INTRODUCTION TO RAIL TRASPORT SYSTEM
CASE STUDY 1
Every year since 2016, there was an accident that cause delay and traumatic experience for the passengers. Although the demand for both freight and passenger is unchanging, as a public relation and marketing team in KTMB, your team has been asked to develop marketing strategies that will increase the demand for both freight and passenger trains.
For this case study, we had to pretend that we are the marketing manager. The strategies suggested will be presented in front of the KTMB Director. Strategies for both passenger and freight trains are considered.
Strategies for passenger train:
1. Improve brand awareness and brand confidence- The aim of this strategy is to gain back customers trust in the train service. The accidents and delays reduce the customers trust and confidence in the service provided. Therefore, KTMB need to take some measures to portray KTMB as a trusted and reliable brand. For this reason, several things can be done:
- Put up KTMB commercials on tv and radio
- This is done to make people aware of the existence of KTMB services and to reach new potential customers. To add, the commercial should portrays the positive image of KTMB to attract people to use the services.
- Appoint an ambassador
- The power of an influencer should not be look down because they have huge fanbase. The fans tend to follow anything their favourite celebrity do, especially during this digital era, where everyone uses their smartphone and are being online almost every time. We highly suggest the nation sweetheart Siti Nurhaliza due to her popularity as the No. 1 singer of Malaysia and her positive reputation and attitude. People trust on her will also influence the nation trust in our brand since almost no Malaysian can resist her charm.
- Sell KTMB merchandises
- Selling merchandise will attract passengers to use our services since they need to go to the main stations to buy them. Merchandises, especially the limited edition ones that are collectibles are attractive for people to buy as collection.
- Increase safety advices and messages on coaches and terminals
- Since some passengers are reluctant to use the services, these safety messages should be increased to assure them that we constantly take great care of their safety.
- Reward programme can be introduced to encourage customers to use train services more. The reward programme is done by collecting points when riding the train. Expiry date should be specified so that users are encouraged to collect more points and spend on special rewards.
- Online photo contest can serve as a marketing strategy. Instead of blasting our advertisement on medias, the marketing is done by the contestants through Instagram.
Strategies for freight train:
1. Change to covered wagons
- This is due to high demand on covered wagons. Although this type of wagon may be a bit expensive, customers are willing to pay more to ensure their goods safety.
2. Discount for full capacity usage
- This is done to encourage customers to maximise the usage of the train wagons so that the fixed cost per trip can be reduced.
Self-reflection
From this case study, I realise that the most important thing to remember when suggesting strategies like this is to consult with staffs from different departments so that we can get a complete overview about the actual problem that is happening before suggesting solutions. This problem should not be thought by marketing manager only but should also include inputs from other departments.
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