Marketing plan for a driving instructor business

Marketing plan for a driving instructor business Introduction Our e-business task was assigned by James Hill of Driving Pass Ltd. Driving Pass is a well-established driving instructor company that was set up in 1970 by James Hill. James has since then employed 7 more instructors to keep the business competitive and to allow more flexibility with lessons thus achieving higher sales. Driving Pass has a great success rate hence the company name Driving Pass that was adapted in 1984. The creation of Driving Pass was very successful as the company name and identity is strong. James has hired me to investigate and report on their e-business venture that will lead to future growth and increase competitive advantage. 1 in every 2 driving students, pass the driving test in Wexford. The pass rate for March 2009 to March 2010 was at 48.5%. Industry Analysis The driving instructor industry services the needs of customers who require training on how to drive. The majority being new provisional license holders with the aim to pass their test or the odd customer that may only require a refresher course. The demand for more driving instructors is increasing year on year throughout the world. The driving instructor industry is very competitive in major counties of Ireland. Due to the increase of more drivers on the road and more accidents occurring, this has changed regulations in order to make Irelands roads safer. The driving instructor industry from the prospective of e-business has great potential if created and aimed correctly. Web sites nowadays is a must have tool in order to reach new and existing customers as the driving instructor market is very competitive. Driving instructors are based all around the world and the location of the driving instructor is restricted to the local geographical areas in which the instructor besides. Industry Size, Trends, Outlook The size of the driving instructor industry is massive and has started to become excessive in relation to the supply of instructors. Trends are changing and the youthful approach is becoming more and more successful on the e-business side of things. It is hard to distinguish which driving instructor is the right one for the customer looking at web sites, each customer will react differently by looking at the different web sites out there. Main focus is based on the attractiveness of the web site. Does it have the wow factor? Does it hook people in to explore the site? Is it easy to explore the site? This will be looked at in more detail throughout this report. Product/Service We are selling a service to customers who want to learn and become successful in passing their driving test. We provide hourly sessions for a fee in return we teach the customer the rules of road, techniques and how to drive. Driving Pass started off with teaching learner drivers to drive cars only up until 1992 when the introduction of rigid and articulated trucks which proved to be successful. The initial introduction of these new services was very expensive due to the price of the vehicles, but has significantly diversified what Driving pass has to offer compared to other local instructors. What we offer online The products and services listed below are provided on www.drivingpass.ie to ensure that the customer has all the correct information and is attracted to our company by first impressions and professionalism: Home page Qualification Information About us Information Contact us Details Site Map Guidance Rigid Articulated Truck Driving Information Gift Vouchers Sales Promotions Useful Links Information Downloads Rules of the Road (PDF) Statistics Pass Rates Games Parking Games Amusement Customers View Quotes of Customers Advertising Mini Ads (Car Insurance) Target Market The target market must be large enough to enable Driving Pass to succeed. By having an online presence to attract this market, it is entirely dependent on the web site design. The size of the market is determined by how many potential customers and also the number of competitors within our market. To segment our market we will look at the following factors: Geographical The geographical location that our target market is in will be Co. Wexford. The population of Co. Wexford was in the region of 132,000, based on the last census in 2006. Demographic The demographics of our market are the younger generation aged between 17-26 years old and also the mature generation aged between 27-40 years old. Target Customers Our target market is aimed at ambitious people of all ages who need or want to pass their driving test whether it is for a job or for independence. Driving Pass also target commercial customers that require rigid truck or articulated truck licences. Regulatory Environment Driving instructors regulations are included in the Road Traffic Act 1968. Driving instructors must be on the RSAs register of approved driving instructors or otherwise face a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2,000 fine or six month imprisonment. These driving regulations are in place to standardise the quality and skills of driving instructors in Ireland. http://www.rsa.ie/Utility/Driving-Instructors1/Regulations/ Six Goals for business Success Mission statement for drivingpass.ie is to teach people how to drive in an effective and a professional manner whilst providing accurate information in the preparation for success. Driving Pass have six goals that we feel are critical in the setting up of their e-business venture and to achieve success. Youthful image of website Instant message of success Easy to use and navigate Useful information and contacts made clear Rules of the road free download Theory test online and fun games Prepare presentation to sell website idea and what the outcome would be An e-business website can be a simple homepage, but to attract and interest our market it must be lively and vibrant in order to encourage customer return. An e-business website gives Driving Pass a new tool to promote, inform, sell and will enable Driving Pass to reach out the customers in every area within the target market and also outside. An effective e-business website makes it easy for customers to do business with you as they can attain information about Driving Pass 24hrs a day. Value Proposition Driving Pass is fully committed to helping their customers gain the knowledge of the rules and techniques of driving. Customers will choose Driving Pass over our competitors because we are reliable, successful and have the best pass rate in Wexford. Driving Pass not only caters for the category B but also provides the same tuition for categories C1, C, D1, D, EB, EC1, EC, ED1 and ED which has broadened our market and filled the gap that most other instructors have not done. Advantages of e-business reduced costs, time and effort to make and process sales better customer service attract new customers Benefits to your customers are: 24-hour access, accurate and fast information, convenience can do some things not possible or easy to do elsewhere a way to find information about you and your product or service http://www.business.vic.gov.au/busvicwr/_assets/main/lib60208/sbv_infosheet_setting_up_an_ebusiness_website.pdf Business Models Affiliate Revenue Model This provides purchase opportunities, by offering a referral fee to affiliated partner sites. This will only generate money if the affiliates purchase. If an affiliate does not generate sales, then no money is transacted. This model is very popular on the web and the variations of these are banner exchange and (PPC) pay-per-click Advertising Revenue Model This is critical to a new e-business, which Driving Pass effectively is, as getting the name out there informs customer of your presence and what you have to offer. For a small online based company there are several options for advertising which would involve a small budget. The ones which will be considered are the use of Click Through advertising on Google, the ability to advertise on Facebook and point of sale advertising. What Driving Pass offer online www.drivingpass.ie is a vibrant and youthful website that has plenty of information, offers, tests and games to keep our customers interested. This is what our website has to offer: Vital information including the rules of the road free download. Practice theory tests online Useful links regarding the success of passing Mini parking games online Up to date statistics on all of our customers pass/fail Gift vouchers online Special offers online Maps of test routes to study Identification of target markets Based on the lifestyle of individuals or past driving experience, our customers needs may differ. Young learner drivers usually take longer and require more attention to the physical driving aspect. The more mature learner drivers are usually on tight schedules around work and home and have to take lessons during lunch or evenings. The main attention is drawn to the rules of the road and refresher course for the mature learners. For our more intense lessons, is the commercial learner driver, who requires more technical and detailed training. Within our industry we have divided them into segments as follows: Beginner Drivers Mature Drivers Commercial Drivers http://wsj.miniplan.com/spv/3166/4.cfm Competitor analysis rank 3-5 indirect direct Direct comeptitors John Bail Owen Doyle Dane Tyghe Martin Scallan Stephen Murphy Lorcan Merrigan Joe Long Margaret Cunningham Seamus Murphy Craig Healy Indirect Competitors Family members Driving simulators Competitor analysis grid Competitors Website Analysis These websites will be analysed by looking at the following: The Home Page. The Purchase Portal a sense of security. Ease of Navigation. Differentiating Factors. Availability of Contact Information and ease of use. John Bail (http://johnbailschofmotoring.vpweb.ie/default.html) This website is very bland and does not utilise the full width of the page. John Bail could use this extra space for advertising of insurance companies or useful links. There is no inclusion of approved driving instructor logo and really just pushes the fact that they are in business for over 30 years. On this site John used a picture of a customer after their first lesson along with a quote stating how brilliant the instructor was. This website only had three tabs which were home, about us and contact us. There was not a great deal of information put onto these pages and was not very appealing or eye catching with regards to layout and information provided. Dane Tyghe (http://www.letsdrive.ie/) The first good thing that stood out was that he has a section on the home page about what the customer thinks. This is always a good idea as a potential customer will like to see what other customers think of the service provided. In the introductory paragraph Dane clearly outlines the type of vehicles he will provide driving lessons in and then also provides contact information for a driving instructor that will provide lessons for the ones he does not cater for. I dont necessarily think this is a great point to put in the introduction as he should be trying to sell his service and information about him as opposed to praising another instructor. Half of the paragraph is about another instructor and I think this space would be better utilised by either leaving it blank as sometime too much text can be off putting for people to read or else fill in more info about his business. On the home page at the bottom there is an eye grabbing section in red print which states that not all of hi s offers are on the website but if a customer would like to find out more about them that they should ring the number supplied. This is a good idea as it will encourage a potential customer to ring and enquire about the offers and once they make contact with him they might be more likely to book a lesson. The home page also states that within the website you will find free information and advice on the driving test. There are 9 tabs that are available on the website. Also put in about approved driving instructor which gives the customer confidence in their service. Owen Doyle (http://www.owendoyleschoolofmotoring.com/): This website really stood out with the ig logo for approved driving instructor. By mentioning that the car is dual control might give more confidence to the more nervous learner. The website also states that cars are available for the driving test. This is a very important point to include as many new learner drivers will not possess or be able to attain a car for their driving test. Also it is a good idea as if a learner is getting lessons in the same car they will be more comfortable to do their test in the same car as they will be familiar with the overall manoeuvring of the car. Good use of slogan gets going with Owen. Also states on home page that they offer gift vouchers which stand out. People might just specifically be researching driving instructors with the intention to purchase gift vouchers for a family member friend so immediately they can see on the home page that this offer is available. The word contact is in bright red and does draw your attention to this sentence. I t also states that he is qualified RSA driving instructor which is something which should be included in the website as it gives the customer confidence in his teaching abilities. The website also says that he is very patient and conducts his lessons in a friendly manner. This will make the customer feel more relaxed as some learner drivers may feel a bit anxious about the instructor perhaps being a bit aggressive if theyre having difficulties and also knowing that he is patient will reassure them. It states that his school of motoring covers the whole of county wexford so is covering a wide geographic area compared to some instructors which may only cover areas in wexford town. Maintenance Website maintenance is really only required for larger businesses and not for small businesses like driving instructors. The reason for this, is driving instructors, do not really have to update their websites as much as corporate companies. To maintain a website for a driving instructor, you could outsource this for around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬20 per hour or monthly contracts for around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬100 which will also compare your website against your competitors to achieve greater advantage. This may not suit some driving instructors if business is not good and may have to revert back to maintaining their websites in house. Domain Name The name Driving Pass is still available and would be a great opportunity for the company to use this name as it is the name of your company and the major objectives of the website must be to increase the ranking on Google, specifically in Ireland. This is difficult to achieve and subject to a lot of speculation. The easiest way to achieve this is by paying for it also known as click through advertising, whereby every time the link is clicked a sum must be paid to stay high in the rankings. www.drivingpass.ie Conclusion Recommendations training facebook Facebook have a facility where your advertisement is only delivered to the profile you determine. The advantage of this is the ability to reach out to your audience. An advert can be tailored and delivered to the target audience based on keywords in the demographic profile and geographic location. If this is carefully done and the profile which is being aimed for is well known then this can have high success. Executive Summary Driving Pass is a successful school of motoring company and their main purpose is to ultimately make Irish roads safer by carefully teaching and coaching learner drivers. The location of the business is set up in Co. Wexford. As driving instructors is a highly competitive profession, it is imperative that Driving Pass utilise the web as a means of communicating to potential customers all the benefits their company can provide them.