Digital Marketing tips for Public Transport
Digital Marketing for Public Transport
Let us first understand what public transport is. Basically it is a service provided by the government or administration of the country in the form of buses and trains on the payment of set charge. Most of the mediums of transport run on fixed routes with set embarkation / disembarkation points with a pre decided timetable by the authorities.
First step is to find out from where and how you can increase the count of your prospective customers and what is the current trend. Whether you are in a taxi business or running a travel business your area of execution should be there in your mind. With digital marketing coming into picture your area of business becomes wider. You can advertise your business to larger group of people with only some clicks. Listed below are some points to be considered while implementing your digital marketing plans.
1. Conspicuous profile
Creating an attractive business profile across different social media platforms, LinkedIn, Yelp etc is the first step to set up or enter into a digital marketing world. Get a nice logo designed with relates to your business or business name. This logo has to be a part of all your advertisements across various platforms to get an identity of your business created. All the services provided by you should be reflecting in an attractive manner. Content of your profile should cover your contact details, mail id, links to your website and other social media accounts. Best part of having a profile is that people tend to leave their reviews and comments in the section provided which are read by other prospective customers which helps you to generate more leads.
2. Be Active on social media
Benefits of being of social media are manifold. Your brand awareness increases as your business and company get more visibility. More and more inbound traffic will be result in to increased number of leads. Customer satisfaction rates are higher as all details are available on a single page be it a website or a mobile screen. It is also a very cost effective medium for beginners and for people looking for expansion
- Facebook Campaign
- Use Facebook sponsored Ads are known as Sponsored or boosted posts having content for which the Company has paid to promote. This gives your page more visibility on the social media platform. This option is best utilized when the goal is to increasing engagement with certain piece of content.
- Publicise to gain the maximum
- suppose you are in taxi business, post pictures of your taxis showing how well maintained they are, and upload videos of your satisfied customers who have enjoyed their ride with reasonable rates. Offer special discounts to customers to book your services via social media. Encourage your customer to like your profile page and mention a comment about your experience with your services in order to build the trust with the existing and win the trust of prospective customers coming in.
- Highlight the USPs
- Make all your services, train and bus schedules available with only some clicks for the users to check instantly. Upload picture of your train’s bogies showing how neat and clean they are, buses with advanced comfortable seats and leg space etc. You will definitely grab attention of frequent buyers and people will start relying and trusting you more and more
3. Informative website will win the race:
Being in business for quite some time you must be having a website. But are you getting good results on the Search Engine results? Do check it once whether the money you have invested is paying off?? It might be that you must not have noticed this earlier. No worries engage a digital marketer at the earliest, they will help you do your task well within deadlines and in a very presentable manner. For those who are new to the business, should get a well-designed, user friendly website created which covers all the distinguishing features of your Company. Content of your website has to be checked on regular basis in order to get expected results. People may search on Google; best taxi services or bus services in town. Such Ad words and phrases has to be included in the content to get good results on the SEO (Search Engine Optimsation). Digital Marketers are experts in getting the best results just make sure you choose the right one.
4. Mobile app
Smartphone apps have a very strong influence on the choice people make. They have the potential to make a cognitive impact on economic and non-economic purchase decision. Transportation business is no exception due to its varied benefits, convenience and availability 24/7. It is very popular in taxi business, rather we can say that the reason why taxi business is so popular is because of its user friendly mobile apps. Apps are mostly designed on the basis of actual and perceived control. Here the importance is given to user experience, simplicity, accuracy and reliability at the time of urgency. Another popular and much used public transport is railways. A user friendly mobile app helps even a layman to do the bookings online which earlier utilised lots of man hours by standing in long queues.
5.Encourage reviews
Social media is driven by reviews and comments and if one does it, then it is followed by the masses. You have your Google and Facebook account, you are on the mobile apps of your customers and some are also using your website, then encourage your customers to review your services and ride experience on these platforms. This is definitely checked by internet users before booking their tickets. Whenever people search for any Company related to any kind of service then you will notice star ratings as a search result with the name of the Company which is based on the reviews given by the customers. You can’t miss on this important aspect. Utilise this to the maximum and keep asking your customers to mention their comments post or during their travel and share their experiences. More the reviews more will be your Company popularity and in turn more sales turnover.
6. Promote offers and discounts
Digital world is a platform which gives you the option to connect to the world in just some clicks and transportation is a business where people keep looking for discounts every now and then
Travelling of people around the world has increased then earlier due to varied reasons. Apart from keeping your fare prices fair you have to keep offering seasonal and regular discounts to the travellers. Flash these offers on all your social media accounts and website. Send messages and emails to your regular customers. This proves to be a sales booster as people are tempted to do advance bookings to avail the discount offers. Sales figures rise on the yearly sales graph during this period. Try and participate in local programs and functions and promote your Company and its services by maximum participation.
7. Blogging
Blogs the most popular medium in digital marketing is a great way to get some free advertising. Being in any business customers tend to ask you questions and share concerns. Make an FAQ list of these and then use them as your blog topic. Post blogs on regularly and if need be engage and expert in the field to put in his inputs to grab maximum attention and satisfactory explanation. These blogs can be written by some experts in the field or even from one of the loyal customers. Keep posting these blogs on all the social media platforms and your website. This will increase your exposure and you will be able to connect with larger amount of population in one go. Blogging is an ideal way to show off your reliability as a company within the luxury transportation niche. Whenever people search for anything related to public transportation your blog will appear as a search result on the search engine and this will work as a link for you further connect with the customer
8.Video Marketing
Another popular option of digital marketing is uploading informative videos regarding the concerns mostly raised by your customers, showing your vehicle conditions, people travelling happily, short clips of satisfied customers etc will help to build trust. Internet surfers tend to stay on your website longer if they get to watch some interesting stuff while surfing. Even Google loves videos since websites having videos get a higher ranking on the SEO front. Visuals undoubtedly conveys better than written language no matter how good it is. Popularity of YouTube is increasing day by day is just because mobile users love to watch videos, having a channel will increase your audience to a larger number.
Above mentioned tips are not an exhaustive list of suggestions. Digital marketing is a vast and continuously developing field , on the other hand due to changes in economy and other developments in the country job opportunities are increasing along with the competition. You as an HR consultant can leave your mark provided you tie up reputed companies and suggest best candidates suitable to the job profile and the Company’s culture.