When talking about Uber, it’s clear that the company has achieved great success in customer satisfaction and brand awareness. Their impressive results are due to a well-planned marketing strategy and effective management of these efforts.
If you strive to achieve results as good as Uber’s, it’s essential to understand that even though this process takes time, it’s definitely possible. In this guide, we will show you how Uber structures its marketing efforts and highlight the main aspects of their strategy.
Make sure to analyze these details to generate insights on how to apply them to your business for better results. From a strategic overview to their approach with clients, here’s a complete breakdown of the key factors involved in Uber’s marketing strategies:
Uber Beyond Carpools
One crucial aspect that helped Uber achieve this level of success and attract a range of new customers is its variety of services and options. Along with the traditional Uber app with ride options, the company also offers Uber Eats. This delivery service allows customers to get food from their favorite restaurants without going out.
Uber’s efforts in the transportation and delivery industry generate customer loyalty and put the company a step ahead of all competitors specializing in one service or another. Whether you want to send a package or go somewhere, Uber has managed to be at the top of mind in the industries where it is inserted.
It wouldn’t be right to say that Uber’s success lies only in its service offerings and range of options, but this is definitely one reason why its business model is so effective. This freedom, aligned with quality support and good customer experience, generates word-of-mouth marketing that is hard to beat and a threat to all other companies in the same industries.
Uber Audience’s Needs and Behavior
One of the main aspects of any successful marketing strategy is understanding your audience and their pain points. Observing data analytics regarding your customers will impact every other part of your campaign and the development of your actions. Here’s a basic structure of Uber’s existing and potential customers and what they look for when hiring Uber’s services.
The Customers
Uber marketing strategy is focused on its customers’ profiles and online behavior. Since it’s an online solution for daily problems, one of the audience’s characteristics is their knowledge and usage of apps and smartphones. Even though Uber still focuses on providing a clear and easy-to-use app, it doesn’t need to worry as much as other companies about their audience’s knowledge of technology. Since their average users are already used to service apps and the technology in general, the app doesn’t need to feature tutorials and help services for every step and operation. However, the company knows that the customer’s profile is always changing. Thus, Uber is constantly investing in audience research to identify new patterns and behavior, whether regarding the Uber Eats app or any other division of their services.
Their customers are also characterized by an agitated routine that requires quick solutions for their problems. The transportation industry is very competitive, so focusing on this aspect helps drastically with customer acquisition and other metrics.
The Drivers
One characteristic that distinguishes Uber marketing strategies from other services like Netflix or Spotify, for example, is that they need to reach two different audiences. The company doesn’t have its own drivers, and it depends on people working as drivers for transportation or food delivery.
This creates the need to advertise their services not only as a company providing solutions for daily tasks and problems but also as a company that is good to work for. Using different approaches, the way to do that is to create separate strategies for the different public. Uber achieves that through loyalty programs, targeted ads, and brand image construction, assuming their leadership in the industry, whether in transportation services or the delivery sector.
Values and Services
Considering both parties’ needs and the brand’s commitment to its values, the company starts developing strategies to help gather new customers and retain existing ones. They constantly observe their users and the customer feedback they receive, whether on delivery services, dynamic pricing, or any aspect of their company. Aligning all these aspects and ensuring satisfied customers are just some of the pillars that make Uber’s marketing strategy so strong and almost unbeatable when it comes to carpool services.
Marketing Strategies
Now, we will explore some of the main aspects of their marketing strategies and the elements that make their campaigns unique and successful among customers and potential users of their platform. Whether because of their innovation in terms of technology or the vital role the company has occupied in some of the main cities around the world, they’re a roaring success, which is reflected in their strategies.
Make sure to take a look at all the aspects below, and you’ll surely find a way to adapt them to your business for highly engaging content and continuous innovation in how you market your products and services.
Social Media Awareness
Uber uses many social media platforms to advertise its services and advantages. This is a pretty common strategy for many companies in all industries, but how you do it is the key factor that determines the impact.
Your social media content needs to align with what your customers want to see, including the advantages of your service, what you can provide, and tons of other content. It is also a great way to gather user-generated content for an emotional connection with the brand.
Their ads are usually simple and revolve around the advantages of using their platforms, whether regarding the dynamic pricing model or the number of delivery options on Uber Eats. But that’s not everything. The company also creates user-engaging content that makes people talk about and interact with the brand, generating even more global awareness and encouraging people to produce content related to the brand, whether telling fun stories of when they used the services or any action of this kind.
One example of this is the “A Ride to Remember” campaign, a marketing action focused on the elderly users of the platform. They created a short movie focusing on emotional language shared on YouTube and other social media channels, gathering millions of impressions throughout the platforms and making people talk about Uber in their profiles.
Safety Features and Trust
Building trust is not easy, mainly when you’re relying on someone you’ve never met for something like taking rides. This was one of the biggest obstacles for the company, and encouraging users to show their transportation needs in terms of safety was an indispensable part of the process.
One of the main things Uber does to increase its customer base and make people feel safer when riding with someone is to create informative content about the safety measures and all the features available to ensure both the user and the rider’s safety inside the platform. This is an essential aspect of their business, gives a sense of safety, and eliminates any concerns the user might have. To do that, Uber advertises the features and technology included in the app through different assets and on multiple platforms, including the app.
This is the perfect example of hearing customer needs and pain points to know exactly what to advertise and gather more drivers and app users. By doing so, they can create a loyal community and convince people to use the platform.
Partnerships
Strategic partnerships are another great way to advertise your business and make it known to different audiences. Uber knows how powerful this strategy can be and is constantly investing in this kind of action.
One great example is the partnership between the company and UN Women, a program dedicated to creating job opportunities for women. The company did this in 2015 and created numerous jobs, an action aligned with various elements of the company and its beliefs.
It was a win-win situation for both parties and an example of how a strategic pick can be the perfect way to generate user engagement online and advertise your business more effectively. However, the critical part is to pick the right company to partner with. You can’t just choose popular brands to work with; the entire action must be carefully analyzed.
Local Partnerships
Along with the brand’s traditional partnerships, Uber can work with local businesses, whether giving exclusive discounts for leaving this specific place or providing a more optimized ride-hailing app. This is one of a company’s best actions to gain popularity in a particular area and become people’s first choice for that kind of service.
It is expected to see concerts with partnerships with Uber to drive the audience to the venue and then back home. These actions can include rides with discounted fares or more complex strategies, like an exclusive parking space for Uber drivers and members.
One recent example is the famous Super Bowl, which featured an exclusive parking zone dedicated for Uber users going to the event or riding back home after the game. Along with sports events, you can also see this at special occasions, such as museum exhibitions, concerts, and many others.
Technology Advertisement
If you want to get ahead of other brands in the competitive scenario, you can’t just offer an average ride experience, especially when your service is user-based for riders and passengers. To highlight the best option for their customers, Uber is constantly leveraging technology and developing new ways to enhance the user experience in the app and during the rides. The technologies include safety features, like a live location-sharing option, service optimization, such as the option to book your rides in advance and automatically have someone coming to your pick-up point, and many others.
Showing what differentiates you from other companies is a great way to convince customers to adopt your app or digital solution instead of your competitors. This is a core element of Uber’s marketing and something you should consider doing for your product or service.
Feedback Statements
One thing Uber does a lot, and so should every service provider, is sharing return on users’ feedback and showing your users that you care about their opinions. A great example of this is Uber implementing dynamic pricing for their rides. It was an idea that originated from some of the pain points noticed in people’s feedback on the platform and the price model. It is a dynamic system that will adjust fares based on several variables, such as the estimated time of your ride, the traffic level, and the proportion of rider to driver.
If the traffic is too high and there are few drivers in your area, it is likely that the price of your ride will increase compared to the same route a week before, for example. Uber does this to ensure everyone can get a quick ride and that there are enough drivers for everyone to have an enjoyable experience.
Of course, the surge pricing system didn’t please everyone, but Uber constructed it based on what people said would improve their experience. The system was a success and is still used on the platform worldwide, whether for UberX or Uber Black rides.
Along with helping improve the platform, this practice brings numerous other advantages, like building loyalty by showing the customers that you care about them and what they think. It is a clever way to market your business and raise awareness. Moreover, doing this will drastically improve user retention, making them more likely to use your service again and become recurrent users.
Email Campaigns
Uber email marketing is solid and strongly present, whether for telling users about exclusive offers or news on the platform. This shouldn’t be a surprise since this form of advertising is still one of the most effective.
According to Statista, the open rate of promotional emails is between 10 and 20 percent worldwide. The same research states that companies that implemented email marketing noticed a two-time improvement in their return on investment, showing how powerful this can be, whether for the transportation industry or any other.
App and User Experience
This is not directly related to marketing but is also one of the main factors for Uber’s massive success. You can’t develop creative marketing and eye-catching actions if the experience using your service is not good.
Uber understands this and provides the best UX and UI for riders and drivers using the platform. The app has intuitive navigation that is easy to understand and can be quickly learned from people of all ages and profiles.
The UI is also constantly updated based on people’s problems and feedback to ensure the smoothest experience possible. All processes are quick and require no more than three steps to adapt to the user’s needs and agitated routine.
Whether you need to request a ride, change payment options, or order food, everything is quick and easy. That’s why the app has such retention and is still the most used app for transportation worldwide.
Marketing can help you gather new users, but a good user experience makes them stick with you for a long time. Retention comes from positive experiences and a good offering of services and products.
According to UXCam, 88% of users are less likely to return after a bad experience with your app. Moreover, 80% of users are willing to pay more for a better user experience, showing how vital this aspect can be for any business.
Uber’s app nails every single aspect a service platform needs to have. It aligns completely with its audience and their needs for an optimized experience that pleases the entire user base.
Uber Marketing Examples
Here, we will show you some examples of how Uber does its marketing strategies and the platforms it uses to advertise services, tools, and every other aspect. Make sure to take a look at each example to see how their elements apply to your own business.
This way, you can generate insights for your next campaigns, ensuring solid results and better metrics for your efforts. Here are some examples of how Uber does marketing:
The Wrexham Tastecourse
This is an example of how Uber can get creative. Its marketing team is always watchful of all the news involving the entertainment industry. The Wrexham Tastecourse was an action between Uber Eats and Disney+ to promote the return of Welcome to Wrexham, a popular series on the streaming platform.
It was a seven-course meal with top-tier ingredients inspired by Welsh dishes and combined with the glamour of Hollywood. The action was a complete success, and even though it was exclusive to the UK, hundreds of customers ordered the piece of Hollywood cuisine right to their doors with the delivery service.
A Ride to Remember
Uber’s marketing team also knows how to make a good, emotional movie. In A Ride to Remember, the company created a short video commercial based on an action done in the US.
The idea was to allow elderly users of the platform to live their dreams and ride one more time in the old-fashioned car of their youth. You can see people riding in Mustangs from the ’60s and all other kinds of cars.
The emotive language and precise storytelling create one of the best commercials of the company and generate a strong connection between the brand and its users. It’s definitely a success that reinforces the brand’s presence in everyone’s life.
Want to Reach the Same Success as Uber?
No doubt that reaching the same success as Uber is not something impossible, and the main tool to do that is your marketing efforts. However, learning how to create quality strategies and understanding your target audience is not something you learn in one day.
Developing the skills and knowledge for the best results takes time and experience, and if you want to reach the best metrics possible with your product or service, there’s nothing better than hiring a professional agency to help with your marketing. Whether you have the demand for a full campaign or just social media competition research, having a third party helping you allows you to focus on what really matters and gives you a better ROI.
At GamerSEO, we have the best professionals on the market with years of experience in transforming dreams into reality. We have the right team to help with your promotions and marketing activities, regardless of your needs.
From UX analysis to complete campaign development, if you’re looking for the most optimized results, we are here to help. Join us, and let’s create quality marketing together.
Conclusion on Uber Marketing
When discussing digital marketing success and quick growth, especially in the transportation business, no doubt that Uber is one of the first companies that comes to people’s mind. The business started as a carpool service but expanded its activities to much more than a simple ride with low fares.
A lot of this success and phenomenon comes from the precise and well-executed marketing initiatives and strategies the company uses. Whether they’re pop culture-related posts to engage on Facebook or informative ads about benefits and discounts inside the app itself, its communication is solid and surely something that can inspire many companies and business owners.
Achieving this level of success is not impossible, but it requires a lot of effort and a solid strategy aligned with your audience and vision. Everything matters and impacts your metrics, from the platforms to the language you use during your UX writing.
Now that you know everything, it is time to analyze Uber’s marketing and see how it can impact your business. Take a close look at each aspect above, and you’ll see how these tips can help take your business to the next level.
Maciej is a content manager with five years of professional experience. While his heart beats for viral marketing campaigns and creative storytelling, he’s equally at home delving into data to craft compelling content. Off the clock, you’ll find him immersed in old-school RPGs or doing various sports activities