The life of a human being involves constantly moving around from one point to another. Whether it is going to work, on a tour, or visiting a friend in a nearby town. Vehicles are increasingly becoming affordable, although this doesn’t mean that you’ll use your personal car at all times. Sometimes you will need to acquire a bus service. In this article, we will focus on how one can market bus charter and rental in Singapore.
Considering that there is a need for bus services, many entrepreneurs venture into the industry with little knowledge on how it works. When starting any business, it is important to do your due diligence to determine what clicks.
One of the things that most business people get wrong is marketing. People can easily acquire buses for hire but only a few can sell these services. There are quite a few challenges that you will face when you join the bus charter and rental industry.
Determining the target audience
All successful business have one thing in common-they usually identify the target audience. If you don’t have a specific demographic in mind, you will always struggle to make profits. If for instance you are targeting the working class, you need to know their behaviour in order to improve their experience.
Creating a database for these customers is an important step. Anyone who steps into that bus is a customer. Ask yourself how what you can do to make them return. When you have a specific customer in mind, you can easily adjust your services to fit their needs.
Changes in the marketing world
If you’re starting a business today, you will obviously take care not to use marketing strategies from five years ago. There have been tremendous changes in the bus charter and rental industry in Singapore in the past few years.
Ten years ago, most of the bus service companies got their clients through traditional forms of communication such as print, TV and radio. Nowadays, only a small percentage of the population gets information from these sources. A significant number of customers find a bus charter through the internet.
Today, establishing an online presence is a necessity in in the bus services industry. The company needs to have a website, social media handles and constantly communicate with the customers via email. This way, it is able to reach out to more potential customers.
Regulations
There isn’t any business that is not governed by the laws of a specific industry. If you want to run your bus charter business smoothly, you must learn to comply with Singapore’s regulations. These regulations might seem like a bother to some business people but they are vital.
Officials will assess your fleet the fleet to ensure that all safety conditions are in place. We are living at a time when the number of vehicles are on the rise. This means that accidents are bound to happen if your vehicle isn’t regularly serviced or the driver is reckless.
You have to ensure that features such as seat belts work properly. The drivers need to be well-trained and careful. If customers notice that you follow all the safety precautions, they are likely to pledge their loyalty to you.
The challenges mentioned above represent just a few main ones in the bus charter and rental industry. Let’s now look at some strategies you can employ when marketing your services.
- Use social media
Most social media networks were originally developed to help people socialize. Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of social media users. Many smart entrepreneurs use these platforms to promote their products and services.
A bus charter and rental business in Singapore will gain a lot by creating social media handles. Facebook is so far the most popular platform. Others like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn also have a large number of users.
The social media handle should portray the values of a company. If you are passionate about keeping your customers safe, you need to show it.
You can learn a lot about your customers through feedback. You can use their criticisms to improve your services. It’s also important to post regularly and engage your customers and potential customers. If you’re starting out, focus two or three social media platforms.
- Build a website
Nowadays, it is extremely difficult to grow a business when you do not have a website. Some of the most successful companies can admit to the effectiveness of a website. Considering the availability of learning resources online, building a site should be a problem. If you can’t do it on your own, you can always contact an agency to set it up for you.
A website should contain all the information about your business. Some of the details you need to include in your site include contacts, services you offer and the areas you cover. If a prospective client lands on your site, they should find what they are looking for within the shortest time possible.
Your website also needs to be visually appealing, responsive and easy to navigate. If for instance a customer wants to make a reservation, they should do so seamlessly.
Optimization for search engines is absolutely necessary. There are various SEO strategies you can use in order to appear on the first page of search results. You also have the option of using search engine marketing techniques to give your site more visibility.
- Email marketing
Email marketing is just as important as building a website and establishing a presence on social media. Encourage customers to sign up for your newsletter. You can do this by offering a free or discounted first ride on your bus.
Make it a point to communicate with your customers through email regularly. If, let’s say they make a reservation, you can get back to them via email. This way, you will build a solid relationship with customers and strengthen your brand.
If you follow the above tips, you can easily market bus charter and rental in Singapore. Do not just focus on one strategy. Strive to use more strategies in order to reach out to more people and increase your profits. If you are still unsure about your SEO and SEM skills, you can contact MediaOne to do it for you. The agency will help boost the visibility of your site and attract potential clients.