ST. LOUIS — The best motorcoach customers are aging out of the market while most potential consumers do not know how bus transportation could meet their needs.
At the same time, the motorcoach industry spends less money on marketing than almost any other type of business.
“Some charter operations I work with say their average passenger is over 70. That means our industry is not replacing our existing customer base,” said Christian Riddell, executive director of the Motorcoach Marketing Council.
“We spend a lot of time fighting over an existing pool of customers. The reality is, in America nine out of 10 people will not be on a motorcoach this year. Those nine people are our potential customers. Unless we find ways to interact with them, to teach them that they need to be our consumers, they won’t be buying our product and our industry will be shrinking,” he said.
“If you are operating a company it is very difficult to carve out the time. Operations will always win over marketing. You need to make the time to make it happen. If you don’t have the time, hire somebody to make it happen,” Riddell said during one of several marketing seminars at UMA Motorcoach Expo 2017.
Jeff Rogers, president of First Class Tours in Houston, Texas, agreed that distraction was one of the leading causes of marketing procrastination.
“One of the greatest hindrances to our marketing program is me. The single most important thing for me to do in marketing is to do it,” he said.
Michelle Petelicki, president of Panorama Tours in Clifton, N.J., said operators need to look in the mirror.
“Change yourself and your perceptions,” she said. “Look at it not as an obstacle but as an opportunity. Make lists. Set goals. Look at what is holding you back.”
Riddell said the motorcoach industry spends a ridiculous amount of its net revenues on marketing.
“UMA people have told me anecdotally they believe the average is around 2 percent. Any healthy company would tell you that is not enough.”
In many industries, he said, marketing budgets account for 10 to 20 percent of revenue.
“It is expensive. To do marketing well requires thought, effort and consistency. Those require one thing we are remarkably short of in this industry — time.”
A number of important marketing basics, however, are not expensive. They simply require effort and attention to detail.
For starters, Petelicki said, present yourself as a professional, credible and safe operator.
“Your vehicles do not have to be brand new. What they do need to be is clean, damage-free and smell good. If your customer gets on a coach and sees torn seats and it smells bad, they can only imagine what your shop is doing about safety. They will think you don’t care.”
Gladys Gillis, president of Starline Luxury Coaches in Seattle, said there is a direct correlation between bus cleanliness and customer perception of safety.
Petelicki and Gillis led the marketing session on “Transforming Your Business.”
Remember that drivers are your first line of marketing, Petelicki stressed.
“They are doing a tough and difficult job. We want to praise them up, we want them to feel good so when they go out there they will represent us well. Also make them look good. Uniforms are not expensive. When my guys put that uniform on, they feel pride. When your customer sees that, that is a marketing piece.”
Gillis recommended that sales employees be provided a tool kit that includes the benefits of chartering your carrier rather than lower-cost competitors.
“The weakest position in sales is talking price. Stress the features of your company, especially your safety rating. The attention needs to be on value, not just price.”
Many basic communication tools are simple and affordable, Petelicki said, listing press releases, customer emails, social media and professional networking.
“Get involved and go to events. You never know when you are going to meet somebody who needs a bus.”
Scott Riccio, president of Northeast Trailways in Lewiston, Maine, said operators want people to think of them as the transportation company in the area.
“We participate in business-after-hours and trade shows. We try to build relationships with people who are related to events — caterers and wedding planners.”
Riccio and Rogers led the marketing session “Expanding into New Markets.”
Transportation businesses may undertake non-traditional marketing opportunities, Riccio said.
“There are plenty of ways to fill needs for transportation, whether it is a community event, a police program or a youth activity. Provide a school bus to a group of needy kids who might not get out of the city. I can steal the shop foreman, the safety director or myself to drive a vehicle that would be sitting in the yard,” he said.
“It is a short trip, just a few hours. You do it when you are not turning down revenue. The cost to me is not really much. The safety director was on the road for two hours and we burned four gallons of fuel. We are recognized as a company that does good things and gives back to our community. Make sure you promote it on your website and social media,” Ricco said.
Customer follow-ups are an invaluable source of intelligence, Rogers said.
“Nine times out of 10 we get positive feedback. When there is a bad response, the customer feels like they have a connection to resolve it. When things don’t go great on a trip, if I know about it, I can take care of it and perhaps salvage a customer relationship.”
It also is important to find out why a former customer hasn’t come back in a while, Rogers said.
“A lot of customers leave primarily because of price. If their experience with another provider has not been quite what they want, when we call them they might say they are glad we called and ask us to help them at the next juncture.”
There are, of course, marketing tools that are more complex but nonetheless necessary, Riddell said during a presentation on websites and social media.
“Websites are absolutely a requisite — 81 percent of shoppers conduct online research before they make major purchases. They have looked at your website before they talk to you,” he said. “They are easier than ever to use and maintain. Websites are often our most effective sales tool.”
He also described the pluses, minuses and methods of using social media.
“The four big ones are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. About 72 percent of adult Internet users use Facebook, 1.13 billion daily users. Twitter has 313 million active users. YouTube has a billion users. Instagram has 500 million active users with over 95 million photos and videos shared every day.”
Social media can be utilized at little or no cost but it does require care and feeding, Riddell said.
“Online marketing is inherently inexpensive, but you can’t just set up a website and check off that box. It is a living, breathing organism that requires maintenance and updating. It constantly requires new content.”
The last thing you want is for somebody to look at your Facebook page in February and see that the last picture is from the Fourth of July, Gillis said. “They have to wonder, ‘What have you done since July?’”
Email marketing also is a great tool, Riddell said. The leading email service providers can handle differentiated messages for closely targeted demographics and return detailed feedback on responses.
Capturing email addresses from passengers on coach trips is a great way to build lists of potential customers who have experienced your product, he said.
“One of 35 of the people who rode the motorcoach was the customer. The other 34 know what we have done. They have seen our service and equipment. We don’t have to educate them. We can capture those people through email marketing.”
Rogers said one of his frustrations with marketing has always been, “Did that work? We spent a lot of money, but was there a return on investment? Did it make the phone ring?”
Speakers at Motorcoach Expo offered a number of tips for tracking marketing efforts. The most-mentioned tip was simply requiring the sales staff to ask every potential customer how they heard of your company.
“This is critical. Ask. Record it. Analyze it,” Riddell said. “Make it mandatory. Make it a sales bonus qualifier.”
An important benefit of online marketing tools is detailed feedback, he said. “Google analytics is a treasure trove of data. Search engine optimization is what we do to position ourselves higher in the search rankings. It is an expensive effort if you are doing it well. If you are not getting traffic it is one of the quickest things to change.”
Online efforts don’t replace old-fashioned marketing basics, Riddell said.
“About 60 percent of your marketing effort should be online. Your offline marketing should augment your online marketing. Direct sales calls are really important. Direct mail is becoming more effective. Live events can grow your email list. Show-and-sells are good places to demonstrate your equipment.”
There are ways to effectively track results from paper-based communications, too, he said. Unique Web addresses and toll-free phone numbers can be forwarded to your main website and switchboard but identify the medium that prompted the contact.
Sometimes new markets should be the focus of marketing efforts.
“Affinity groups are great opportunities,” Gillis said, adding that the Motorcoach Marketing Council can provide information useful in targeting niches such as golf, skiing, weddings and youth sports. “It is an assignable and achievable task. All the tools are out there.”
Once you identify a group, marketing is much easier, Petelicki said. “Then you can ask if you have what you need to go after that market. Perhaps the market will need changed or upgraded equipment and new drivers, or perhaps all you need is already in your organization.”
Growth opportunities must be selected strategically, Rogers suggested.
“When do we have slow times? Is the competition doing something I am missing?”
If your sales staff continues to sell weddings when your weekends are already booked, “that is taking marketing dollars to focus on customers in your already busy times,” he said.
New markets might be found in affinity groups or geographic areas, Rogers said.
Growth may come in small pieces, Riccio said. “We are all looking for those big contracts but sometimes the one-offs can add up to some serious utilization and really make us some money.”
Most speakers at Motorcoach Expo stressed that marketing efforts simply need to be made.
“We encourage you to make resolutions and think of ways to transform your business,” Gillis said.
