by Karl Sakas on November 19, 2008
Last month, we discussed ways to gently cross-sell your customers. You can use your physical tickets to entertain your passengers and promote additional products. Let’s consider three examples, including one that I designed:
- The front of the Belvidere & Delaware River Railroad’s ticket describes the experience of riding the line in the 1890s, with the smoke, the cinders, and the clanging bell. The back of the ticket summarizes key safety policies and promotes their other seasonal trains.
- At the Whippany Railway Museum, I designed a 3.7″x8.5″ ticket that informs customers and promotes key activities: sign up for the mailing list, become a volunteer, or buy concessions. Volunteers print the DTS Railroad Systems tickets in batches using a standard PC printer. [click to continue...]
by Karl Sakas on November 12, 2008
Boy Scouts. Homeschoolers. History buffs. Church groups. What do they have in common? Built-in networks, perfect for your word-of-mouth marketing.
During his “Off-the-Wall Marketing” seminar at the National Railroad Museum, operations manager Robert Lettenberger described how the Museum sent a promotional mailing to local day care centers. They got the list of day care centers (free of charge!) from a Wisconsin state regulatory website. The mailing included a “please share this information with your families” letter, a color poster, and a flyer suitable for photocopying. A fulfillment house did the actual stuffing and sending. How did it work? [click to continue...]
by Karl Sakas on November 5, 2008
How would you like a new marketing volunteer who worked 24 hours a day and 7 days a week? The volunteer is constantly on the lookout for articles about your organization. They’d send you grant opportunities, and you’d hear about relevant breaking news in your community within minutes.
Meet Google Alerts, a powerful way for tourist railroads, railway museums, and private railcar owners to track their publicity campaigns. Best of all, it’s free. [click to continue...]
by Karl Sakas on October 29, 2008
In the 1960s, Earle Gil of the Morris County Central Railroad burned used motor oil in his 2-8-0 and 0-6-0 steam locomotives. After all, why pay for bunker fuel oil when you can collect crankcase oil for free? This wouldn’t meet today’s EPA standards, but it sure cut his fuel expenses.
With good coal at $250 a ton and diesel fuel briefly receding from $4 per gallon, you know how expensive it is to run a heritage rail operation–whether you have a coal- or oil-fired steam locomotive, an aging diesel engine, or a thirsty railcar generator. Class I railroads can afford fuel hedges to protect against rising diesel prices. You don’t have that flexibility, but you can steal another Class I technique: give out gas cards to reward fuel efficiency. [click to continue...]
by Karl Sakas on October 22, 2008
Do members of the public keep climbing on your railroad equipment? Visitors risk hurting themselves, and we risk a big-dollar claim against our liability insurance. We all have “Don’t Climb” signs, but they don’t keep the most persistent visitors from climbing up. Maybe your warning signs should explain “Why not.”
There is a large duck pond at the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (popularized in 1941’s Make Way for Ducklings). Families often bring food for the ducks, geese, and swans. The problem is, feeding the waterfowl leads to overpopulation, and this eventually leads to public health problems from bird droppings. What’s the city’s solution? [click to continue...]
