(MRKT11029) Marketing fundamentals assignment Omvos Scooter marketing plan

Question

Task: how can Omvos Scooter use marketing fundamentals assignment research techniques to develop an effective marketing plan?

Answer

1. marketing fundamentals assignment Marketing objectives
The company will launch its product in the Australian market on January 30, 2023. Hence, there are three marketing objectives that will be achieved in the next six months from the launch date.

marketing fundamentals assignmentSMART objectives
marketing fundamentals assignmentObjective one: Increase brand awareness

2. Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning
Market segmentation
The company’s market will be segmented into two groups– demographic and firmographic segmentation. According to An et al. (2018), demographic segmentation divides customers based on their differentiating traits such as gender, age, income, race, education, etc. Hence, Omvos Scooter is launching an e-scooter in the Australian market which will be suitable for young and old people to cover small distances easily since it can be operated easily. The marketing fundamentals assignment research showsThe electric scooter will help teenagers and old people to become independent when it comes to travelling to places. People between the age group of 15-24 years and more than 65 years would be suitable for the product. Additionally, another group would include business firms that require efficient vehicles for delivering products to customers such as courier companies, food delivery corporations, etc. Omvos electric scooters will aid businesses to get the advantage of cheap delivery methods to increase efficiency.

Targeting customers
According to data, there were around 3.1 million people in Australia who were between the age group of 15-24 years on June 30, 2021, and these young people constituted 12% of the total population of the country (aihw.gov.au, 2022). Additionally, there were around 4.2 million Australians who were older than 65 years on June 30, 2020, which constituted 16% of the total Australian population (aihw.gov.au, 2021). Therefore, the main target customers of the company would be these two groups– the young (15-24 years) and the old generation (more than 65 years). Furthermore, the company will target another segment of customers which includes business corporations. The company will target companies such as food delivery companies including Menulog, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, etc. Hence the marketing fundamentals assignment research shows, the company will also target small businesses such as small grocery stores, laundry services, etc. so that they can Omvos Scooters can expand its business.

Positioning
As stated by Ad güzel (2020), positioning strategy determines the brand image in the market. It aids brands or products to establish a distinct image in the market. Hence, Omvos Scooters will position its electric scooters as easily operable vehicles which incur very less operational costs. The electric scooter will develop a distinct market image in the market through a unique value proposed by the product. The product will guarantee zero carbon emissions which will be an advantage for the company to develop a unique value in the market. Additionally, the scooter will run at a very low operational cost since it will use electricity as fuel. Furthermore, the scooter is designed in a way that it can be easily operated; hence, young people and old age people will find it convenient to ride.

3. marketing fundamentals assignment Marketing strategy
Product strategy
According to Thabit and Raewf (2018), products are the items and services that a business offers. Therefore, the product can be described in a few words as a package of benefits that a marketer offers to the customer in exchange for a fee. The authors also stated that product is the main element of the marketing mix. Therefore, companies are required to transform and present their products in such a manner that customers can be easily attracted to the product’s features. Omvos scooters have developed electric scooters which will help riders to travel across nearby places in Australia in a cost-efficient manner. Omvos scooters have developed an efficient e-scooter which is easy to operate since it is lightweight compared to other scooters available in the market. The scooter is designed with the help of advanced technology which reduced the weight of the scooter; hence, it can be easily operated by young teenagers as well as old people. Therefore, this product will benefit those individuals who find it difficult to ride heavyweight motorbikes or scooters. The scooter is also installed with an advanced battery which can be fully charged in not more than four hours. However, Wang et al. (2021), stated that electric vehicles consume a longer time in charging which subsequently increases the travel time. Therefore, Omvos e-scooter will remove eradicate the issue of longer charging time since the company has installed an advanced battery which gets fully charged in not more than four hours. The marketing fundamentals assignment product analsysis also shows this scooter is also installed with an e-mount technology which allows riders to connect their smartphones via USB cable to navigate to the destination along with charging the mobile’s battery (kickstarter.com, 2022). This will provide a significant advantage to young individuals who find difficulties in remembering routes and, hence, sometimes get lost on unknown tracks. Therefore, this scooter will aid such individuals in reaching their destinations on time without roaming around on unknown paths. Parents of young teenagers can become stress-free since they will get surety that their children will be safe while travelling. Hence, product strategy aims at providing extraordinary features to the customers that will outstand the product from other similar products in the market. Marketing of products becomes easier when an appropriate product strategy is adopted.

Moreover, Omvos electric scooters come with an anti-theft alarm system which ensures the security of the product. A marketing fundamentals assignmentreport states that a passenger/light commercial vehicle is stolen every thirteen minutes in Australia (budgetdirect.com.au, 2021). Therefore, customers of Omvos electric scooters are ensured a high level of security since it is installed with an anti-theft alarm. The scooter automatically gets locked when any theft is attempted thus it ensures lifelong security for its customers. Furthermore, the company will engage in certain practices to develop a strong brand image in the market. The company can develop a distinct brand image in the market through the product’s extraordinary features such as lightweight, long battery life, and stylish look. As stated by Truong et al. (2017), branding plays a critical role in the success of a high-technology product. Therefore, the company will establish a distinct image in the Australian market through the product’s unique features.

marketing fundamentals assignmentPromotion strategy
This is a strategy adopted to reach out to a large number of potential customers and persuade them to buy products or services. It significantly impacts the purchase decision-making of customers (Sudariet al. 2019, p.138). It is a crucial function which will aid the company to create strong brand loyalty in the market. Hence, appropriate promotional strategies are adopted while considering the target market of a company since it affects the effectiveness of the promotional strategy. The company’s target market includes the young (15-24 years) and old (more than 65 years) generations, and business corporations involved in the delivery business. However, the company will adopt relevant promotional strategies to reach out to its target market. The company will adopt social media marketing and advertising to reach out to the young and old generations in Australia respectively. Additionally, the company will communicate with other business corporations via e-mail marketing to make collaborations. According to data collected during this marketing fundamentals assignment, around 80% of the population in Australia uses social media networking sites (statista.com, 2022). The number of social media users in Australia is increasing rapidly; hence, a social media marketing strategy would be appropriate to communicate with a large number of potential customers.

Figure 1: Active social media users as a percentage of the total population in Australia from 2015 to 2022
(Source: statista.com, 2022)

The abovemarketing fundamentals assignment figure demonstrates that the number of social media users in the country is rising tremendously. The company will be benefited from adopting social media marketing in several ways. The major benefit of adopting social media marketing is that it is a cheap method of communicating with a large number of people (Bala and Verma, 2018, p.32). Since the company wants to adopt a cost-effective promotional technique, social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective strategies which is adopted to reach a large number of people. The product’s features, methods of usage, and other distinct qualities will be communicated to a large number of people through social media marketing.

Moreover, the company will promote electric scooters through advertisements in newspapers and magazines to communicate with old people. This method is also considered a cheaper promotional strategy which is used to reach a large number of people. An attractive advertisement will be developed which will state the extraordinary features of the product so that leads could be conveniently converted into customers. This method will not incur a large number of investments. Existing customers would also be encouraged to refer their friends, relatives, colleagues, and other knowns, and customers will be rewarded with a referral bonus for every successful purchase made through their referrals. Furthermore, the company will send emails regularly to business corporations who are engaged in the delivery businesses. E-mails will include details regarding Omvos electric scooter such as features, discounts, and how it can be applied in business models of companies to increase efficiency. E-mail marketing is a cost-effective method of reaching potential businesses and wasteful efforts will be avoided (Zhang et al. 2017, p.85). Hence, these marketing fundamentals assignmentpromotional strategies will help the company in reaching a large number of potential customers cost-effectively.

4. Social responsibility, ethics, and legal issues
When marketing a new product in the market, some social, ethical, and legal issues might arise which can affect the effectiveness of the marketing strategy. Some of the potential issues that can arise while marketing are discussed below:

False advertising
It is one of the major issues that can arise during marketing products. Some business organisations adopt false advertising to generate a large number of leads while ignoring the ethics of advertising (Rhodes and Wilson, 2018, p.34). Hence, the marketer should take care that the advertisement of electric scooters does not lead to false advertising. In simple terms, the market must not claim any false features, benefits, or details of the scooter while advertising.

marketing fundamentals assignmentUnethical data collection
Marketing process involves a lot of market research and, hence, a large amount of data is collected from various sources. However, some business organisations indulge in unethical data collection practices to improve their marketing process but such practices are illegal and can negatively affect the company’s image in the market. The Privacy Act 1988 protects the personal information of individuals in Australia (ag.gov.au, 2022). Therefore, non-adherence to the privacy act is an illegal activity and will not be used on this marketing fundamentals assignment.

Negative advertising
Negative advertising highlights the shortcomings of rivals. It enables businesses to showcase their goods and services at their finest while highlighting the shortcomings of alternatives offered by rivals and disseminating unfavourable information to discredit these brands. However, it is an unethical practice when it comes to marketing. This is a potential issue identified on this marketing fundamentals assignmentthat can arise while marketing Omvos electric scooters if the marketer uses competitors’ shortcomings as a basis for promoting its products.

References
Ad güzel, S., 2020. Market and brand positioning and sustainability strategies in international marketing. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, marketing fundamentals assignment8(9), pp.9-24. ag.gov.au, 2022, Privacy, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/privacy#:~:text=The%20Privacy%20Act%201988%20(Privacy,and%20in%20the%20private%20sector. aihw.gov.au, 2021, Older Australians, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australians/contents/demographic-profile

aihw.gov.au, 2022, Health of young people, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/health-of-young-people

An, J., Kwak, H., Jung, S.G., Salminen, J. and Jansen, B.J., 2018. Customer segmentation using online platforms: isolating behavioral and demographic segments for persona creation via aggregated user data. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 8(1), pp.1-19.
Bala, M. and Verma, D., 2018. A critical review of digital marketing. M. Bala, D. Verma (2018). A Critical Review of Digital Marketing. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering, marketing fundamentals assignment8(10), pp.321-339.
budgetdirect.com.au, 2021, Car theft survey & statistics 2021, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/car-insurance/research/car-theft-statistics.html
Fritz, K., Schoenmueller, V. and Bruhn, M., 2017. Authenticity in branding–exploring antecedents and consequences of brand authenticity. European journal of marketing, 51(2), pp.324-348.

kickstarter.com, 2022, Vida-a-gogo E-Scooter Live Groovy. Ride in Style, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1466779331/the-vida-a-gogo-e-scooter-live-groovy-ride-in-style Rhodes, A. and Wilson, C.M., 2018. False advertising. The RAND Journal of Economics, marketing fundamentals assignment49(2), pp.348-369.M

statista.com, 2022, Active social media users as percentage of the total population in Australia from 2015 to 2022, accessed on: 30/09/2022 accessed from:https://www.statista.com/statistics/680201/australia-social-media-penetration/
Sudari, S., Tarofder, A., Khatibi, A. and Tham, J., 2019. Measuring the critical effect of marketing mix on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction in food and beverage products. Management Science Letters, 9(9), pp.1385-1396. Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 4(4).
Truong, Y., Klink, R.R., Simmons, G., Grinstein, A. and Palmer, M., (2017). Branding strategies for high-technology products: The effects of consumer and product innovativeness. Journal of Business Research, marketing fundamentals assignment70, pp.85-91.
Wang, Y., Bi, J., Guan, W., Lu, C. and Xie, D., 2021. Optimal charging strategy for intercity travels of battery electric vehicles. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 96, p.102870.
Zhang, X., Kumar, V. and Cosguner, K., 2017. Dynamically managing a profitable email marketing program. Journal of marketing research, 54(6), pp.851-866.marketing fundamentals assignment