The aim of this digital PR campaign was clear: to enhance HelloBUS’s authority. That is why we chose a topic that directly resonates with the target audience – schools. Every school organises school trips, but how much do they actually cost? We analysed 286 school trips and turned the findings into newsworthy national and regional stories.
HelloBUS is an online booking platform for coach travel. It was founded in 2021 based on the idea that hiring a coach should be accessible to everyone and should be a quick and easy process.
HelloBUS focuses, amongst other things, on schools that book coach transport for school trips. For this target group, the cost of a school trip is a key consideration. As well as transport, schools must take into account the admission fee and the type of destination they choose.
There was no comprehensive overview of the average cost of school trips in the Netherlands. Nor was it clear how significant the differences between provinces and types of trip would be. This formed the starting point for a digital PR campaign centred on the question: how much does a school trip cost in the Netherlands?
In digital PR, a campaign begins with a topic that is both relevant to the target audience and interesting enough for the media. For HelloBUS, the focus was on the costs of school trips. Schools want to know in advance how much a destination will cost and what differences exist between provinces and types of trip.
It was expected that there would be clear differences in the range, prices and accessibility of school trips from province to province. This provided scope for a campaign with both national and regional angles.
The key question was:
How much does a school trip cost in the Netherlands, and where are the biggest price differences?
To answer the key question, Onder compiled a list of 286 one-day school trips in the Netherlands.
The data was collected and verified for each destination. The prices were based on the lowest admission fee per pupil found. Additional costs, such as transport, food and drink, were not taken into account. This allowed the various destinations to be compared as fairly as possible.
To make the results easier to understand, the school trips were divided into categories.
The average admission price per category was then calculated. The results showed clear differences between the types of outings.
| Category | Average cost per pupil | Number of outings |
|---|---|---|
| Playground | € 9,87 | 114 |
| Education | € 8,24 | 84 |
| Zoo | € 11,68 | 27 |
| Attraction | € 14,32 | 27 |
| Active | € 16,52 | 34 |
| Total | € 10,88 | 286 |
Educational outings proved to be the cheapest on average, whilst active school trips had the highest average admission price. Interesting differences also emerged between provinces. For example, Drenthe emerged as the most expensive province for school trips and Friesland as the cheapest.
The results were compiled on an interactive landing page about the costs of school trips on the HelloBUS website.
Visitors were able to:
The landing page played a key role in the digital PR campaign. For schools and other visitors, it served as a practical source of information when planning a school trip. For journalists, the page provided a source of factual content, including figures and supporting evidence, to which they could refer.
Based on the results, Onder developed various newsworthy angles. Rather than sending a single, generic press release to all media outlets, the stories were tailored to the journalist’s target audience and region.
The campaign focused, amongst other things, on:
Specific provincial angles were used for regional media. This enabled journalists to publish a story that was directly relevant to their own readers.
The aim of the campaign was to raise the profile of HelloBUS amongst relevant target groups and to secure high-quality backlinks from media outlets covering the topic of school trips.
The digital PR campaign yielded the following results:
The publications not only raised the profile of HelloBUS.nl amongst potential customers, but also strengthened its external authority. The four dofollow backlinks contributed to the website’s link profile. The five mentions also generated additional online visibility around a relevant topic within the target audience. HelloBUS also featured in AI-generated answers to questions about the costs of school trips.
The strength of the campaign lay in the combination of a recognisable target audience question, a concrete study and a clever adaptation to various news stories.
The cost of a school trip is a matter of interest to schools, parents and the education media. At the same time, price differences between provinces and destinations are of sufficient interest to regional journalists. By analysing the results in various ways, the outcome was not a single story, but a series of specific perspectives.
The landing page also played an important role. The page provided journalists with a central resource containing supporting evidence, figures and interactive information. This enabled them to base their articles on more than just a press release.
With a digital PR campaign focusing on the cost of school trips, HelloBUS to generate relevant media coverage and high-quality backlinks.
The survey of 286 school trips formed the basis for the campaign. Onder compiled the admission prices by destination, category and province, and incorporated the results into an interactive landing page. The insights were then translated into press releases with various angles.
The campaign resulted in nine media placements. This enabled HelloBUS not only to build visibility amongst its target audience, but also to enhance the website’s external authority.
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