1. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Situation analysis is the first step on a marketing communication plan. It is necessary step for a company to recognize the key markets issues and understand communication drivers (Fill, 2009). The goal of current assessment is Revive! Company to follow the above glidepath and in the end of the situation analysis there should be key issues that will drive the campaign objectives and communication plan of the company.

1.1 Organisational Analysis

Revive! UK operates in the automotive repair sector since 2004 but its history goes back to 1994 as a franchise of Colourworks. The central offices of the company are located is in Rugby with 58 UK franchisees and 135 technicians in total. Their main services include Small and Medium Area Repair Technique such as:

• Bumper scuffs or scrapes
• Alloy wheels damage
• Paint or bodywork scratches
• Blending repairs to wheel arches
• Vandal scratches
• Cosmetic repairs
• Minor paint repair to trim
• Body panels

Besides providing the above services, Revive! UK is strongly focused on franchising sales as a key mean of growth and market expansion. This fact is also supported from their decision to poach one of the top industry experts on franchising as a franchise director. In the franchise sales sector Revive! UK offers to the clients:

• Training
• Branding
• Minimum personal investment £10,000
• Accreditation systems

The company had a 20% increase in sales on year with over 45% of all franchisees running multi van businesses (Revive! Auto innovations (UK) Ltd – Bfa, 2017). Their cash in hand was increased from 2014 and according to company’s latest financial data for 2015 their Net Work was increased 39,35% from 2014. Revive! UK performs in business to business environment and at the same time directly with the general public. They work closely with dealership groups, fleet and insurance companies and one example of their partners is National Tyres and Autocare (Revive! Auto innovations (UK) Ltd – Bfa, 2017, Endole.co.uk, 2017).

Key issues:

• Main focus of the company in franchising sales
• Very good latest financial data (Their cash in hand was increased from 2014 and according to company’s latest financial data for 2015 their Net Work was increased 39,35% from 2014).

Possible action: from marketing aspect the company should make more visible their actions in order to be easier approachable for the costumers. During this assignment it was very hard and χρονοβορα to find details for the company. It is vital for their franchising sales to give as more details as possible to the costumer to make their first step, to make a call into the company.

Communication strategy

The main communication strategy of the company is based on three basics elements: the convenience, the quality and the low cost of their services. There is no specific campaign for franchise sales besides the information on the website or the public relations stories on websites for the franchising industry. The first impression of a potential costumer with the company comes through the company’s website. In order to convince a customer to go through the whole website, get informed about the services and make contact with the company, the website should be visually appealing, should give a general customer relationship management, personalisation and privacy (Möller, Brezing, and Unz, 2012; Solutions, 2012). In case of Revive! UK it is found that the website is appealing, well designed, professional and easy to use. It has relevant service information and a standalone section dedicated to public relation stories, while communication contacts are easy to spot on main page. Franchising is also easy to spot with most relevant information. Revive! UK has also a Facebook page with 2,442 followers and they have posts 2-3 times a week. The reviews from clients on the Facebook page are positive. There is no interaction among the company and the Facebook page visitors-followers. It is important to mention that besides Facebook page, the company does not have any other social media tool. Also, according to the company’s website, Revive! UK does social responsibility actions for charity organization and community support which are not communicated through other channels beside their website and Facebook page. Another factor that was detected through this assignment is the poor optimization that the company has done for search engines. During the search for the company on Google with different words like: care repair UK, SMART repair services, minor car damage reaper UK, the position of Revive! UK website was not among the first results of the research (appentises a,..). In order to be noticed, the company should improve SEO as a digital marketing practice which will focuses on optimizing the website to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines.

Key issue:

• Low Search Engine optimization
• Many activities with social impact but without being well communicated
• No interactive social media

Possible Action:

• The company need to examine again the keywords and contents that they are using for the SEO. They should find the correct keywords to connect with words that clients use. But this is not the only solution. Because in some cases according to Ledford (2008) having optimized the correct keywords it is not enough. “Factors such as advertising campaigns and update frequencies also affect SEO” (Ledford, 2008, pg 14). So, a better strategy on the search engine optimization, without forgetting the optimization for mobile users
• The company should promote through different channels their social activities. For example, the latest action that they organized “Andrew Jordan Goes Calendar Girls for Charity” was only promoted from their website. Searching for articles or stories on Google there were no result for this action. In this case, a better PR strategy on this sector of the company would increase their communication strategy.
• The only social media that the company is using is Facebook. The use of Facebook, although, is limited on posting only news for the company. There is no feedback on the clients’ comments, even the fact that the comments are good. First of all, as many social media channels the company uses there is a good possibility to increase the SEO. The use of social media should give the opportunity to the company to communicate with its clients. A contest for a free service which would be only through social media, asking followers their opinion for something new that company did, engaging the franchisors in the social media game, these could be some steps to be more involved with their clients/followers/visitors etc.

1.2 Market Analysis

1.2.1 PEST Analysis for Revive! Company

PEST analysis is a managerial tool used to analyze and measure market potentials and stands for political, Economic, Social and Technological issues.

Political

• Potential changes on the franchise regulations because of Brexit. EU competition rules will continue to apply to franchising post-Brexit although the Commission will have reduced powers, and block exemption measures at UK level will be needed. (International Franchise Association, 2016)
• Potential increase in taxes. According to the Bank of England taxes are expected to increase in the following years (Inman, 2017). First of all this means that will affect Revive! UK services and products. With potential increase in taxes Revive! UK will have to increase their prices. That probably will make them to lose one of the current advantages that they have; which is cheap prices. As for the customers a potential increase in taxes will reduce their buying power.
• Potential risks on franchising outside UK. Due to a potential Brexit. It is unclear which will be the legislature of EU and company should re-examine it is franchise strategy (International Franchise Association, 2016).
• Import/Export tax duties applied for leaving common market. Changes on agreements would mean potential increase custom duties that will lead to more expensive row material, paint tooling, machines etc import. Export goods might lose pricing competitive advantage and become more expensive to EU market (Who’s Who Legal, 2017).

Economic

• Decrease of car sales on 2016. According to articles there are possibilities of a decrease on car sailings. This means that costumers will try to keep their old cars and fixing them if it is necessary (Sharpe, 2016).
• Worries for new trade deals with EU because of Brexit. According to articles because of Brexit Uk will give up full access to the single market along EU. In a “soft” Brexit “trading would be on a tarrif-free basis” (Sharpe, 2016; Bennett, 2016). These factors may make the company more cautious on investments or franchising outside UK.
• Potential interest rate increase (Moneywise, 2013).
• Increase of GDP and average salary for 2016(Statistics, 2017)
• Current improve export rate due to currency exchange – Euro VS GP

These facts show that costumers will have a good average of salary and this means that they will be more elastic on spending.

According to the above information, because of the ongoing Brexit situation, franchising in another European country at this moment would be a risk for the company. The only countries that Revive! UK can approach are Ireland and Scotland. Since they already have tried to franchise in these countries years before without succeeding, probably now with the knowledge and the expertise they have would be easier.

Social

• Current low unemployment rate with uncertain future projection (Statistics, 2017). There is a decrease of the number of the unemployment in the last 2 years (Appendixes). Need for vehicles and repairs expected to have a growth trend.
• Customer perception trend swift from car being a status symbol to fuel efficiency and low emissions. Customer buying pattern expected to change to short term investing into repairing existing cars for as long as possible before switching to new eco friendly vehicles.
• New legislation for low fuel cell cars, eco- friendly cars, paint and waste disposal. This factor should make the company examine the products that use in order to be eco- friendly.

Technological

• Catch up changing technology on new cars that will be battery cars etc. This factor means that the company should gain knowledge and skills in new products for these new cars.
• Improvements in technology for client services. New technology in order to improve client services. Since the company’s advantage is the direct answer to the client there should be some improvements from technological aspect. There should be more use of social media and more interactive relation with the costumers.

1.3 Competitor analysis – General information

• Relatively with the most of their competitors Revive! UK has less main services (no inside repairs, no online shop etc.).
• As most of their competitors the company is operating in England
• Λιγοτερες παροχες για αυτους που θελουν να αγορασουν franchise
• According to google search some of the competitors have better SEO strategy (appendix.)
• Relatively young company with low market and reputation in comparison to their main competitors.

1.4 Consumer Analysis

Revive! UK company started their economic activity as a company that provides smart car repair services. Their customers are general public, dealership groups, fleet and insurance companies (Revive! Auto innovations (UK) Ltd – Bfa, 2017). Clients in the general public group, according to the data and information that have been collected for this coursework, could be people from 17 years old to 25 years old that are more possible to have small damages in their cars and costumers from 45 to 60 that are also prone to small damages. These consumers in the ACORN classification may be from the category- Financially Stretched 38: Semi-skilled workers in traditional neighborhoods and from the category Comfortable Communities 25: larger family homes, multi-ethnic areas but also from the category 15 – younger professional in smaller flats (ACORN/CACI, 2013). Another category that possibly buy Revive! UK services belong to the category 49: Young families in low cost private flats. (Appentix…) The gender that is more interested in the products and the services are male. Also, according to a Mintel research from 2015 shows that 31% of adults drive a car under 3 years old and a 50% of the drivers have cars over 3 years up to 10 years old (Mintel, 2015). This research may reinforce the fact that costumers use smart repair car services.

For the franchise sales the costumers are from different categories. According to statistics on business start-ups the characteristics of majority of entrepreneurs are white males in their forties. Specifically:

• 25% of employer owners are between 35 to 44 years old,
• 31% are 45 to 54 years old
• 26% are 55 to 64 years old
• 29.4% of owner managers tend to be A Level or equivalent
• 21.8% followed by a degree or equivalent
• 11% has no educational qualifications.
• Two-thirds of entrepreneurs had no prior experience of owning or managing a business,
• Half of active entrepreneurs have previously worked in the sector they start a business in. (Startup Team, 2004)

In agreement with the above information the costumers on the franchising sales of the company may be in the type 28: Owner occupied terraces, average income (ACORN/CACI, 2013). In this category there are people with income around or above national average, moreover their educational status are in national average and finally in a combination of characteristics such as average age and savings it is shown that this category are in the middle of the average age (ACORN/CACI, 2013), (Appendix ..)

1.5 SWOT Analysis/ Key issues

1.6 Key Issues

From the above SWOT analysis the key issues that should the company consider in a new communication campaign are:

• Recognized and specialist employees
• Achieved internationally recognized Investors in people status
• Investment in systems and technology to reduce franchise admin time and improve
• Mainly focused in franchise
• Only in England
• No interactive social media
• Many activities with social impact but without being well communicated
• Low Search Engine optimization
• Not enough promotion

“Make your Smart move with Revive”

Reflecting on the above key issues, the company’s next communication campaign should be focused on:

1. Raising awareness to specific target group in order to increase their publicity through online marketing tools such as website and social media.
2. Making franchise sales in another market beside England. Since the company in the past have tried to distribute their franchise product in the N. Ireland and Scotland market and there were no results (based on the information that we gathered for this assignment) it is time to make efforts again but only in one of the two countries. It is suggested here Scotland. The campaign’s name would be the same but other distribution channels. To get involved in a new market, the communication and marketing steps should be more focused.

The main marketing communication objectives of the campaign are:

1. Increase awareness with 20% among adults 25-35 years old, of category 2 Rising Prosperty: 2.15 younger professional in smaller flats (ACORN/ CACI, 2013) in the area of West Midlands for “Make your smart move with Revive!” campaign starting from March 2017 September 2017.

2. Increase awareness with 10% among adults 30 to 45 years old, of category 2 Rising Prosperty: 2.18 career driven young families (ACORN/CACI, 2013) in the area of Edinburgh for “Make your Smart move with Revive!” campaign starting from March 2017 September 2017.

3. APPENDICES

4. REFERENCES

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Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012) Principles and practice of Marketin+. 7th edn. London: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

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Inman, P. (2017) UK tax burden will soar to highest level for 30 years, warns IFS. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/07/ifs-warns-steep-cuts-tax-rises-40bn-black-hole-uk (Accessed: 14 February 2017).

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Shoosmiths (2017) What does Brexit mean for UK franchising? – part one. Available at: http://www.shoosmiths.co.uk/client-resources/legal-updates/what-does-brexit-mean-for-uk-franchising-part-one-12369.aspx (Accessed: 14 February 2017)

Goodchild, R. (2017) Does your vehicle have minor damage? Don’t worry we can repair it! Available at: https://revive-uk.com/ (Accessed: 14 February 2017).

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Endole.co.uk, 2017 Revive! Auto innovations (UK) limited – company information. Available at: https://www.endole.co.uk/company/05115063/revive-auto-innovations-uk-limited (Accessed: 14 February 2017)

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Bennett, J. (2016) Hard Brexit will leave UK car industry ‘hanging by a thread’. Available at: http://www.am-online.com/news/market-insight/2016/10/11/hard-brexit-will-leave-uk-car-industry-hanging-by-a-thread (Accessed: 15 February 2017).

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Statistics, O.F.N. (2017) Gross domestic product, preliminary estimate: Oct to Dec 2016. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/grossdomesticproductpreliminaryestimate/octtodec2016 (Accessed: 15 February 2017).

Statistics, O.F.N. (2017) Unemployment rate (aged 16 and over, seasonally adjusted). Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment/timeseries/mgsx/lms (Accessed: 15 February 2017).

ACORN/ CACI 2013 Available at: http://acorn.caci.co.uk/data/#t38_p1 (Accessed: 15 February 2017).

Sharpe, T. (2016) ‘Misfiring’ UK car market could see 9% decline in 2017. Available at: http://www.am-online.com/news/market-insight/2016/10/07/misfiring-uk-automotive-retail-market-could-see-9-decline-in-2017 (Accessed: 15 February 2017).

Möller, B., Brezing, C. and Unz, D. (2012) ‘What should a corporate website look like? The influence of Gestalt principles and visualisation in website design on the degree of acceptance and recommendation’, Behaviour & Information Technology, 31(7), pp. 739-751. doi: 10.1080/0144929x.2011.642893.

Solutions, S.W. (2012) Articles. Available at: https://www.spritzweb.com/resources/good-website-characteristics.html (Accessed: 18 February 2017).

Ledford, Jerri L.. SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible, edited by Jerri L. Ledford, Wiley, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/detail.action?docID=331516.

StartUp Team, (2004) The average entrepreneur | page 2 of 2 | startups.Co.Uk: Starting a business advice and business ideas. Available at: http://startups.co.uk/the-average-entrepreneur/2/ (Accessed: 18 February 2017).