Post on 25-Jan-2015
description
Finding New Railfans (delivering growth to your railroad operations
through ticketing and internet marketing)
2011 Railway Heritage Preservation Conference
A quick poll (raise your hand if):
• You have too many riders annually
• You sell out every train
• Your railroad has too much money
• You feel like you do a good job of reaching younger folks
Key Concepts
1. Big events generate interest
2. Use the free resources on the Internet to sell more tickets
3. Make sure you capture and use customer data from ticket purchasers
4. Build on existing customer relationships for year-over-year growth
Growth begins with
Additional Big Event Ideas
• Jewish-Themed Events (Purim) • Teddy Bear Picnic • Ales on Rails • Others?
Key Takeway: Events don’t all have to be as massive as Thomas or Polar, they just need to appeal to a certain group of people. CREATE INTEREST!
Three Steps
Sell the Ticket
Use the Data
Generate
Awareness
2. Awareness: Getting the Word Out
What do you currently do to attract people to your events?
What techniques are working best?
Best Practices:
• Collect an email for every ticket purchaser
• Use email for both marketing AND customer service
• EVERY TRANSACTION IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD YOUR LIST
Web Presence / Search Engines
Best Practices:
• Publish to local newspaper website
• Publish to other local publications
• Publish to local and national event websites
Popular Event Websites
www.upcoming.yahoo.com
www.zvents.com
www.eventful.com
THESE WEBSITES
ARE FREE TO USE!
Social Media Tools Facebook: a site where friends can share information with each other. 750 MILLION + Registered users 500 MILLION+ Log On Daily 26% of ticket sales, on average, are referred by Facebook Each “share” is worth approximately $2.53* It’s FREE to set up a Facebook Fan Page for your Railroad.
Twitter : as website where users can publish short messages to subscribers 100 MILLION + Registered users 1.8 million tweets per HOUR 12% of ticket sales, on average, are referred by Twitter Each “share” is worth approximately $1.78* It’s FREE to set up and use.
Tip #1:
Use Facebook to “talk “ to fans of the railroad. Update often,
at least weekly.
Tip #2:
Create your events on the
Facebook “Events” Tab
Tip #3:
Sell Tickets on your Fan Page!
Twitter Best Practices
Tweet Consistently around your
events
Always Include
links
So what works?
Word of Mouth, 49%
Web Search, 22%
Other, 8%
Email, 7%
Print, 5%
Direct Mail, 3%
Social Media, 3% Radio, 2% TV, 1% Outdoor, 1% Telemarketing,
0%
Referral Source Data, 2010-2011 WhistleTix Clients
Internet marketing drives over 30% of sales!
3. The Purchase: Best Practices
• Make it EASY
• Make it CONVENIENT
• Capture Customer Data
Tip #1:
Ticketing Links should be on
the FRONT page of your website
(and every other page).
Tip #2:
Sell tickets on your OWN site,
not a third party.
Tip #3:
Include DETAILS! Pictures, Videos,
information!
Convenience: Multiple ways to buy
• Call Center
• Website
• Mobile Phone
• Walk Up
• Social Media
Make sure that when a customer is ready to buy a ticket, you have a system in place
to sell it!
Capture and Keep Customer Data!
• Name
• Address
• Phone
Every customer you reach whose
data you capture=
One less new customer you
must reach next year
4. Effective use of existing customer data + smart internet marketing =
GROWTH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Tick
et
Re
ven
ue
Cumulative Ticket Revenue Per Year
2008
2009
2010
2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Nu
mb
er
of
Tick
ets
Cumulative Tickets Per Year
2008
2009
2010
2011
Another Example:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Nu
mb
er
of
Tick
ets
Cumulative Tickets Per Year
2009
2010
2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Tick
et
Re
ven
ue
Cumulative Ticket Revenue Per Year
2009
2010
2011
Key Concepts
1. Big Events generate interest
2. Use the free resources on the Internet to sell more tickets
3. Make sure you capture and use customer data from ticket purchasers
4. Build on existing customer relationships for year-over-year growth
Drop your business card or email
ehoush@whistletix.com for a copy of this
presentation.
Internet Marketing Check List • Basics:
– Create a website for your railroad
– Create a Facebook Fan Page for your railroad
– Create a Twitter account for your railroad
• Publish your event to the Internet (remember ticketing links!)
– Publish event to your website
– Publish event to Facebook
• Events Tab on your Facebook page
• Fan Page Ticketing from WhistleTix
– Publish Event to your Twitter account
– Publish event to eventful.com , upcoming.yahoo.com, and zvents.com
– Publish your event to the web sites of local publications, newspapers, magazines
– Email your existing customer list!!!
• Make it easy for customers to find and buy tickets
– Links on the front page of your website
– Fan Page ticketing on Facebook
– Mobile –friendly websites for Smartphone Users
– Call Center to answer calls
• Capture patron data during the purchase process
– At LEAST the email address!!