Raquel Noutel Santos, Marketing Communication & PR, CaetanoBus
How do you market to cities?
Direct contact with the cities. We cannot sell a bus to an operator without physical contact with the product.
What has been your most successful campaign and why?
I think that was a video campaign we did in Porto last summer, right after the co-branding announcement with Toyota. For two reasons: it was a homemade campaign, in our city, with people from here, and it was the first time that our ZE buses were in the street with Toyota’s logo.
What are your best marketing channels?
In a business like ours, I would say that our best marketing channel is face-to-face contact.
What are the biggest challenges in marketing in the city sphere?
The biggest challenge is to understand the customer’s needs because every city has a different ecosystem of habits and small details.
Does that vary by city/country?
Yes, we have our key markets and each one has its own details in terms of how they do business, how they like public transport, even the geography of the city.
What are the long-term trends you are seeing with marketing to the public sector?
- Reinventing ways to collect customer feedback through new technology and digital channels
- Creating new ways to respond in real-time to the customer, with chatbots and artificial intelligence.
Basically, it’s all about the customer and about choosing the best tools for customer experience. At the end of the day, if the customer doesn’t want our product, the business is not going to happen.
What did the COVID-19 pandemic teach you and what advice can you provide to others?
Back to the basics–the four Ps from Kotler: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. We need to have a product that the market needs and wants, a fair price, an accessible place to find it, to make sure your customers can access your products, and a mix of messages of promotion that works for our target audience. COVID-19 showed us the need to guarantee strong brand foundations.
What are your campaign priorities for this year and 2022?
All about sustainability. It’s our purpose and that’s what our products stand for.
What are your biggest lead sources – Google ads or search engine marketing; social media and content marketing; own events or third-party events?
Social media, our own events with customers and partners, and third-party events, such as conferences and exhibitions.
Which events/conferences will you attend and why?
This year we will be at several events and conferences. European Hydrogen & Energy Fuels Cells Summit here, in Porto, is one of them because we believe in our hydrogen strategy. Also some events in our key markets: ITT HUB (UK), European Mobility Expo (France), FIAA (Spain), Hannover Messe (Germany), where Portugal is the invited country and will show its innovation projects. We believe 2022 will be a year of transition.
BIOGRAPHY
Birthplace: Gouveia (a tiny little city in Portugal’s countryside!)
Education: Degree in Communication Sciences and MSc in Marketing Management
First job: Public Relations at Toyota Caetano Portugal