Strategic Digital Marketing Plan Report for Worldwide eBikes

DIGITAL MARKETING REPORT
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Executive Summary
This digital marketing report analyzed the digital marketing opportunities for Worlwide E-bikes, which is looking to expand into the Australian market. The report determined that a digital marketing expansion into the Australian market is promising owing to a growing demand for healthy, convenient, and environmentally conscious means of urban transportation. There is a growing demand for E-bikes, particularly those that provide convenient user interfaces, among cyclists with fitness, travelling, and adventure needs. Moreover, the report discussed the kind of research that is needed to create ‘buyer Personas’ for the Australian E-bike market. It outlined the practical benefits of having well-researched personas and how they may help the company expand into Australia. The report also recommended the use of social media marketing and search engine optimization to create awareness and “buzz” around the company’s E-bike offerings. The two digital marketing strategies have the potential to increase the company’s brand recognition and overall sales revenues. Finally, the digital marketing report explained four KPIs that can be monitored using digital analytics tools for each marketing strategy.
Digital Marketing Report
* Digital Market Opportunity
There are more than 50 companies in the Australian bike market selling a broad range of E-bike models and sales are growing faster than all bike segments. According to a report commissioned by We Ride Australia, cycling businesses contribute over $6.3 billion (AUD) to the country’s economy and have created 34,295 jobs. We Ride Australia is an Australian advocacy group for cyclists that works to improve cycling programs, infrastructure, and policies (We Ride Australia, 2023). Cycle tourism in Australia is also economically significant, raising an additional $1.2 billion (AUD) for the economy. According to the report, there are 5.8 million active bike customers in Australia: around two-thirds of this customer segment is predicted to have spent up to 1.7 million (AUD) in bike purchases (Research and Markets, 2022). More than a quarter of these bike purchases comprised of children’s bicycles, thereby implying a larger market for other bike segments. The report also showed that 43% of regular cyclists in America increased their bike expenditure year-to-year in comparison to less frequent cyclists. While male to female spending was relatively equal, the biggest spenders were riders aged between 18 and 34 years old although those over 35 years old also recorded an upped spend.
The current opportunities for marketing E-bikes in Australia are promising and the company should go ahead with its plans of expanding into the region. Electric bikes are becoming more fashionable as the world moves towards healthy and environmentally conscious means of transportation. E-bikes are one of the fastest growing transportation sectors in Australia, with attractive business opportunities in the traveling, fitness, and social markets. As a result of compounding factors like rising fuel prices, growing health awareness, traffic congestion, and increasing environmental consciousness, the E-bike segment in Australia is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% by value until 2026 (Sutton, 2021). Although the Australian E-bike market is still lagging behind the European and American markets in terms of size and value, electric bike sales have grown markedly over the past years owing to a surge in their popularity in Australian cities (Kennedy, 2019). For instance, the number of E-bikes imported to the country has tripled in the last three years.
The Australian E-bike market was projected to be worth $16.9 million in 2021 and is expected to reach $55.6 million by 2027 (Sutton, 2021). Although the pandemic negatively impacted the production and sales of E-bikes, the market picked up pace last year owing to an increase in consumer preference for adventure, exercise, recreational activities. The demand for E-bikes is expected to grow further as the Australian government becomes stricter on reducing carbon emission levels. For instance, most urban dwellers in Australia’s major cities have to commute daily thereby making it almost necessary to own a car. Public transport is not always reliable and the issue of traffic congestion, especially with the high use of personal cars, has increased the demand for convenient and eco-friendly transportation means. An E-bike consumes around 11.2 watts of electricity per mile while a car consumes far more energy and emits about 240g of CO2 per passenger for every mile covered. Moreover, E-bikes have lower energy requirements and emissions than public transportation, which releases up to 176 g of CO2 per passenger for every mile covered. E-bikes can help ease traffic congestion and reduce carbon emission levels (Morling, 2022). They are the ideal solution to Australia’s growing concern for reliable, healthy, convenient, and environmentally friendly means of transport.
Another reason why the E-bike segment is promising in Australia relates to new product development and expansions that offer more convenience and functionality to riders. For instance, the trend toward connected E-bikes is attracting more riders who want intelligent and omniscient bikes capable of generating critical information on their condition and use. Connected E-bikes have gained traction among urban dwellers who want more digitalization in their riding to develop connected solutions to traffic congestion and bike functionality. Several E-bike companies like Shimano Inc. and Specialized Bicycle Components Inc. have developed E-bikes with ride features that support cyclists in navigating urban environments and participating in recreational activities. E-bike manufacturers are introducing pedelecs that can be digitally connected to riders’ smartphones to provide users with real-time data on bike functionalities like battery status and speed. The consistent technological developments in E-bike design and production mean that users can also integrate their bikes with maps to increase convenience. For instance, Neuron Mobility launched an E-bike model in Sydney, Australia, that integrates with Google Maps: through the service, cyclists can get the directions to their destination, an estimation of how long it will take to get there, and a price estimate of their selected route.
Furthermore, the current opportunities for marketing E-bikes in Australia are promising owing to the fragmented nature of the sector. The Australian E-bike segment is disjointed with different local and global players such as Giant bicycle, Focus Bikes, Rocky Mountain, Riese & Muller, eTourer, Cleverley, Leitner, Merida, Kalkhoff, Electra, Dyson, Reef, Norco, and Gazelle among others (Wrigley , 2021). There is no single brand that has a monopoly of the segment although some companies like Giant Bicycle have managed to gain an edge over their competition by staying ahead of the technology curve and having a vast service network. In conclusion, given the growing demand for convenient, healthier, and environmentally friendly means of transportation, the current opportunities for marketing E-bikes in Australia are promising if the company focuses on producing E-bikes with improved user interface and developing a vast service network.
* Persona Research
The kind of research I would undertake to create ‘buyer Personas’ for the Australian E-bike
market would include a step by step process of crafting a fictional customer based on practical data and strategic business goals. The first step of the research process would involve conducting an extensive audience research. I would begin by identifying the company’s existing customers or the social audience of the product. This step would include collecting target audience information from social media analytics. I would focus on identifying specific information like audience’s age, language, interests, location, spending behavior, stage of life, and challenges. The audience research would also include determining the target market of other e-bike competitors as well as popular social channels among the audience (Cavalcanti and Leão, 2016). After conducting a thorough audience investigation, the next process of creating ‘buyer Personas’ for the Australian E-bike market would involve defining customer objectives and pain points.
I would focus on identifying the things that motivate E-bike customers including traveling, fitness, and adventure needs. After identifying the personal and professional goals of my audience, I would concentrate on their pain points. My focus would be the problems or challenges they face trying to achieve the goals I had earlier identified. In order to determine the barriers customers, face in reaching their professional and personal goals, I would conduct social media analysis. Social media sentiment analysis can help assess the attitudes and perceptions of the target audience: tracking online conversations in E-bike social media communities can give the company critical insights about the target persona. Social media listening can help in building an accurate buyer persona because it provides valuable information on customers’ interests, attitudes, and perceptions (Salminen et al., 2018). The next step in building ‘buyer Personas’ for the Australian E-bike market would be analyzing the true benefits of the company’s E-bike in terms of fulfilling the audience’s goals and solving their pain points.
I would focus on understanding how the product facilitates E-bike customers goals and objectives including their traveling, fitness, and adventure needs. I would also concentrate on understanding how my company’s product makes my audience’s life easier in terms of fulfilling their goals. The last step in creating ‘buyer Personas’ is gathering all of the research and identifying common features. This process would involve grouping similar characteristics of buyer profiles together to form the basis of my unique customer personas (Spencer, 2020). I would create my buyer personas by giving my target customer a location, income level, education attainment, job title, age group, and other defining characteristics. The aim will be creating a buyer persona that seems like a real individual. For instance, the E-bike buyer personas will include a full list of characteristics for the travelling, fitness, and adventure customer. The personas will be detailed and specific in their portrayal of various potential customers. Having an accurate archetype for each buyer category will help in identifying new ways of making the E-bike more customer-centric.
Some of the practical benefits of having well-researched personas include better understanding of customer needs and interests, improved target marketing, and compelling content. Building accurate personas results in a heightened awareness of customer wants, attitudes, and pain points. The process of creating a well-researched archetype of buyer personas allows the company to dig deeper into customer needs and wants. For instance, the first and second steps of creating buyer personas focused on determining the defining characteristics of the target audience, their goals, as well as the challenges they encounter fulfilling those needs. The second advantage of well-researched personas is improved target marketing. Because building buyer personas involves first understanding customer needs and wants, they also provide valuable insights of how to focus marketing strategies to strategically reach product users (Spencer, 2020). The third benefit of having well-researched personas relates to developing effective content to the target consumer. Personas provide critical insights on how the company should convey its brand messaging, how to reach the right audience, and the best time to conduct sales marketing. The third advantage of well-researched personas is
* Short-Term Market Impact
The process of expanding digital marketing of E-bikes to Australia should include social
media marketing and search engine optimization. This report recommends using social media marketing as part of the broader E-bike Australian digital marketing strategy. Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing that opti...