Our second 30-minute mobile marketing webinar dives into user acquisition with EasyTaxi’s CMO Paul Malicki. Join him and VB’s Stuart Rogers to hear how to snag the best users and then keep them on board.
Easy Taxi, a rival to Uber and GrabTaxi, has more than 20 million users. The secret to becoming the number one service in Latin America? Going far beyond traditional user acquisition strategies like app store optimization and in-app advertising, with a complex and innovative two-layered approach.
“Being very honest, it’s not easy to raise money in our sector,” says Paul Malicki, global CMO at Easy Taxi. “I was facing a situation where I was simply unable to launch all of the digital marketing campaigns that I wanted to. We thought, why don’t we start doing spectacular things for people to talk about?”
“It’s a lot about partnerships and creativity,” he adds. Local marketing teams in each country secure deals and partnerships with major influencers, as well launch promotions with some of the largest companies in the world — and word of mouth spreads fast.
For example, in Mexico City, Easy Taxi is currently partnering with Microsoft to outfit 10 private taxis with premium Xboxes to surprise and delight users who expected an ordinary trip. Or sometimes a user might find that their private car is driven by a local celebrity. And in a demonstration of perfect synergy, Easy Taxi frequently develops don’t-drink-and-drive campaigns with major alcohol companies.
These promotions, captured on video by the company, often go viral as users view and share them widely across social media platforms, as well as add their own photos, videos and experiences — connecting all the dots between on- and off-line. It creates a name and brand recognition that is difficult to purchase outright, and a strong foundation for the other piece of the company’s user acquisition strategy, educational direct marketing.
“You can’t simply show an in-app ad and assume someone is going to download the app and use it,” Malicki says. The company invests heavily in educating consumers on the value proposition of this taxi service they’ve heard so much about. They blast easily digestible content including PR, TV and radio marketing, and OOH marketing in bars and restaurants to snag those users who might need a lift home after a long and boozy night.
“If we don’t educate the consumer, user acquisition costs go significantly up, because people simply don’t understand the product,” says Malicki.
Their approach is very different from others in the sector that focus primarily on the digital marketing piece of user acquisition strategy, Malicki acknowledges. But there’s a reason that Easy Taxi remains the top service in Latin America.
Even though they have significantly more resources than they did when they launched, they’ll continue to refine their out-of-the-box acquisition strategies, Malicki says, “because it’s simply more effective.”
To learn more about optimizing user acquisition channels and providing the kind of full-fledged customer experience that attracts users and keeps them close, register for this VB Live event.
Don’t miss out!
In this webinar, you’ll also learn how to:
- Personalize without being creepy
- Utilize in-app ads without losing customers
- Turn loyal customers into influencers
- Create effective feedback loops that are simple and easy
Speakers:
- Paul Malicki, CMO, EasyTaxi
- Eric Grosse, CEO of Chairish
- Trenholm Ninestein, Senior Product Lead Mobile, Virgin PulseTrenho
- Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat
Moderator:
- Wendy Schuchart, Analyst, VentureBeat