Marketing Plan: Solar Electric Car Essay.

There is no need to go into details about explaining marketing concepts, rather it should be an applied discussion in the case of the new product (Solar Electric Car). You are highly recommended to check other sources for examples of marketing plans.

The marketing plan is a program that is created by an organization to bring its new products and services to the marketplace. This plan includes all the material information regarding organizational products. In this marketing, an Australian automobile company is going to introduce its solar electric car in Australian market. The organization is very well-established in Australia and other foreign countries. Earlier, it has launched the products that not only deliver the value but also amplified products for all the classes of population. Now, the company is planning to capture the market. The costs of fuel in the country are very high, which the people find it very expensive and inconvenient, so the company is introducing a solar electric car. It will be cheaper than existing cars in the industry.

Marketing plan of a company consists of various steps, like; mission and objectives, competitive analysis, marketing strategies, SWOT analysis, communication plan, action plan and implementation and control of action plan.

• This is an innovative concept to introduce the solar electric car
• Solar energy does not create any type of environmental pollution, so it is also known as green energy.
• Less expensive than other cars
• Once the initial investment is made in the solar car, then maintenance costs are lower than existing fuel and other electricity generation technologies
• It will assist the people in reducing their costs of fuel (Carter, 2017).

• Currently, solar energy is more costly than electricity that is generated by other technologies.
• In the case of solar electric car, there is a requirement of heavy promotion and advertising, as people are not aware about this concept.
• Adoption rate of solar electric cars is still low.
• The customers may face the issues at night and in poor weather conditions, because solar energy and electricity are not found at night. Poor weather conditions may also impact the availability of solar energy (David & David, 2015).

• Increasing government initiatives to encourage the solar electric vehicles can increase the demand of these cars of company.
• The major opportunity for solar electric car is raising acceptance of electric vehicles all over the world.
• Higher costs and non-availability of CNG gas and adverse impact of petroleum fuel on environment is also an opportunity for popularizing the solar and renewable energy technologies for mobilization and transportation.
• The organization may offer reasonable pricing options, because it wants to make the solar energy affordable to all classes and level of people (Kipley & Jewe, 2015).

• People are not aware about the solar powered cars
• Some threats are, such as; subsidization of conformist fuels, like; LPG, CNG and variations in the government costs.
• Solar wind with the high speed can damage solar power panels.
• Changes in the government regulations can impact the business of solar electric cars (Law, 2017).
• The organization may face the competition from Chinese Automobile firms because of differences in costs as they are going towards the solar energy extremely.

In Australian automobile sector, there are very few players, who are selling solar electric cars currently. The major competitors for the company are The Sunswift solar cars and Tesla (Kim, Shin & Min, 2016). Apart from local competition, the organization may face the international competition from the countries, like; China and India. These countries are intensively going towards solar energy innovation in cars and vehicles. The players in same industry are implementing various effective strategies to place their products in the market.  

The mission statement of the organization is to “upgrade the existing vehicles and cars with solar electric power and allowing them to be charged by electricity generated by solar energy sources”. In addition, the company wants to accelerate the transition of world to sustainable energy. It wishes to become more cost effective for the people, who are not able to afford the costs of fuels (Lam and Harker, 2015).

There are three marketing objectives of the company, which are stated below;

• To capture the market with its unique technology and features
• To become one of the most valuable player in Australian automobile industry
• To make people aware about the utilization of this new concept of solar energy and encourage them to become environmental friendly

The company will set some financial objectives while introducing this solar electric car. These financial objectives are given below;

• To increase its market coverage by enhancing market share by a significant percentage
• To earn 5% profit after successfully completing first six months of the product launch
• Generate more than 25000 in sales by the end of first six months of lunching the solar electric car (Mihart, 2015).

Thus, the firm is establishing these marketing and financial objectives, which are achievable in first 6 months of product launching in Australian automobile industry.

Marketing mix of an organization includes various marketing strategies, which are implemented by an organization in introducing its products and services in the business environment. The organization introducing solar electric car is also practicing marketing mix in its marketing plan that is described below;

As mentioned above, the organization is launching its solar electric car in Australian automobile industry. By looking at the customer needs and affordability, it is offering the cars, which will reduce the air and noise pollution (Reich, et al, 2016). For placing the product in the industry, the entity will establish all the required platforms, like; solar panels, converter, batteries, engine, other reflecting materials etc. It will be beneficial for both the people and environment as well.

                                                                             

SWOT Analysis

The business entity will set a reasonable price for its cars, so the people from all income level can afford them. By purchasing the solar electric car, people can reduce the costs of fuel. Thus, this product will be cost effective for users.

For placing the products in the market, the company will use some effective distribution channels. It will develop a strong supplier network that is important in keeping up the increasing demand. It will establish its distribution centers in different cities of Australia. The major objective behind this will be to make sure that all the customers are able to have access to the cars in an effective and easy way. It will offer its products on its online website and physical stores.

In order to promote the new products, the organization will use effective promotional and advertising techniques. The organization will make efforts to create awareness among people about the energy vehicles. It will communicate with the people about the advantages about the use of solar electric cars. It will add value to the users, so that they accept the energy products successfully. In addition, the company will adopt and implement some promotional strategies, like; direct marketing, personal selling, public relations and advertising.

For the promotion of its solar electric cars, the organization will develop a marketing communication plan. Under this communication plan, the target audiences will be males, females, young, middle and elderly age people etc. In addition, it will emphasize on the people from all income levels. The solar electric cars are affordable for all income level groups, so target market for company’s product is very wide (Luttrell, 2016).

The communication objectives under this plan are to establish the brand image in the market by introducing new featured car, to communicate the advantages and positive facts about using solar electric car and to establish the company as a brand, which can promote technology advancement and environmental sustainability. For communicating and conveying the messages to public, the organization will use different media and social media platforms, which are stated below;

For this organization, online media can be proven an effective tool in communication plan. The automobile organization can implement the online marketing to advertise solar electric car to the public (Daoud, 2016). The major reason for selecting this promotional tool is that people are actively engaged on internet and social media networking sites. In today’s scenario, online media is effectively used tool, so it will be best for the promotion of solar electric car. There are different social media platforms, like; Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter etc., where business corporation can place its ads and specifications also. In addition, the organization will create a Facebook page, where it can post the pictures and specifications of its cars. It can entice the customers by telling them about the advantages of using solar electric cars. If this organization will use online media channels effectively, it will be able to target the chosen market segment.

In terms of offline media, the company can conduct various events and “go green” events to reach to the target market. In these types of events, the executives of company can convey their messages to the people. These events can be conducted in community halls, parks and shopping malls. Events will help the organization in understanding the perception of customers regarding solar electric cars (Renton, Daellenbach, Davenport and Richard, 2015). They can convey them about the environmental advantage of using solar energy cars.

Competitor Analysis

Apart from these, the organization can use print media also. In this, it can publish its ads in popular newspapers, magazines and booklets. Thus, these modes will assist the organization in conveying its creative style of advertising. These media will encourage the customers to purchase the product of company, i.e. solar electric cars.

For effectively managing the marketing plan, the company will prepare an action plan that will consist of all the important operations, activities and duration for their completion. The action plan for solar electric car is shown in the below table;

Activity	Starting date	End Date	Manager	Concerned Department
Marketing plan formation	1/2/2018	1/4/2018	Marketing Manager	Marketing Department
Formulation of marketing strategies	1/4/2018	1/6/2018	-	Marketing and promotion
Digital marketing communication plan	1/6/2018	1/9/2018	Managers	Information Technology department
Implementation of plan	1/9/2018	-	Managers	Marketing department

This action of the company will assist the organization in attaining its marketing financial objectives behind manufacturing solar electric cars.

The success of a marketing plan depends on how effectively and well it is implemented and managed. Marketing plan of the company is a guide to the implementation and control process (Scarborough, 2015). In this case, the organization will put the implementation and control in the practice by identifying and monitoring the strategic drives, like; evaluation techniques, assessment of new product launch after pre-testing etc. In the implementation process, the organization will make efforts to attain the desired objectives in relation to introduction of solar electric car. It will place all the strategies and marketing tactics for the implementation, so that it can create a maximum customer base through this new product, i.e. solar electric car. The organization will appoint a team, which can implement the marketing plan effectively.

In the control process, the organization will monitor various areas, like; revenues of next six months, expenses, feedback of customers toward solar electric car and complaints (West, Ford & Ibrahim, 2015). After monitoring this, the company will make required changes in the products and business processes. Thus, implementation and control will be done successfully and effectively.

Conclusion 

From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the company should implement an effective marketing plan for solar electric car in Australia. As this is a new concept in the country, so it needs to focus on creating awareness among people. The report includes various aspects, which are required to develop a successful marketing plan in today’s competitive business environment. It includes marketing mix, SWOT analysis, marketing communication plan and action plan for the new product. It will be beneficial for the organization to utilize this marketing plan in operations.

References

Carter, M. (2017). Lightyear Univeils solar-powered car with a 500-mile driving range. Retrieved from https://inhabitat.com/lightyear-unveils-solar-powered-car-with-a-500-mile-driving-range/.

Daoud, H., (2016). 8 Essential Elements of a Social Media Marketing Strategy, accessed on 5^th October 2016 from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/essential-elements-social-media-marketing-strategy/.

David, F. R., & David, F. R. (2015). Strategic management: concepts and cases – a competitive advantage approach (15th ed., pp. 185), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Kipley, D. & Jewe, R. (2015). Effective Strategic Management: From Analysis to Implementation. Cognnella.

Kim, N., Shin, S., & Min, S. (2016). Strategic marketing capability: Mobilizing technological    resources for new product advantage. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5644-5652.

 Law, C. M. (2017). Restructuring the global automobile industry. Taylor & Francis.

Lam, W. and Harker, M.J. (2015). Marketing and entrepreneurship: An integrated view from the entrepreneur’s perspective. International Small Business Journal, 33(3), pp.321-348.

Luttrell, R. (2016). Social Media: How to Engage, Share, and Connect, Rowman & Littlefield

Mihart, C. (2015). Impact of Integrated Marketing Communication on Consumer Behaviour: Effects on Consumer Decision – Making Process. International Journal of Marketing Studies.

Reich, D., Shi, Y., Epelman, M., Cohn, A., Barnes, E., Arthurs, K., & Klampfl, E. (2016). Scheduling Crash Tests at Ford Motor Company. Interfaces, 46(5), 409-423.

Renton, M., Daellenbach, U., Davenport, S. and Richard, J., (2015). Small but sophisticated: entrepreneurial marketing and SME approaches to brand management. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 17(2), pp.149-164.

Scarborough, N.M. (2015). Entrepreneurship and effective small business management. Pearson Higher Ed.

West, D. C., Ford, J., & Ibrahim, E. (2015). Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.