Bike rental shops have been gaining traction across the U.S.A. The concept is pretty simple. Bike rental shops are great for tourists and also, for people who are interested in renting a bike just for a relatively shorter period of time, for just getting from “point A” to just “point B”. You may be required to pay hourly and you have the liberty of dropping off your bike at some other location. Bike rental business could be really hectic and you need to manage numerous allied activities throughout the day. You may get the feeling that 24 hours are just not enough for you to fulfill your daily commitments. So marketing and promoting your bike shop may be very much on your agenda but you are simply hard-pressed for time. Here are some amazing marketing tips to boost your bike rental business.
Help Your Clients to Find You
Just by opening a bike rental shop you cannot expect customers to drop in automatically. You need to take a few proactive steps to attract customers to your rental shop. You must make it a point to get your bike rental business listed in all relevant directories for getting maximum exposure and boosting the chances of customers and even potential customers locating you. This way any Central Park bike rental company could stay ahead of the competition.
Make Sure that Your Website Is Getting Top SERP Rankings
Boost your rankings on the Search Engine Results Page and create robust social media awareness and gain brand recognition. All the top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and even Bing have primary search engine results where the web pages, videos, and local listings are displayed and ranked according to what the relevant search engine considers authentic and most relevant to the online users. To ensure that your bike rental shop’s website secures higher ranking on the SERP, you need to use appropriate keywords and mention your bike rental business’s name in literally all your pages such as the About Us page, the Homepage, the Contact Page etc. Also, do not forget to include a sitemap strategically in your page.
Stick Some Lights On
It’s really odd that there are next to no rental bikes available with lights included. Lights are really cheap, can come with anti-theft safeguards, and most importantly, are mandated by law after dark in most cities. All this means it really should be natural for bike shops to rent out bikes with pre-fitted lights on them. Since you know your customers are going to be using them over the course of an entire day, for their safety and convenience, you really should ensure your bikes go out with lights set up, be it fancy lamps or small blinking LEDs.
Arrange for Storage and Fenders
Fenders are very useful when the weather is bad. They keep both bike and rider clean and prevent the wheels from kicking up dirt when riding through slushy areas. They are really inexpensive and definitely worth it. If your primary customers are tourists, it is likely they will need some sort of storage for their camera bags, purses and the like. You can add these on for a minimal cost and then charge accordingly. It adds value to their purchase and also makes you money in the process. Always keep these options available.
Offer Successive Discounts for Repeat Customers
Great rental shops have a lot of repeat business because impressed customers tend to stay loyal and return as well as tell everyone they know about your service. You can build up this rapport by sweetening the deal for them and offering discounts if they return. You could also keep an option to deduct the rental fees paid if they finally decide to purchase the bike. These small steps on your end go a long way in winning customers over and even if they don’t exercise the options provided, they are likely to remember the goodwill you extended and have fond memories of their interaction with you.
Take the Fullest Advantage of the Social Media
Social media platforms are the most effective ways of connecting with your precise target audience, tourists and daily bike renters. Moreover, you must make the most of ‘Book Now’ button on FB. You could use effective tools such as Hootsuite for integrating all your social media accounts in one place so that you could easily automate your posts. Try to be active on these social media platforms as a Central Park bike rental company to gain the attention of a broader target audience and engage new customers.
Let Your Customers Do Hassle-Free Online Booking
Many clients want to book online several hours in advance as that gives them a sense of security that their rented bike is reserved for them for their upcoming bike trip. Many wish to rent a trailer or a baby set. Some customers may have to book bikes in practically all the sizes for their whole family. You must grab their business by having an intuitive and responsive website online. This way you could be well ahead of the curve. You are sure to stand out from the rest. You must ensure a perfect online booking system that would be automating the rental transaction and boosting your rentals.
Get into a Partnership to Boost Your Overall Rentals
When you partner with another business, it would imply that you could have easy access to your partner company’s network of customers. Try to start a partnership preferably with some tourist service providers such as local hotels, travel agencies, Airbnb, cruise companies, campsites etc. You may get in touch with firms that organize various corporate events for renting your bikes in bulk. Moreover, you could get your bike rental shop listed in the directory of Tourist Information Conference because in such a situation, when corporate houses are organizing events they would have easy access to all your details.
Conclusion
Encourage happy customers to write stellar reviews for you and help promote your brand. Use user-generated content, such as pictures of clients on your rental bikes, on social websites. Customer referrals are the way to get the business from new customers.
