much more difficult for a retail organisation to procure
them at the large-scale. As demonstrated by Lovelock & Patterson (2015), social media is
currently a powerful tool that is utilised by larger organisations in order to create local as well
as international consumers. However in order to utilise and create applications, website
another a lot of investment is required owing to which, the reserves of the company decrease
and lesser organisational activities are performed in the future. In the words of Philip (2017),
different types of pricing strategies helps an organisation target consumers from low income
bracket as well as high income bracket. This increases the chances of sales however, most
people would be inclined towards low prices so profit margin will be low.
c. Product
GreenShareCar is one of the most recognised rental-car service providers in Australia. The
value proposition of the corporation lies in providing the customers with appropriate services
that provides them with higher authorities over owning a car (greensharecar.com.au, 2020).
Rental-car services are the key products of the organisation. The attributes and features of the
deliverables of the company can be ascertained through three levels, which are core, actual,
and augmented.
8

Core: This determines the main benefits of the service. In this case, the customers are
provided with an opportunity to rent car for their personal or business purposes. Therefore,
they are able to travel at time of need and reach intended destinations. Further, the rich
mobility service reduces the stress of the customer and allowing him or her to do the same on
online standards.
Actual: The vehicles are the physical evidence of the service in the company. Different cars
of brands such as Hyundai and Toyota are used for the rental purposes. Some of the models
used are Toyota Yaris, Toyota HiAce, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30, Hyundai iMax, and Jeep
Compass (greensharecar.com.au, 2020). Therefore, it is evident that the company includes
variety of cars and provides the buyers with options to choose based on their requirement. For
example, for off-road trips, the company recommends Jeep Compass, which is a sport utility
vehicle.
Augmented: These are some non-physical attributes of the concerned product. In case of
renting service, all the vehicles under the company have proper services warranty from its
recognised brand. Further, these vehicles have proper certifications and government
authorisations. Moreover, it also provides insurances in case of emergencies along with free
petrol options and parking. This has been one of the key reasons that the majority of the
consumers are inclined towards acquiring these services. The service of the company is open
for 24 hours a day (greensharecar.com.au, 2020).
d. Pricing
Pricing strategy plays a key role in influencing the customer perceptions and buying
behaviour. Therefore, it is important to have an appropriate pricing approach and in this
segment, competitive policy would be the most beneficial. This will directly boost the
leadership potential of the company. According to ibisworld.com.au (2020), the market size
of car rental industry is almost $1 billion and has almost 1,971 businesses. Further, the sector
has been subjected to modest elevation in past few years, which makes it more favourable for
new setups. Therefore, it is evident that the level of competition is considerably high in this
industry and GreenShareCar would be required to mitigate this threat to ensure proper profit
generation. This strategy would support the organisation to provide services to consumers at
better prices compared to its rivals.
9

Because of the lower rates, more consumers will be attracted towards the company and this
will boost the sales (Li et al., 2016). Further, it will also be able to cover up considerable
shares in the market and ensure a steady growth. Another advantage of this technique is its
dynamic nature. GreenShareCar will have the opportunity to adapt to the various consumer
and market trend changes effectively without major modifications in its pricing models. The
positioning of the company is improved through this approach and further, brand image is
enhanced in the market. Additionally, the company can also provide discounts for the various
services. This serves an efficient part of the company’s promotional standards and it creates
major awareness in the market.
e. Distribution
In order to gain appropriate success, GreenShareCar can aim at implementing exclusive
distribution strategy. This will provide only selected retailers with exclusive rights for
delivering services to the consumers within a specified geographical area. Both the
manufacturers and supplier will benefit equally from the process. The company would have
more authority in selling the service and it will have an effective opportunity to control the
cost for operations (Saremi & Zadeh, 2014). The supplier will have lesser competition and
therefore, chances of success will be more. Ability of the organisation in stock management
will also improve along with its financial standards. Compared to the other strategies such as
selective and intensive, this will allow higher localisation of the company. This means that
GreenShareCar will be able to expand its company in new regions with proper relationships
with different local distributors.
For channel strategies, GreenShareCar can rely on both direct and indirect strategies. The
direct approach will allow delivering services directly to the consumers. On contrary, indirect
channel involves a distributor, which acts as a medium between the company and customers.
Direct channel will allow the company to interact directly with the buyers (Xiao, Choi &
Cheng, 2014). This would allow it have appropriate information about the consumers and
their behaviours and modify own strategies accordingly. Direct interaction with the customers
will also allow the corporation to attain proper feedbacks and it will not have to share is
revenue with any distributor. Further, indirect approach will provide the organisation with an
opportunity to save operational cost and reach out to the customer at higher speed. This will
create a positive awareness and reputation of the company in the industry. The complexity of
GreenShareCar in logistics standards will decrease and it will be able to focus more the
10

service quality. The availability of the products will be more in the market and this will assist
in tackling the competition in industry.
The channel level for the company will be single, which means that there will be only
retailers between manufacturers and consumers. Therefore, the cost and complexity in
distribution is reduced. Moreover, compared to multiple level facilities, the time required for
complete distribution is low for single approach (Tetteh & Xu, 2014). Further, it will be
easier for the company to implement various changes within its distribution channel without
any kind of major problems. The lower cost will allow it to boost productivity and
profitability. The distribution will be mainly done through mobile and web-based
applications, which consumers can access with appropriate internet connectivity.
f. Promotion
Promotional strategies are of various types such as push and pull. In a push strategy of
promotion, products are directly traded to customers to ensure that they are aware of the
brand during the moment of purchase. According to Au & Tucker (2016), in pull strategy
customers are motivated to look for the brand actively in order to make purchase.
Considering GreenShareCar, the enterprise can opt for pull promotional technique, as it
would involve direct marketing efforts. Consequently, pull strategy success can be
perceivable after long time, as customers would compare the alternatives before deciding to
choose specific service or product over others (Grace, 2018). However, in push strategy the
company might need to bring the products to target audience as it is carried out in nice
market. Moreover, through implementation of pull strategy in enterprise, awareness among
customers would be develop that can be beneficial for meeting its vision of creating share
value with rise in number of customers. As opined by Mamic (2019), pull marketing
technique assists in building brand loyalty through direct communication method.
The company for efficient and successful marketing can use promotional mix strategies.
Public relation strategy involves promoting service or products through campaigning in
which the goal is to influence reputation of enterprise. Moreover, sharing information among
public about its vision about rental cars’ less negative impact on environment can assist in
creative value for stakeholders such as wider community and customers. GreenShareCar can
share to audience about its corporate objectives of provision of equal wages to every
employee and adherence to Australian laws on health and safety can help in developing its
reputation in society. In addition to this, publicity about its value proposition such as free
11

petrol, free parking on return, vehicle insurance, online payment, and others can aid in
meeting promotional goals. Advertising through online media can be recommended to reach
wider audience without much cost. Through this method, it can increase customers’
awareness about its mission of operating legally and delivering car rental service to
customers considering community and following ethical practices.
Salesmanship can be included by hiring sales representatives who would explain the features
of rental cars to customers through using pamphlets or brochures to create sales lead. Sales
promotion is one of the vital components of promotional mix in which the company
promotes its products through luring them with short-term benefits to increase demand.
GreenShareCar can use this promotional tactic to persuade customers and maintain their
loyalty. This can be done through reducing price of car rental services for specific period.
Other than these, media strategies can be incorporated to enhance promotion. For instance,
GreenShareCar can increase its presence in social media platforms such as Instagram,
Facebook, and others to attract numbers of customers. More people would get to know about
its car rental service and aspects of its value proposition. The company to enhance visual
appeal can leverage content marketing (Newlands, 2017). Furthermore, creation of attractive
contents on car rental service would increase its web traffic rate.
12

Conclusion
In this analysis, the case of GreenShareCar has been taken into consideration and several
different rental schemes have been elucidated. In the initial stages of this analysis the
organisational objectives of the company to create different types of scheme and services at
an affordable rate has been pinned down. Apart from this, segmentation targeting and
positioning in the case of the organisation has been created where it has been determined that
individuals with AU$30,000 income will be targeted. Apart from this, a detailed marketing
mix has been evaluated here where promotion, pricing, product variety, and others have been
detailed.
13

Reference List
AU, A., & TUCKER, J. (2016). Push and pull marketing strategies: A blueprint for
microenterprises. Journal of Global Economics, Management and Business Research,
105-114.
Newlands, M. (2017). 10 Social-Media Marketing Strategies for Companies. Retrieved 23
April 2020, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293321
Ansoff, H. I., Kipley, D., Lewis, A. O., Helm-Stevens, R., & Ansoff, R. (2018). Implanting
strategic management. Springer.
Armstrong, G.M., Kotler, P., Harker, M. & Brennan, R., 2018. Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson UK.
Baker, M.J., (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
Deepak, R.K.A. & Jeyakumar, S., (2019). Marketing management. Educreation Publishing.
Lovelock, C. & Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Philip, K., 2017. Principles of marketing. Pearson higher education.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2016). Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
ibisworld.com.au (2020). Market Research Reports & Analysis | IBISWorld AU. Retrieved
23 April 2020, from https://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry-trends/specialised-
market-research-reports/consumer-goods-services/car-rental.html
Li, B., Zhu, M., Jiang, Y., & Li, Z. (2016). Pricing policies of a competitive dual-channel
green supply chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 2029-2042.
Saremi, H., & Zadeh, S. M. M. (2014). Management of distribution channels. Indian J. Sci.
Res, 5(3), 452-456.
14

Xiao, T., Choi, T. M., & Cheng, T. C. E. (2014). Product variety and channel structure
strategy for a retailer-Stackelberg supply chain. European Journal of Operational
Research, 233(1), 114-124.
Tetteh, A., & Xu, Q. (2014). Supply chain distribution networks: Single-, dual-, & omni-
channel. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business, 3(9), 63-73.
Mamic, A. (2019). Retrieved 23 April 2020, from
https://medium.com/digital-reflections/how-to-benefit-from-a-pull-marketing-
strategy-463473208de5
Grace, D. (2018). Retrieved 23 April 2020, from https://medium.com/david-grace-columns-
organized-by-topic/the-pros-cons-of-push-and-pull-marketing-f12c449fb0b5
greensharecar.com.au (2020). Retrieved 23 April 2020, from
https://www.greensharecar.com.au/files/uickuidev8.2.pdf
15