Thursday November 26, 2009

We've squeezed more in

As our next issue will coincide with Christmas so there will be no December issue of Moving People.

But don't worry, we've managed to cram even more into this issue to keep you going till the new year.

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Back to basics approach saves bus company

For some of you the phrase ‘Back to basics’ may be more synonymous with the Leeds nightclub scene of the 90’s, rather than something that should be at the core of any successful public transport marketing campaign.

Marketing folk in the industry have little or no control over the product they are selling - never a great starting point to get real results.

They cannot influence the appearance of their product, its cleanliness, punctuality, attitude of staff or often even the pricing model. Five key elements that would determine a customer’s decision to use public transport.

An award winning marketing campaign can promise the earth, but if the basics are not in place, your investment will have little long-term benefit.

One company that seems to have grasped this is Diamond Buses in the West Midlands (and no, they’re not one of our clients but never say never).

Within months of being taken over by Rotala they have gone from losing £10,000 A DAY, to being nominated for 'Large Operator of the Year' at the recent Route One Operator Excellence Awards. So what have they done to turn things around?

Among a series of initiatives, they have introduced a fleet of new buses with leather seats and laminate flooring; put all their drivers through a customer service programme and offered incentives to customer facing staff to relay passenger feedback.

Hardly rocket science. But they have gone back to basics with the product and their people. Leaving them safe in the knowledge that their marketing promises will be fulfilled.

So remember, if it’s clean, arrives on time and is staffed by someone with a smile – your campaigns will perform better in the long run.

Click here to read the full story on Diamond Buses.

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Don't follow us on Twitter

Unless you want to be kept up-to-date with our latest, really useful, public transport blog posts and somewhat useful ramblings.

We won't however, be telling you how:

* to make your anatomy bigger for 99p a day
* to earn £6,000 an hour whilst on the toilet
* you could lose 3st with our special 'chocolate diet'.

Sorry to disappoint.

If you still want to follow us click here

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Train company's cult appeal

Freshly cooked food using locally sourced ingredients, ticket prices the same whether you buy in advance or on the day, free Wi-Fi, full English breakfasts, tea/coffee served in real cups, a great pricing structure…

Congratulations to Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway for being not only different, but in danger of becoming the first private rail operator to have genuine cult appeal.

As we continue to say - position yourself well, do things differently, and they will come.

Read one of many articles praising Wrexham & Shropshire here

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Top 10 marketing blunders no. 5 - Virgin Blue

Every month we look at the top 10 most brilliant marketing screw-ups. This month Australian airline Virgin Blue.

It’s the kind of database blunder that must give marketing directors nightmares.

On 13th November – which was, appropriately enough for the airline, Friday the 13th – Virgin Blue emailed its entire Velocity loyalty scheme database (including those who had opted out of receiving messages) with the following news:

“We’ve got a treat for you – a free upgrade to Velocity Gold!” click here to see the email

But on Friday night, a further email arrived, somewhat shorter than the first, breaking the bad news:

"Oops! Due to an error you’ve received our previous email by mistake. Please disregard the free upgrade communication as unfortunately you do not qualify for that upgrade. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Warm regards,

The Velocity Team"

A spokesman for Virgin Blue said “We can confirm Friday’s email send was the result of a processing error. Of course, we a very sorry for any disappointment caused and are relieved that many of our Members realised it must have been an error even before we sent out the correction notice.”

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