Megabus: Case Study
Increasing Revenue for Inter-City Coach Operator Megabus
As the leading budget coach operator, Megabus aimed to boost its revenue. How did this transport giant manage to almost double its year-over-year revenue in such a brief period? What were Megabus's primary business objectives? Recognizing the need for a search marketing strategy, Megabus partnered with Red Hot Penny to enhance both annual revenue and profitability. By utilizing pay-per-click advertising, biddable media, paid social ads, creative campaigns, and organic search services, Megabus enlisted Red Hot Penny to develop a fully integrated search marketing approach to significantly elevate their success.
So, how did Red Hot Penny assist Megabus in reaching its goals? When Red Hot Penny collaborated with Megabus in October 2016, they established a digital strategy encompassing paid media, organic search, and content to boost revenue and profitability. The initial step involved taking over Megabus's paid media efforts, executing a comprehensive account reconstruction, and introducing paid social media services. They implemented detailed campaigns, cross-negation, and extensive management of search terms, achieving a 25% increase in efficiency within just six months. The focus then shifted to ensuring that paid social campaigns utilized GEO targeting to attract specific demographics, including students and festival-goers prevalent on Facebook and Instagram.
With their expertise, Red Hot Penny was able to drive relevant traffic crucial for Megabus's growth. Next, the organic search and content teams collaborated to target audiences similar to those reached through the paid social strategy. They produced expert guides on summer festivals that Megabus serviced, targeting keywords that enhanced traffic to the website and established Megabus as an authority in the industry, thus boosting brand engagement. During this period, Megabus also needed to transition to a new site. Red Hot Penny worked closely with their migration team, providing ongoing assistance to ensure a smooth transition from the old site to the new one.
What were the outcomes? The teams successfully increased Megabus's revenue by an impressive 92% year-over-year while only raising spending by 11%. They also reduced the paid search cost per action by 25% following the reconstruction of Megabus's account. Moreover, Megabus experienced a 67% rise in organic search visibility year-over-year across the entire site, with more than 600 new keywords ranking on the first two pages of search results. This significantly helped Megabus connect with new audiences and facilitated their path to further growth.