By Christian Riddell
Motorcoach Marketing Council
For the past four years, it has been my pleasure to help the Motorcoach Marketing Council further its mission.
We have been working to raise awareness regarding the importance of marketing in the motorcoach industry, while also focusing on making marketing tools more accessible and easier to use.
We have made major strides, but continue to run into the same issue over and over again.
I am no stranger to this issue.
As an operator myself, I was plagued by operational demands that filled my days, pushing everything else to the back of the proverbial bus.
As the executive director of the council, it can be tempting for me to simply stand at the front of a room and say things like, “Just choose to make it a priority,” or “Carve out a few minutes a day to focus on marketing.”
But the reality just isn’t that simple.
Before I say something like that, I often think back to my time as the director of sales for a motorcoach company.
It was a time when, if someone had stood in front of me and made those same statements, I would have either laughed them off the stage or thrown something at them.
Because I was busy running a small satellite fleet, my days were filled with mandatory, can’t-put-it-off-even-one-second, I-have-no-choice types of things, many of which simply came up during the normal course of business.
While I knew what I needed to do in terms of sales and marketing, devoting the time necessary to make it happen was nearly impossible.
I was always trying to carve out time for things, but as long days rolled into long weeks (and then months and years), the reality was that I was trying to carve out time for things like sleeping and eating.
Goals of marketing and sales gave way to keeping coaches on the road and drivers in the seats.
Traveling all over the country and meeting with operators has shown me that, for many companies, this is not the exception; rather, much more commonly, it’s the rule.
The Motorcoach Marketing Council takes its responsibility to help operators sell more charters, to more people, for more money very seriously.
While it could be easy to just stay the course and keep trying to help operators see the importance of this effort and encouraging them to somehow come up with the time to devote to it, we have taken a different tack completely.
We are excited to launch our latest set of tools designed to make it possible for operators to meet the operational demands of their companies and consistently reach out to new markets to grow their charter businesses.
We call it “Do It For You,” for obvious reasons, and the purpose is to actually take the reins and handle the marketing on behalf of companies.
The program has been designed to help bridge the gap between “I want to do more marketing” and “Our marketing program is delivering results.”
This new program will include many of the existing tools the council offers. However, instead of your having to find the time to get into the system, figure out what you want or need, come up with a mailing list and send things out, we will do all of it for you.
All we need are a few photos, your logo and some contact information. Our team will then create the artwork, order the printing and, if you choose, build and acquire a local mailing list of individuals who will be interested in the campaign.
We have launched this service with a number of pre-built packages designed to do specific things. For example, one package will give your sales team all of the materials needed to start better differentiating your services and firm up pricing by establishing you as an expert in more than a dozen niche markets.
Another package will help you recruit drivers more effectively, open new markets or better establish you as the “go-to” provider in that market segment.
We also have a very robust à-la-carte program that will let companies pick and choose exactly what they want and need.
Most operators we speak with know what they want to do more of, whether it’s selling more to a specific market segment, telling existing customers about new services or simply keeping their brand on the top of consumers’ minds.
Most companies have marketing objectives, they have a budget and they have the desire to do more.
If I had a dollar for every time I have talked to an operator who has said they really want to do more marketing but just haven’t had any time, I would probably be writing this from a beach somewhere drinking a San Pellegrino with a little pink umbrella in it.
We know that the gap between “I want to” and “Checked that box” is much wider than we often would like to admit.
The regulations we are subject to, the amount of flex in a day, and the fact that we are operationally dependent on people and machines (both of which can be less than reliable on any given day) make this a difficult business indeed.
We are working to help bridge that gap and standing by to help you meet your marketing needs quickly, consistently and effectively.
To learn more about this new program, visit www.motorcoachmarketing.org and let us show you how we will help you sell more charters, to more people, for more money like never before.
Space in this program is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information about the Motorcoach Marketing Council and its programs, go to www.motorcoachmarketing.org.
