Railway advertising isn’t new, but it’s certainly a growing market.
New exciting travel offers, revised timetables, franchisees and a growing focus on public transport politically have all been predicted reasons for rail travel numbers to improve, and the sales are matching up with the predictions.
This post isn’t to make you jump on the next train of course – but to take a look at the huge marketing opportunity railway advertising presents you – whatever the size of your business.
Consider these statistics on passenger rail usage from the Office of Rail and Road:
- 1.6 billion train journeys were taken in 2014 – 2015
- Of the 62 billion total kilometers travelled by train passengers in 2014 – 2015, 45 billion are ‘ordinary’ journeys, and 17.4 billion are attributable to season ticket holders
- Revenue from season tickets has seen a 7.5% growth – very unusually, which shows more commuters are choosing to renew their annual passes.
So what does this mean for your advertising?
Simply, your out of home brand message has a much higher chance of being seen if you choose to use railway advertising – these numbers of travellers represent a huge proportion of the public, and with more season passes being sold, you are getting daily contact with potential customers for a very low marketing spend.
Why does it work?
With people waiting before they board a train, they are framed, ready to start receiving information. Before they travel they are highly receptive to messages (glancing to check their departure / arrival time) and when they arrive, they are actively looking for information (exit points, connections, a map of the town) – and this is where your message can have a real impact very quickly.
At UK ADVERTISING we help clients large and small get their advertising and marketing campaigns seen by people travelling across the UK.
We find that information point advertising works especially well at train stations. Due to the nature of an information point, where people are actively stepping towards this area, looking for information – whether that’s a taxi number, a map, or a route to take, this is a brilliant place for your brand message to jump out.
Railway Advertising Hints and Tips
- Because the cost is so affordable, you can take risks with your marketing and also be seasonally relevant. This means you can speak directly to the reader with messages that hint at their issues ‘Off to the beach this weekend? Let Poppy Cleaning Ltd take care of the house.’ ‘Watch the big match and leave the food to us.’
- You can also use the context of the area (the train station) to prime your marketing message to bring humour and familiarity. ‘Delayed again? Have a drink on us’, ‘This could be your final destination….Visit the London Dungeons today’ or a clever design that looks like a ticket, train ID card or similar collateral.
- When it comes to the size of your campaign, we advise that you choose as large a size as you can afford. Whilst UK Advertising offers a range of railway advertising options, this is still a competitive space and the larger and brighter your image, the better the chance of success!
See more on our site here – and don’t hesitate to contact us for more ideas on your first railway advertising campaign or any guidance of placement, design or tenure.
We look forward to hearing from you.
The Team at UK Advertising
