Car Wash Marketing Plan

Soapy Rides Car Wash

Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy will be to develop brand equity, increase customer awareness of Soapy Rides, and build the customer base.  The strategy will use several different methods to achieve these goals.

Mission

The mission of Soapy Rides is to provide top-quality washing and detail service for luxury car owners in East Meadow, NY.  Soapy Rides will work to keep employees satisfied in order to maintain impeccable customer service.

Marketing Objectives

• Increase repeat customers by 4% a quarter.
• Steadily increase market share every quarter.
• Develop brand awareness and acceptance, quantified by a decrease in customer acquisition costs.

Financial Objectives

• Increase the profit margin by .5% a quarter.
• Achieve a double digit growth rate each year for at least the first three years.
• Develop efficiencies in the delivery of the service through advanced training and work-flow analysis.

Target Marketing

Soapy Rides segments its customers by type of car ownership. SR believes that the type of car that a person owns says volumes about their driving, and, therefore their car washing and detailing requirements.

1. New car owners: Owners of newer cars  are most likely to use a hand car washing service. These owners take great pride in their cars and will bring them often to the wash and detail service. The goal with these customers is to promote regular use of the wash and detail service. The aim is to inform these customers that Soapy Rides will keep their car looking as good as it did the day they drove it off the lot. 
2. Older luxury car owners: These people have either owned their high-end luxury cars for several years or are unable to afford the expense of a new luxury car but want the feel of relaxed driving. Both of these groups want to keep their cars in the best shape possible. Those who have bought second-hand cars will often spend many hours in their cars and will place high importance on keeping their cars looking good. These owners will bring their cars in for regular washes and occasional details. 
3. Sports car owners: These people are often younger or middle-aged men and will regard the look of their car as important. They will also pride themselves on the look of their car and will have their car hand washed (at least) weekly. These drivers will have an occasional detail, but will keep their cars so clean the detail will not be necessary very often. 
4. Lifetime owners: Many of these people have owned their cars for more than five or six years, and are more likely to be women. They are attached to their cars as friends and though it may be more sensible for them to purchase a new car, they will bring their car in for a wash occasionally, just when the car is dirty. They like their cars to look presentable, and want to keep it in good shape but are not tied up in the look of their car. For this reason, they will not have a detail carried out on their car unless they are selling it. 
5. Dealerships: There are five new and used car dealerships within three miles of the proposed location of Soapy Rides. These dealerships often use outside car wash services to detail their vehicles before they are put up for sale. In addition, there are fifteen other car dealerships within a seven-mile radius of Soapy Rides. 
6. Local businesses: Some local  businesses have fleets of cars and small vans that must be kept clean to  maintain their company image. These businesses will be looking for a cost effective, efficient car washing service to perform this service, and will prefer to use a car wash service during the week rather than during weekends, like the general public.

Please note for analysis purposes in regards to the charts and graphs, the different segments will be grouped into individuals and businesses.  This will be done to allow the charts and graphs to have a clean look that will aid in the ability to quickly discern information from them.

Positioning

Soapy Rides seeks to position themselves as the premier hand auto washing service provider in the East Meadow area.  This positioning will be achieved by leveraging their competitive edge:

Soapy Rides' competitive edge will be Mark Deshpande and the quality of the family name in the East Meadow area. As mentioned, the family has been in the car
business for over 30 years, and has an excellent reputation and a myriad of both business and personal contacts. In addition, Mark has put a great deal of emphasis on creating a system that is both fast and efficient, which will keep costs, in terms of time spent per car, to a minimum.

Strategy Pyramids

The single objective is to position Soapy Rides as the premier automobile hand washing company in the area, steady increasing market share.  The marketing strategy
will seek to first create customer awareness, develop a customer base, and work toward building customer loyalty.

The message that SR will seek to communicate is that their hand washes are superior to the machine washed alternatives that can actually cause harm to cars.  This message will be communicated through several different methods.  The first method is the placement of advertisements in the local newspaper.  The local paper, The
Islander, is well read and will reach a high portion of the target market segment.

The second method will be networking.  Mark will leverage the equity already earned by his family from years of local business dealings.  The networking will be a good source of customers as Mark's family has developed significant trust relationships with many within their community.

The last method of communication for SR's marketing pyramid is the use of coupons within The Islander.  The use of coupons will likely introduce people who are not yet familiar with Mark's family to SR and the services that they offer.

Marketing Mix

Soapy Rides marketing mix is comprised of the following approaches to pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion, and customer service.

• Pricing- The pricing scheme is based on a per service price.  A "Soapy Card" can be purchased which provides a volume discount to the user.
• Distribution- The offered services will be distributed from SR's facilities.
• Advertising and Promotion- SR will use several different methods for advertising and promotion.
• Customer service- Exemplary customer service will be provided.

Marketing Research

During the initial stages of the marketing plan development Mark performed primary market research in the form of a questionnaire/ survey.  Mark outsourced the development of the survey to a local Professor of Statistics.  While Mark could have developed the survey in-house, the end result was a far more valid and statistically significant product .

The survey was handed out to a total of 150 people within the target market.  54 surveys were returned completed.  The results of the survey provided valuableinsight into the customer preferences as well as the decision making process of the target market.  While some of the already held assumptions were confirmed, the survey provided Soapy Rides with new information that would have been otherwise unavailable.