PUBLICITY FOR THE MOTOR COACH.
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A Neglected Field. How the Coaches can be Filled from the Cinemas and Other Forms of Amusement.
WHO ARE the competitors of the motor coach proprietor? At first thought probably nine out of ten persons would say it was the railways, but the sooner the motor coach industry puts aside what might almost be said to be " the railway bogey," the better it will be for all concerned.
It is true the railways compete with the motor • coach in getting passengers to certain fixed points, but there the competition stops. When we have said that, the grounds of competition are at an end, and it ought to be the last thought the coach proprietor has in his mind to gather together sufficient passengers to fill his vehicles and to dump them down at some previously arranged spot. The coach owner's motto should be : " To travel hopefully is better than to arrive," and he should not fail to impress this upon his passengers. The pleasures of travelling by motor coach should be impressed upon the public at every possible opportunity. Then we shall hear less of the fears of the competition through the reintroduction of railway excursion fares. No one travels by rail for recreation in these days. But how many travel by motor coach as a form of recreation? Nine passengers out of ten, it can safely be said.
Who then are the real competitors -to the motor coach owner ? Is it not the picture-house, the musichall, the theatre, and those providing similar forms of entertainment? How should these forms of competition be met? The providing of entertainment in the form of pictures, vaudeville performanees, and 614 similar methods is well-established, these industries having well-defined methods of procedure. They have definite methods of appealing to the public, and huge sums are spent yearly in attracting people. Does the motor coach industry adopt any course of action which compares with the tactics of other industries seeking the favours and patronage of the public ? Last year was an abnormal year and in most parts of the country custom was not to seek, so far as motor coaching was concerned. But most people have fears regarding the coming season. Are any steps being taken to improve the present state of affairs and to bring to the motor coach the greatest possible number of passengers? On this point there must be a great. deal of doubt. Beyond newspaper advertising, and the bare announcement of the running of vehicles, very little is done to encourage custom. Compare that with the many forms of publicity adopted by other concerns seeking the patronage of the public! The picturehouses use the newspapers freely, and it is safe to say that they use the posters more widely than anyone else. But that is not all. In addition to the newspaper advertising, much publicity, and free publicity too, is given in the news columns of the papers. How much publicity in the news columns does the average motor coach proprietor get? If he does not get it it is his own fault. If the "picture people," get it he should be able to get it. It is feared quite a large proportion of the matter relating to motor coaching that does appear in the newspapers has an undesirable effect—notably the references to rowdy parties, bottle throwing, excessive speed and discourteous drivers—and, what is more, it is allowed to go uncontradicted, although the incidents referred to relate to only a minority of parties and drivers.
Could not some st:.ps be taken by the motor coach organizations to educate the public in the proper way, and to ensure a more favourable Press'? In some industries a professional letter writer is retained, and his duty is to put the case of the industry in " Letters to the Editor" on every possible occasion, more particularly as a corrective to misstatements.
Individual coach owners can also do much by cultivating the good will of the editors and staffs of the papers in their towns by providing, as promptly as possible, information of an interesting character. An unusual trip will often provide a " write-up " which costs nothing to the owner but will do much good. How many .coach owners have thought of offering a seat to a member of a newspaper staff in order to show him bow the public is catered for? Newspaper publicity is but one direction in which the public can be constantly reminded of the attractions of motor coaching. The photographer can be pressed into service to show the beauty spots reached by motor coach, and more, particularly the beautiful spots passed on the journeys. The idea should be to tempt people to make journeys and to adopt this form of recreation. Nothing coed be said here concerning the advantages of motor coaching from a health standpoint, but enough is not made of the educativeinfluence of motor coaching. A tour book pays for itself over and over again, and the more attractive it can be made the better. If it can be used to make the tours interesting by giving information concerning the country and places passed through more grist is sure to be brought to the mill. The picture-houses publish monthly house=organs, and find them profitable. Every endeavour should be made to bring and to keep the claims of motor coaching before the public —in the best possible light, of course--and it should be the aim of every individual owner to keep his name prominently before all likely customers. Simply to keep in a rut will mean stagnation in a very short time, arid this should be avoided.
Only an indication of what can be dope in but a few directions has been given above, but this should provide courses of action which can be varied to meet changing needs and circumstances. No two owners will work alike, but there is certainly room for more enterprise in the direction indicated.