Swanage Railway General Discussion

I have neighbours and customers that have never heard of the Swanage Railway. So, by definition, if they don't know that they are looking for they will never find it.

 

We have recently had similar with our local Miniature Railway & Model Engineers- also the museum where we are based which appears to be one of South Yorkshire's little secrets....



We are trying a few things;

- Attending local events with a portable track

- Improved roadside signage and specific event signage (ie. the Yule events stuff went up 2 weeks ago on the roadside)

- Improved social media presence, posting weekly in the 48 hours before public opening.

There has been discussions around summer-club type openings, taking the portable railway to local schools to support science/engineering/history topics.

Chris

 

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" as it was once put.

Most heritage railways are trying to appeal to a range of quite diverse audiences - local families, visitors to the area, enthusiasts (who range in age from teenager to quite elderly) not to mention coach party traffic where actually the "buying agent" you have to convince is the tour promoter, not necessarily the passenger. (The tour company does the selling on your behalf: your job therefore is to attract the coach operator).

That is a very diverse range of target customers, and they are likely to be influenced by their different consumption of media. One size doesn't fit all.

So far, this thread is largely populated by people who fit one particular niche moaning that they never see, or don't understand, or don't get influenced by, adverts running in media that just doesn't hit their demographic.

Ultimately you've got to get your message in front of the person making the buying decision. Which means understanding your customer, and understanding the media they consume. If this stuff were easy, railways wouldn't be running on the shoestring that most of them are.

Tom

 

No, it’s an example of what a large part of a target market listen to.

 

On more current things I noticed today the "Polarisation" of the area has commenced with signage and BR logos replaced by PE on the coaches.
Manston in its new shiny (oily?) guise was on the stock I think or maybe just bufferd up not sure. In steam but if it went out on any run I did not see it. Thought it may have been rehearsal day, but I guess not.

 

I get the impression you’re misconstruing the argument, deliberately or otherwise. The reference to Heart Dorset was in the context attracting mums of young families - and the point was bang on, Heart is aimed at a particular demographic and it’s a demographic that heritage lines want to attract so it is a sensible place to advertise on radio.
Just because you don’t listen to it doesn’t mean nobody does.

 

From Rajar surveys a radio station like Heart which allows local ads has a reach of 18% of 25 to 40 year olds, whether you believe the figure or not worth investigating the cost of an advert.

 

From a purist point of view a loco like 34028 Eddystone looks more like the American loco in the book and film, so iñ a way sad it's not available. But Manston will do well, was good to catch it on the MHR lights train last year, where the weathered look was not so apparent, but needs to be "shiny" for the Polar Express

 

Just to pick up on something @Jamessquared said about if advertising were easier HR wouldn’t struggle so much…. I think that’s only partly the problem. I think most HR do a decent job of having a mixed channel marketing strategy that attempts at least to put the message in front of a variety of the right target audiences. I’m afraid that the problem might be that much of the time the message (in other words the perceived product) is not exciting enough to attract large numbers at the price point.

In other words outside of certain mostly Christmas related events, there isn’t enough excitement and reason to visit for most people to fork out for the ticket.

In all other respects I completely agree with Tom though.

 

I think, there has to be a degree of spectacle, of something special about it, something only a railway can do, in this day and age, to attract custom, the train of lights, clearly ticks that box, as does the Polar experience, using modern special effects etc, and perhaps it's something that could be expanded, But everything has to done professionally, from light shows, to behind the scenes booking, and advertising, the best form of advertising is word of mouth, passengers who had their expectations met, or even improved upon, they will tell everyone they know about the marvellous time they had, and if it's a visual extravaganza, people who have seen it, from the stations, from the lineside, well they will be thinking, next year, we will do that, or even be ringing up, or looking on line to see if there's any spare seats, or seeing when the next time it on, hoping to buy tickets, Video placed on social media, this also can have an impact, almost everyone now uses social media

 

I apologise to you if you feel that I'm being argumentative. I've spoken to my daughters with young children regarding Heart Dorset. They have not heard of it. They have heard of Greatest Hits radio though.

 

I am not really sure on the viability of radio advertising. I tend to tune out radio ads when driving, the only time I listen to radio (other than the past 2 weeks when the dishwasher was broken and I played it o the telly whilst washing up). Certainly my experience is Greatest Hits seems to be playing in lots of shops and garages around her if a radio is on. Of course even on radio, like the streaming services you can pay to cut out ads anyway.
TV and YouTube ads I just turn the sound off when they come on. They must love people like us.

 

That's what I do. I find that commercial breaks are getting longer and longer and the BBC bore us by advertising their own programmes. [BJ]

 

Dorset Council's take on what the trial is about. For those that feel £163K could be used elsewhere on the railway it seems pretty clear from this it is for one purpose only, that hopefully may lead to better connectivity in rural areas.

https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/ne...ad-with-uk-s-first-wifi-connected-steam-train

 

And I apologise if I jumped down your throat a little there. I understand where you’re coming from and I should have been less forthright in the tone of my response. For way of info, Heart is a National station with regional breakfast shows which are owned by Global, who also operate stations including Capital, LBC and Classic FM. I’d agree that Greatest Hits is also an equally valid suggestion.

actually this is true - when I do listen to commercial radio, I almost always subconsciously filter out most of the adverts. But I suppose it must be a viable way to advertise as companies still pay for it. I think the NYMR had some success with it a few Years ago, tho that may have been interviews.

 

Fortunately perhaps, you are not entirely representative of the population. You do have to be both careful and clever about the timing of your adverts on the radio, but I can reassure you that it really does work. I don’t have the figures anymore, but there’s no question that if you have something like a lights train or polar express to advertise, radio is effective.

 

Warner Brothers seem to outsourced Polar Express to a company called Rail events https://www.raileventsint.co.uk/polar-express-train-ride/
Guess it's up to them what outlets are used for marketing? Last year seemed to go well and they have added more "venues" this year.
Should provide the Swanage railway will some much needed good income again this year.
Just wish Warner would update the 2004 film with more up to date and better CGI or live action. But seems the events also feature the 1985 book and encouraging children to read is a good thing.

 

What organisation is this, Chris? As if to prove your point, I’m based in Sheffield and it’s not immediately obvious to me who you’re referring to!

 

Although it will a testbed to promote the Government's national "Rural Connectivity Accelerator programme" satellite and WiFi provision, indirectly has given SR some good mentions and free publicity on some websites, BBC and papers.

 

Post Christmas trains half price I see.

"Heritage steam trains are operating daily between Norden, Corfe Castle, Harman’s Cross and Swanage from Friday, 27 December, 2024, to Friday 3 January, 2025, inclusive.

Half-price tickets for the eight-day period are available if purchased early on-line before Sunday, 15 December, 2024 – an adult return for £10, child return for £5 and a family return for £27.50. Under 5s travel free of charge"

Makes it £0.60 cheaper for an adult return than the return fare for a car on the Sandbanks Ferry