Excellent Marketing Initiatives by OLA

Introduction

Mobility has been an issue in the community. People who do not know how to drive or do not have vehicles have always had the problem of commuting to the bus stand or taxi stand and then waiting for their ride.

OLA cabs, through its applications and different services, is solving the mobility issue for the company. OLA saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. It is crucial for us to read more about the journey of OLA to understand how businesses enter the already-developing market and what strategies they can adopt for success.

In this article, we will dive deep into the birth, growth trajectory, and excellent marketing initiatives of OLA to understand the reasons for its success and its competitive edge over its competitors.

The Birth and Growth Trajectory of OLA

Image − Ola app - a cab booking platform

OLA, Indian multinational ridesharing company, was founded in 2010 by Bhavish Agarwal. Bhavish was outraged and tired of the cab services he got from Bangalore to Bandipore. The cab drivers were unprofessional, and the cab services were deteriorating. As a solution, Bhavish came up with OLA, the cab rental application.

The major competitors of OLA are Uber, Rapido, In-Driver, Porter, Snap, Zoom Car, and others.

Successful Marketing Initiatives By OLA

OLA Offers Product Differentiation

OLA is not selling services to clients but selling solutions to customers’ problems. OLA is coming up with new products or services every day that will enhance the customer experience with OLA.

OLA, today, provides its customers with OLA Rides, Outstation Rides (through which customers can travel intercity), OLA Rentals (through which customers can rent a car and visit different locations at ease), OLA Share (in which 4 customers share a ride), OLA Bike, OLA Prime (where the sitting capacity is 6 people), OLA Mini (in which the car is small), OLA Play (sedan cars with in-car entertainment facilities), OLA Micro (small fares for short rides), and so on.

With these many different services in just one application, OLA becomes the one-stop destination for the client's mobility issues. OLA is here to solve the mobility issue of the customer, and this is one selling point of OLA.

OLA’s Safety Measures

OLA understands that the major concern of the customer while taking a drive is about the driving skills of the driver, the safety issues, the health issues after the pandemic, and the behavior of the other drivers. Hence, whenever a ride is booked, OLA provides the passenger with all such information as the photo of the driver, the contact information, the previous rating, the feedback, the vaccination status, and others. There are also features for general safety concerns, and OLA also has a feature in which the ride can be shared with others so that their friends and family can track the ride.

Moment Marketing by OLA

OLA is greatly invested in Moment marketing. Moment marketing is the situation in which the brand comes up with crisp, simple, witty, and relevant remarks for advertising the brand name and the products and services to the customers. These grab the attention of the customers and are powerful.

For example, whoever has the OLA application installed will get at least two notifications regarding OLA services.

For example – “Do not worry, we got your back during this rainy season” or “Late for the office. No worries; book us.” These are effective and humorous.

Email Marketing and SMS Marketing

OLA also invests in email marketing and SMS marketing. The e-mail and SMS markets generally have catchy subject lines that are gaining traction. It forces customers to open the mail and then read about the service or the brand. Even if the customer does not open the message or the mail, the light-hearted remarks bring warmth and affiliation to the brand.

Dynamic Pricing To Control Demand

OLA charges dynamic pricing to customers. Dynamic pricing means the fares are going to be low at off-peak times, in off-peak locations, or in cases when the demand for cabs is low and high in other cases. In this situation, the passengers who do not have urgency will delay their trip, while the passengers for whom mobility is crucial will be willing to pay high prices to the team. This helps OLA keep the demand under control. To regulate the fare increase, the government issued a cap of 1.5 times the base fare.

Cause Marketing by OLA

OLA and the company's marketing team understood that they needed to connect with their customers on an emotional level, that is to say, connect with the customers. During the pandemic, OLA launched a "Drive the Driver Fund." In this fund, OLA and its employees contributed the initial 20 crore rupees, and after that, they opened it to the public so that they could donate. The fund and its money were used to help auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, and local taxi drivers because of all the financial and emotional turmoil they went through during the pandemic.

OLA believes that growing with the community is the only growth that matters, hence starting such a campaign. There is no need to say that the campaign was successful.

Hashtag Campaign by OLA

Hashtags are one of the most underrated features of social media, but OLA understood their importance and the prosperity they can bring to the brand. OLA started hashtag campaigns based on movie names to target customers, and some are "#OLAHaiNa" and others like "#JoinTheRevolution" to cater to new territories like electric cars. OLA reached millions of users with its quirky and relatable hashtags.

Conclusion

OLA today is present in more than a hundred cities and has more than two hundred million customers globally. OLA today is among the top mobility service applications. All of this is possible for OLA only because OLA believes in serving its customers in the best manner possible. OLA is coming up with innovative service and marketing communications to impress its customers and once again prove that all one needs to succeed is happy customers.