5 Marketing Tips for Car Rental Businesses
Before COVID, roughly one in four millennials and generation Z citizens had no intentions of getting a driver’s license.
Additionally, some of those who endured quarantine the past several months may still resist the urge to go out once the pandemic passes save for special occasions.
In that regard, car rental companies have a huge market at their doorsteps. Thanks to technology and a wide range of diversity in their fleets, consumers not only have more choice in selecting a rental vehicle, but booking has now become more convenient than ever.
But there’s still a great deal of heavy lifting when it comes to trying to reach that audience, especially in marketing.
While there’s no shortage of advice on how to achieve that task, here are five basic suggestions that can benefit the car rental market right now.
1. Bone up on the basics
The world has changes as have consumer tastes. But marketing principles remain the same.
The key is adjusting those principles to address the needs in a post-recovery world.
Think of the demographics you want to attract, consider your location to add more convenience in terms of approachability, find out what your competitors are doing, and evaluate whether your fleet includes the type of vehicles that audience prefers. Finally, analyze the market trends to see if your marketing plan is in line with the direction your consumer base is headed. In short, do your homework.
2. Bolster Your Customer Service
Back in the day, serving customers was seen as an essential part of a transaction. Today, the focus is more on establishing relationships.
Those who were wise to follow the latter path have already benefited from repeat business, word-of-mouth from satisfied customers and a solid reputation as an upstanding member of the community it serves.
With an economy that could rebound in the not-so-distant future, it would be prudent to examine customer service protocols, especially when it comes to addressing complaints and consumer concerns.
3. Offer more car rental options
Before the pandemic, major car rental companies faced a much different threat from a ride-sharing market that was eating away at the market.
But car rentals managed to weather that storm in a number of ways, from a series of state regulations have since mitigated that threat to the notion that ride-sharing drivers were perceived as health risks during the early days of the pandemic. But the industry also took it on itself to increase consumer choice such as:
– Offering tiered subscriptions;
– splitting payment methods;
– offer more remote booking incentives;
-speed up service at airports where 90 percent of the car rental industry’s revenue streams originate.
Better still, all those options and more were made even more accessible via an app on a customer’s cellphone. Think of what your base might prefer in terms of service and make it easier for them to access those amenities.
4. Boost your online savviness
Apps have been fruitful in increasing customer convenience, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
For companies that haven’t been paying much attention to their online presence, a complete overhaul might be necessary, such as a redesigned website that’s easy on the eyes and flexible, regardless of web browser. Ensure navigation is fast and painless with no broken links. Also make sure the content is easy to read, engaging and contains enough information to ensure longer page views.
Reinforce that by getting onto every social media platform from Facebook and Instagram to Twitter and YouTube. Additionally, keep posting fresh content regularly to those sights to maintain interest in your services.
5. Keep up to speed with technology
This isn’t just about attracting a post-pandemic customer base, but also to increase efficiency within your company.
In this case, the most robust solution would be in investing in a car rental system that can not only fulfill some of those marketing objectives, it can also speed up operations in your company.
Bluebird products, for example, contain systems that can not only track your fleet but can make remote booking much easier, while additional modules allow for everything from credit card processing to completing accident claim reports.
Additional functions include importing consumer data, creating financial reports and much more. In short, a management system is vital to not only meet a market ready to rent again, but handle even more traffic once recovery shifts into high gear.
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