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Recommended Strategies

Awareness, Image, and Support-Building Recommendations

It is important to build awareness, a positive image, and support among the broad community, including non-riders as well as potential riders. 



Effective methods to do this fall into two general categories: non-paid communications channels and paid advertising. This section will describe a variety of ways that you can “get the word out” about your services. Remember, you don’t need to do all of these. Select the strategies that are the best fit for your community, target audience, system, and resources.

Non-Paid Communications Channels

There are many non-paid ways to build visibility and educate the public about your transit system. These include conventional news media, social media, and outreach efforts such as public speaking. While these strategies do not require a budget, they do require staff time to implement.

Internal Channels and Social Media

These days, there are many channels for communicating news about your system and services. These channels can be used together to reach a variety of target groups.

 

Under “Fundamental Strategies,” we discussed the strategies of creating a news calendar and issuing regular news releases to conventional media–including newspapers, news websites and local broadcast stations. This same news calendar can be used to manage communications through other non-paid channels, including the internal channels you control, free exposure on local media, and social media:

 

  • Website posts
  • Email blasts
  • Digital newsletter
  • Public service announcements
  • Social media—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or X (formerly known as Twitter)
  • Videos

 

Use your basic news release to provide content for other communications. For example, if your news calendar included a “stuff-the-bus” holiday food drive, you might use the following communication channels.

  • News release about stuff-the-bus event, how to participate, and how the donations will be used
  • News post or blog on your website
  • Public service announcement about the event distributed to local radio stations
  • Facebook post with information about the drive, encouraging your followers to participate and to share the post
  • Tweets about location of the bus and hours when donations are being accepted
  • Video of event to post on website or Facebook afterwards
  • Photos of event to include in a follow-up news release, social media post and digital newsletter article

 

Update the news calendar periodically to reflect changes and new story ideas. The following are some tips for using recommended channels. Tips for additional channels are included under “Optional Strategies.”

Website Posts and Blogs

News releases that are sent to the news media also can be posted on your website, possibly linked from a “What’s New” or “Blog” button on your home page.

Email Blasts and Newsletters

Check out more information on newsletters and email blasts here.

Email blasts about important news can be an effective way of communicating with gatekeepers, decision-makers, and riders who have signed up for alerts. You might even consider creating a periodic newsletter that focuses on transit news and features and is distributed to the contacts on your various lists.

Radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs)

Check out the PSA template.

Radio stations are required by the Federal Communications Commission to serve the public interest. One of the ways they do this is to run public service announcements (PSAs) on behalf of non-profit and government organizations in local communities. Because many organizations submit PSAs, there is a great deal of competition for the limited airtime in which stations play these spots, but it can be worthwhile to send in prepared material if your staff time allows.


While television stations are also required to run PSAs, it’s generally easier to get PSA time on the radio. Spots can be from 10 to 30 seconds. More PSA best practices:

  • PSAs are best for precise, time-limited information or to announce something new. Include a URL or phone number for more information.
  • Media relations matter. The stronger your relationship with local media staff, the more likely they are to use your PSA. Smaller communities have a great advantage in this regard when they’re served by locally-run radio stations.

Social Media

Almost 90% of Americans use social media, making it a very common communications tool. But it has some significant drawbacks that keep it from being the all-purpose marketing tool it’s sometimes promoted as. It can be difficult for small organizations to build a significant social media presence, meaning that not all followers will see your messages. Additionally, social media requires a meaningful time commitment. You’ll need to set aside time to prepare your messages and post them as well as be ready to respond to viewers’ comments and messages.

Three phones displaying Facebook posts about transit.

Social media can offer the opportunity to build broad public awareness, which can help boost ridership. It’s also a good tool in your partnerships toolbox: you can ask your community partners to share your social media posts and share theirs on your own channels. These tactics will help grow your followers and lead to more people seeing your posts. You can also post about getting to local destinations on your system; for example, writing a post about which route serves the local library and tagging the library will bring your post to the attention of library followers. 


Social media is best for short, easy-to-understand messages. Pictures and videos increase people’s interest in your posts and actually encourage the social media platforms to show your posts more often. If you choose to use social media, promote your organization’s profiles onboard buses, on your website, and in your printed guides.

  • Facebook: Facebook is the dominant social media channel in the country. It can be used to promote service changes, build interest in public meetings, share beautiful images of your service area, and share videos. Facebook should not be thought of as a replacement for a website. 
  • Instagram: Instagram is all about the pictures, featuring big images and less text than its sister platform, Facebook. Instagram users tend to be younger than Facebook users. This is a good place to post great-looking pictures of your vehicles and the places they can take riders. If you have both Facebook and Instagram accounts, a post on one can be simultaneously posted on the other.
  • X, formerly known as Twitter: The social media network once known as Twitter is now called X, and the messages we used to call “tweets” are referred to as “posts.” While best used as a social channel like Facebook or Instagram, X can also be used to share system alerts, service disruptions, and other timely updates.
  • YouTube: With the growing popularity of video content, more transit agencies are choosing to have their own YouTube channels. YouTube works as a social network by encouraging users to follow, like, and share videos; and allowing comments and messages. If you have time to manage more than one social media platform and you are creating a lot of videos, YouTube could be a good option to build awareness about your system.
  • LinkedIn: With its focus on career and work, LinkedIn is a useful social media channel on which to promote jobs, celebrate your workforce, and highlight your organization’s culture to attract employees.

Social media best practices:


  • Keep content short; link to further information on your site if you have a lot to say.
  • Use pictures and videos as much as possible, even if it means just making a simple text-based graphic of your message.
  • To understand how successful your page is, track how many followers you have month to month.
  • Follow all local community organizations and as many businesses in the service area as possible. Like, comment on, and share their posts, when appropriate. 


For more on the basics of social media and rural transit, view the following National RTAP Resources:


The National RTAP Transit Marketing webinars also provide helpful information on social media, especially the Transit Marketing 101 webinar and Marketing Workshop #1: Build Awareness.

Videos

Person watching transit video on a computer.

Video is more and more regarded as the most popular form of sharing information. Making your own videos, even using a smartphone camera, can provide attractive promotional material quickly and easily. You might video a quick interview with a driver about why they love their job, a rider about their reasons for using your service, or simply capture a lovely landscape rolling by your vehicle’s window. These can be posted on social media, on your website, or in a blog, if you have one.


Public Speaking

Check out the PowerPoint template.


Public speaking is the ultimate low-cost marketing tool. Targeted, personal, and persuasive, it is an inexpensive opportunity to meet with your community, educate them about transit’s role in the community, build support, and expand your email list.


While public speaking can be used in a variety of ways, it is especially powerful as a tool for communicating with non-rider target groups such as decision-makers, gatekeepers for potential rider groups, and other stakeholders in your community.


Solicit opportunities to speak to:

  • Community leaders/decision-makers (e.g., your city or county governing body or your board of directors)
  • Social service coalitions or staff meetings
  • Civic organizations (e.g., Rotary, Kiwanis, and Soroptimist)
  • Business/employer groups (e.g., the Chamber of Commerce)
  • Potential rider gatherings (e.g., TANF training programs, library story times, senior lunch programs)

Your presentations should be tailored to the group you are addressing. For example, if speaking to community leaders, focus on the benefits of transit to the broader community, like creating a mobile workforce, connecting customers with businesses, and serving the needs of those unable to drive. If speaking to human service organization staff, focus on how transit can serve their clients and show them how to use your website or Google Maps to plan trips.

 

Here are a few tips for maximizing the effectiveness of your presentations:

 

  • PowerPoint makes it easy to customize your presentation. You can create a basic presentation and then tailor it for the audience. 
  • You also may want to create a customized handout for these presentations. A simple flyer or brochure can be created using one of the templates provided in The Marketing Toolkit. Like the presentation, the “leave-behind” should provide key facts relevant to the group you are addressing.
  • Presentations also provide an opportunity to collect email addresses of audience members so that you can add them to an email newsletter list or invite them to follow you on social media.

Paid Communications Channels

Check out the marketing and promotions tools section for resources.

If you have budget for advertising and printing, there is a wide variety of promotional channels you can use to build visibility. Some of the most easily used and effective are included under “Recommended Strategies.”  Additional advertising channels are included under “Optional Strategies.”

Transit Advertising

Transit advertising is advertising inside buses, on the exterior of vehicles and at bus shelters. One of the beauties of transit advertising is that the space comes free-of-charge; your only expenses are in production costs.

Calaveras Connect window cling displayed on a bus window.

With a simple, colorful and low-cost poster displayed inside your vehicles, you can update current riders about a service change, promote an event that includes transit, or remind them of the affordability and availability of your various fare media. When designing on-board posters, think of them as ads, not notices. Use bold graphics and large text to make them easy to read on the bus and to catch the rider's eye.


Using the exterior of your vehicles, you can build your brand and raise awareness of the system throughout the community. This can be done with effective branding, as previously discussed. But in addition, you may want to use window clings, bus-back displays or partial wraps to promote specific messaging (such as the introduction of a new service).


Note: Transit advertising also can be a source of revenue. Many systems sell advertising on the exterior of their buses. Keep in mind, however, that if you sell your “packaging” to advertise another product, you lose the opportunity to use the vehicles to build visibility and a positive image for your own services. Also take into consideration the staff time and expense of actually selling and maintaining the transit ads, as well as developing policies around the types of advertising you will or will not accept (e.g., political ads or ads for alcohol). You may find that using your vehicles to build your own brand and ridership is a better use of the space.

 

Another form of transit advertising is advertising bus shelters. Many transit agencies contract with transit advertising firms to construct and maintain bus shelters on their routes, in return for the right to sell the ad space. This can be an effective means of securing bus shelters, an amenity highly valued by riders. As part of the contract, firms will often agree to allow the transit system to advertise in unsold shelter panels. This can be a highly visible advertising medium to use for your own purposes.

Newspaper

Calaveras Connect and Bluegrass Ride newspaper ads displayed in color.

Newspapers have lost readership in urban areas, but smaller communities often have an advantage, supporting local newspapers that have loyal readers. When your budget permits, newspaper display advertising is a solid marketing strategy. Newspaper display ads attract attention with design elements such as graphics, photos, and appealing font sizes and styles. If you time your display ads with news releases published in the paper, you’ll heighten the impact of your announcement.


Two types of newspaper ads are particularly effective for transit:

  • Testimonials: These ads let potential riders see that people like themselves are already using transit.
  • Service information: In these ads, you can include route maps or schedules to help readers see what the service offers.

Your newspaper ad sales representatives can help you determine the size of your ad and where in the paper it should run. They may be able to produce the ad graphic for you, too. You can also design your own ad, using the newspaper ad templates provided in The Marketing Toolkit. 


Many local newspapers now have online editions where you can place digital ads; in some cases, these can be targeted towards geographic locations or even characteristics of the readers you want to reach. See more information in the “Digital Advertising” section under “Optional Strategies.”

Posters

Poster displayed on wall with orange and red accent colors. Text is displayed in yellow, black, and red font colors.

Attractive posters, displayed around your community on bulletin boards and in windows, can create low-cost exposure for your service. Posters can promote your system overall, highlight a specific service, or target a particular audience (such as teens or older adults). They can be placed anywhere you get permission–the bulletin board at a grocery store, at a school or college, in a senior center or a social service office.


Tabloid posters (11” x 17”) or letter-size flyers (8-1/2” x 11”) are easy to produce. The Marketing Toolkit includes several templates for creating posters. You can customize them with different photos, illustrations and messages specific to the locations you want to place them. Small quantities of posters can be printed at low cost—either in-house or at a local print shop.


If using posters as a communications tool, be sure to update them regularly and remove out-of-date posters.

Direct Mail

Verde Shuttle mail print displaying bus image and blue/white background.

Check out the direct mail template.


The ability to target geographically, by zip code or postal carrier route, makes direct mail an appealing option for transit marketing. It means you can provide information that you know is relevant to the reader based on where they live. Another advantage is the capacity to provide detailed service information, such as route maps, schedules, and even a free-ride pass.


To be read, however, a direct mail piece has to be compelling enough to capture the recipient’s attention immediately—before it is discarded. Generally, a large postcard that has a bold message has the best opportunity to make an immediate impact.


The U.S. Postal Service offers a product called USPS Every Door Direct Mail, which allows you to send a flat direct mail piece (up to legal size) to every address in an area at a very low cost. You can select areas to send to on their online map. 


A direct mail piece that is not discarded immediately has the advantage of being seen when it arrives and a second time when it is picked up to be used or even thrown away. If it captures the reader’s attention and provides valuable information, it may be kept for future reference. The extra impression it makes when seen a second time or third time can be an awareness-builder.

Event Participation and/or Hosting

Police officers standing in front of transit bus with orange, red, and blue coloring.

A great way to connect with your community is by participating in local events. Many transit systems staff a bus display or information table at county fairs, senior fairs, health fairs, job fairs, Earth Day events, college registration events, or other relevant activities where one of their target markets will be.


These events are an opportunity for citizens to tour a bus, ask questions, and take away passenger information tools. An engaging display, such as a large map where people can determine whether or not their house is served, can be a great way to get people talking.


There is also the opportunity to sponsor your own events that build visibility and create news value. These types of events might include:

  • Stuff-the-bus holiday food drive
  • Ribbon-cutting event for new vehicles or facilities
  • Launch event for a new service
  • Earth Day celebration (possibly a free ride day)
  • Rural Transit Day

If possible, involve your community leaders and decision-makers in these events to demonstrate that transit is a valuable community resource.

Generating Ridership Recommendations (Low and No-Cost)

Options for Building Back Ridership After a Decline

Several of the strategies in The Marketing Toolkit can help your system build back ridership after a decline such as many transit agencies experienced during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The transit marketing environment in such a circumstance is not unlike launching a new system: the public needs to be educated on what the service is, how it works, what might have changed (such as safety measures), and its benefits for the unique audiences it serves. 


Here are three recommended approaches for rebuilding ridership: 

  • Partner with the community: Making connections with the gatekeepers of local organizations that serve your ridership groups is always the most direct path to building ridership. Inform gatekeepers of your service, provide them with passenger information they can distribute to their members, as well as permanent displays of information for their facilities. Provide travel training for their staff. Ask for opportunities to add information to their websites, newsletters, social media, or email blasts. See below for more ideas on how to offer fare programs to community organizations. 

 

  • Use paid media to build trial ridership: If your budget allows, paid media could help build ridership by offering incentives to ride. For example, you can send direct mail postcards with specific route information to people along those routes and include a free-ride offer. You could also consider running newspaper ads with free-ride coupons so people can experience your system at no charge. See below for more ideas on incentives to increase ridership. 


  • Beef up media relations: Set up a press release calendar and send regular press releases to the local media. This will help raise awareness about your services for the general public, leading to wider support of your service and, potentially, greater ridership. 

More Ridership-Generation Recommendations

The more targeted a marketing message is, the more likely it is to create action. A transit system’s most cost-effective opportunity to build ridership is by working through partner organizations in the community to deliver specific messages to populations that can benefit from the transit services provided.

 

Many organizations serve as gatekeepers for potential transit riders, and can provide access to their constituents. These include social service agencies, schools and youth programs, colleges, employment and training programs, senior centers and residences, medical facilities, and organizations that work with persons with disabilities. If you can identify a group you want to reach, you can probably find an organization willing to partner with you in that effort.

 

These organizations can give you access to an array of low- and no-cost marketing channels which will allow you to deliver very targeted messages to their clients, students, customers, and employees. Here are several examples of how you might work through gatekeepers to market transit.

Permanent Information Displays

Check out the Other Resources page for links to companies providing display fixtures.

Woman standing with hands in pocket reading a permanent information display stand.

Work with gatekeepers to establish permanent transit information displays at high-traffic locations such as social service lobbies, medical complexes, grocery stores, laundromats, and schools. The displays can be created easily using standard fixtures which can hold a letter-size poster or flyer while also providing space for a supply of passenger guides. Click here for links to display resources.


Each display can be customized to provide the information most relevant to the target group for that location. For example, a display in the student center at a community college might highlight the routes that serve the college and promote the economy of commuting by transit. These displays provide long-term communications value (unlike an ad that exists for only one day or week).

Customized Information (Audience-Specific)

Verde Shuttle flyer displaying bus route and times.

Every community has different audiences with different travel needs. This becomes apparent when you begin to identify target markets. Remember that the more targeted your strategy and message, the more effective you will be in generating trial ridership. Brochures and flyers designed with a specific target group in mind can use photos and graphics that these groups will relate to and can provide information that is just what they need to hear. Your relationships with gatekeepers can provide you with the mechanism to deliver your customized information to the target audience at no cost.


Bulletin Board Posters and Flyers


Information posted on bulletin boards at offices, schools, medical facilities, and other venues is a very low-cost communications medium that can deliver information specific to the target group. In some cases, a PDF of a flyer can be emailed to gatekeepers with a request that they post it in their facility or send it out to their employees.


Website Links


Most gatekeeper organizations will have websites that are used by their constituents. Ask gatekeepers to provide a link on their website to your website as a transportation resource for their staff and clients.


Orientation Packets


Schools, human service organizations, and medical facilities often provide their new students/clients with packets of relevant information. Ask them to include a targeted flyer in this information that tells the individual how they can use transit to travel to the relevant destination.


Email Blasts


Some gatekeepers (particularly schools and colleges) communicate with their constituents via email and can distribute transit updates in this way.

Newsletter Articles

Many gatekeepers publish email or hard copy newsletters and can include articles about transit services that are relevant to their constituents. Ask them if this is possible and then provide them with draft articles or news releases on a regular basis.

Travel Training

Gatekeepers can offer opportunities to conduct transit travel training with their constituents.

 

Travel training can take several forms. It can be approached casually, as a group presentation. Opportunities for a casual group travel training might include:

  • TANF or other social service program classes
  • College student orientation
  • Senior nutrition program presentation

 

In this instance, the training might consist of a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a short on-bus experience or one-on-one personal trip-planning assistance. You may want to provide participants with a free ticket to encourage them to make their first solo trip.

 

Travel training also can be conducted by peer volunteers. For example, a Bus Buddy program can pair trained older adult volunteers with new riders to take them on their first bus trip, providing travel training along the way.

 

Travel training can also be more formal, such as a comprehensive one-on-one program for persons with special needs—those with developmental disabilities, sight impairment, or the need to use a wheelchair or other mobility device.

 

Because it takes the guesswork—and the apprehension—out of riding the bus for the first time, travel training can be a powerful tool for generating ridership.

 

Some gatekeepers provide transit travel training for their own constituents. You can support these efforts by providing gatekeepers with customized information, a video or PowerPoint to use in their presentations, and/or free tickets to use when training riders. The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center has helpful resources on travel training here.

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