We have been using on-demand delivery for a while. On-demand services have been pretty popular for some time, but during the pandemic, the need for this business model in all areas has risen.
Do you have a service you can provide on-demand delivery for? Great. You got yourself a business idea. Now, what about a business model or marketing your delivery service?
This is where we come in. We have discussed many aspects of the best on-demand features when launching your delivery service. From building your on-demand platform to marketing it to your target user, we take charge of your business model.
Today we will walk you through marketing your business models of on-demand delivery to your ideal customers.
On-Demand Business Models and Relative Marketing Strategies
Knowing your target customer will define your business model. On-demand delivery services have particular benefits for their consumer base, which give direction to their marketing strategy.
C2C Delivery Model
Consumers on both sides of the on-demand delivery model exchange products and services, and eBay and Etsy are prime examples of this.
When your consumers are also your sellers, the delivery platform becomes a medium or mode of transfer or exchange between two parties like BlaBlaCar. The revenue model, in this case, is the small percentage of revenue earned by the seller.
Everything, including marketing, in such cases, becomes user reliant, that is, user-generated content or word-of-mouth.
User Generated Content
Since both sides of your delivery are individuals, user-generated content (UGC) significantly drives your consumers towards conversion or your business in general.
It is organic content and can be anything from product reviews, videos, and social media posts that promote the products of your delivery services or your delivery service itself. From listing the product to detailing and images, it is done by your consumer. You can only direct them towards the best usage of your app.
85% of people consider UGC as an influential purchasing factor above brand content and rely on product reviews as their first choice of feedback.
Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth marketing is the UGC that is out of your control. You can control quality and customer experience. Reply to your consumers on media channels. Keep interaction positive and organic.
Let us give you an example. When this is an online matter, you can always jump in with an offer, a thank you message, an appreciation tweet, or simply problem-solving.
When this chatter happens away from your platform, on social media, consumer forums, or places like Quora and Reddit, you get organic UGC.
Remember: As a C2C platform, you must know that C2C consumers or sellers do not stick to one platform but are present across channels simultaneously.
In such a case, features like smooth transactions, easy inventory management, and navigational & interlinked listing make a great deal of difference as your consumer is also your seller. The more they talk about how good you are, the more organic UGC you have.
Subscription models
On-demand food delivery services or on-demand video channels have subscription models that cater to multiple demographics or video cases, and viewer styles. But how do you attract these consumers in the first place? And how do you keep them once they are here?
It is Marketing, my friend, marketing!
Collaborations
Collaboration with influencers and brand ambassadors is a trusted method of marketing your on-demand delivery subscription model. You can trust this method to gain a new customer base. We say this because it is a trust-based marketing strategy.
Look at the rise of influencer marketing which is set to grow to $16.4 billion in 2022. Grasp this market. As an on-demand delivery platform, build long-lasting partnerships. These partnerships bring influencers’ loyal fanbase to you and create trust when someone endorses your product.
Email and Notification Marketing
Retaining has always been a big headache for any on-demand delivery channel. Now that you have consumers into your subscription model, keeping them depends on continuous engagement and advantage.
Make sure to cater to people who have subscribed to your platform with email marketing and app notifications. Let them know the extra advantages. We highly recommend customization. It will help retention and increase platform service interaction.
Remember: With subscription models, retention of subscribers is always as complex as gaining new subscribers, making both ends of the marketing equally crucial for this on-demand delivery model.
Multi-Vendor Model
Marketplaces with multi-vendor models are a vast space. Take Amazon, for example, or the three-sided model in UberEats. Then there are real estate and rental services using the multi-vendor model, which shows the sub-layers within the model.
To market your specific multi-vendor model, learn where your sellers and users are before starting marketing. Then take advantage of digital ads and SEO for organic and paid growth.
Organic Growth
SEO is related to organic growth, and this will bring in both buyers and sellers to your on-demand delivery marketplace. Amazon’s top listing every time you search for any kind of product, from fashion to electronics, is exemplary.
Knowing the search engines' ins and outs and algorithm changes help, but you also need a keen eye for keywords and current cultural trends like meme culture. Knowing which bandwagon to jump and which to skip is a large part.
Paid Growth
Unlike the love-hate relationship of paid growth within digital marketing, it is beneficial when used and targeted in the right place at the right time.
Think of scrolling through your social media feed. You get a targeted ad around the same content you have been scrolling for, looking to purchase. It might be food, fashion, fitness, or anything within your interests.
That is perfectly doable, acceptable, and part of paid growth. There you have it, the right place and the right time.
Remember:Paid and Organic growth apply to any on-delivery business model. Still, it becomes glaringly apparent in a multi-vendor model because user-generated content often aligns with platform-generated content and paid ads.
Hence, the growth catapults with a combined result from both sides.
B2C Delivery Model
Business to Consumer delivery is a model often used by businesses independently and through a single platform where businesses are all together for the benefit of the consumer to pick and choose from. Marketing an on-demand delivery model here means attracting business and consumers to the on-demand platform.
Primarily marketing begins with brand awareness which is highly valuable for the platform and the businesses involved with the on-demand delivery platform. It goes up to customer retention through discounts and offers.
Brand Awareness
Brand Awareness is one of the most important marketing strategies that lead the market in terms of a loyal customer base and help the business create a space for themselves in the market.
These campaigns need core values, missions, visions, and cultural significance to resonate with the brand's future direction because loyal consumers resonate with these things in equal amounts as their love for a brand product.
While 88% of consumers say that brand authenticity is a major deciding factor, 46% say that they would pay more for a brand they trust.
Discounts and Offers
Consumers these days are loyal to their needs above brands. So, we have discussed consumer retention above, which is a pain for any on-demand delivery model. In this model, we answer ‘how.’
Always aiming to meet the needs of the consumer is how that retention happens. If you can give something that can meet their needs at the right time, whether discounted rides during surge hours or limited-time deals on a new collection, the consumers are not only retained but also can see a transactional hike.
Remember: B2C on-demand platforms must raise awareness about themselves to bring business to other brands that hop on with them for the ride.
But these consumers will be loyal and retained when their beliefs align with yours, and your on-demand delivery product aptly fulfills their needs.
Services On-Demand Delivery
On-demand services can be many things, from on-demand repair home services to salon at home demand services. The model here does not entirely overlap with any other business models but does coincide with hyperlocal on-demand delivery or services.
It is simply multiple service businesses on one side of the on-demand platform and anyone who wants to avail of these services, companies, or individuals on the other side.
It can be anything from Upwork and Fiverr to Pronto’s home repair services or even what you must have seen happening on the Netflix show the Home Edit.
Hyperlocal Marketing
Most on-demand services delivered at home include a person coming in physically, which can only happen in a hyperlocal situation. The businesses registered with the on-demand platform market to their local neighbourhood, area, or city. Take flower on-demand delivery services as an example.
Marketing here is much more physical, hoarding, boards, ads through local news mediums signs you can see while driving. Aim at digital marketing using SEO with hyperlocal keywords and an online organic review and rating system.
Niche Marketing
Services are always in a fixed niche. Many can be clubbed together on a single platform, but the narrowed-down services mean speciality.
Using niche marketing in such a case produces precise results and good leads. Someone looking up UX design for on-demand apps or writing services might not be hyperlocal, but they are expertise oriented and led with niche marketing.
Remember: Services are primarily hyperlocal but not always. But what they always are is niche. Explore both sides of marketing for your on-demand service delivery model.
If both apply, it's going to be multifaceted benefits, but if you are not hyperlocal, double down on niche marketing and create a funnel.
B2B Delivery Model
The last model we will discuss is the business-to-business on-demand delivery, which is much like a multi-vendor model with multiple players on the platform like institutions, government, producers, retailers, and so on.
What’s different from the multi-vendor model is that the consumers are businesses instead of individuals. Take, for example, an organic produce business with farmers, retailers, and sellers in a chain to B2B2B.
Social Media Marketing
It is the sort of marketing that everyone does, and if you can be consistent and get it right, the returns are worth the effort. In the case of B2B marketing strategies, make social media your primary stage.
Start with places where your subject’s decision-makers flock to. Think of where the decision-makers or the consumer business is. The regular tweets of Elon Musk and posts from Indra Noori speak for themselves.
54% of Twitter users come in daily, while 84% are weekly users, which are big numbers to leverage when marketing here. And LinkedIn is the largest B2B advertiser, with 32.3% of the display ads in the U.S alone.
Conclusion
Marketing for on-demand delivery business models does not have an on-solution-fits-all answer. The marketing strategies we have discussed above are suited to each model and always largely overlap. If you are looking into a business model for on-demand delivery, we suggest you use the above strategies before dabbling in others.
Take the social media marketing strategy. It works best for B2B via LinkedIn and B2C via Instagram or Facebook. Even if they overlap, keep your primary focus on the marketing strategies that will convert best.
Find where your consumer is at? Are they on Twitch or Reddit? Or are they on Buzzfeed and Twitter? Go to the relevant places and make yourself visible.
Once you have aced that, you are halfway up the success ladder. The other half is to convert the viewers into visitors and funnel them down to consumers.
