You are a strategic marketing consultant, working on a freelance basis for Wedding Wheels, to advise them

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Question:

You are a strategic marketing consultant, working on a freelance basis for Wedding Wheels, to advise them on business and marketing improvement. Wedding Wheels are a privately-owned bus hire company, who rent their traditional double-decker London buses out for weddings and other occasions, to transport guests between venues, for example between a registry office (the place where marriage ceremonies take place) and the reception venue (where wedding meals and parties take place).They are owned by Stan and Marina, a father and daughter who started the business by purchasing one bus and it was very successful. They now own four. They employ two drivers and one bus cleaning and maintenance operative, all on full-time contracts. All other staff are contracted on a job-by-job basis. The bus maintenance operative is highly skilled at mending diesel buses, which is a skill that is likely to be in decline soon, due to the increase in electric vehicles.

The business has been very fortunate until now to have received almost all of its
customers through word of mouth, having only attended three wedding fairs in the past
decade, and never paying for advertisements. They hardly have an online presence,
other than a basic one-page website containing a handful of testimonials and their
contact details. However, the growing number of companies offering wedding bus
services means that Stan and Marina have noticed a drop in the number of enquiries
and bookings. They recognize that they need to do something about generating more
business.

During your initial research into Wedding Wheels, you’ve realised they don’t have a mission statement, or a vision statement. This has made it hard to advise them on key issues as you are not sure what is most important to them and therefore where to focus your attention. It’s not even clear whether they want to grow, stay the same, or do something else entirely.

Assume you are giving direct advice to Marina and Stan when answering the following three questions:

1. Propose a mission statement for Wedding Wheels, and explain how this may help them to develop their future position in the market. (8 marks)

2. How could Marina and Stan improve their marketing efforts to win more customers? You should pay particular attention to how they can use online marketing. (8 marks)

3. Which megatrend do you think Wedding Wheels need to pay attention to in the coming decade? How would you suggest they future-proof themselves against changing environmental circumstances? (9 marks)