Smart Meters are a great enhancement for any city. Municipalities that choose to install IPS Smart Meters can be confident that they are providing their constituents a high-quality, reliable meter with an extremely easy to use interface and flexible payment options.
But cities may not want to rely solely on the benefits that the new, more convenient Smart Meter brings the citizens. The City may want to take the education and awareness of the new parking program a step further.
To accomplish this goal, IPS developed their comprehensive City Marketing Program. Our department works closely with the city or city’s agency to develop customized, cross-channel marketing campaigns for municipalities. City officials and local businesses learn more through direct mail, fact sheet, whitepapers, case studies and more. City staff receives technical guides to help in their day-to-day operations. Posters and brochures are customized and distributed to area business to hang in their store front windows so consumers see how easy it is to pay for parking in the new Smart Meters.
As a city parking program provider you know that you are backed by the IPS design team that can develop a custom city website to show meter locations and how to use the meters. The sites also includes FAQs and a way to contact IPS.
As part of a city website, here’s an example of a step-by-step guide to help citizens use the new meters:
- Look at the Smart meter’s display to find parking rates, hours, time limits, and other important information. If it is dark, press any button to light the display.
- If paying with coins, simply insert them in the coin slot until the desired time is reached on the display. Quarters, dimes, nickels, and $1 coins accepted.
- If paying electronically, insert and remove your credit, debit, or smart card. The Smart Meter accepts Visa, MasterCard, and Smart Cards.
- With the blue [+] and [-] buttons, select the amount of time. The cost for that time will be displayed underneath.
- Press green [OK] button to confirm your payment, or red [CANCEL] button to stop your transaction. The meter will attempt to authorize the payment shown on the screen if neither button is pressed after 35 seconds. Wait for authorization of the card.
City Marketing is a proven method to get buy in from city officials, local businesses and citizens for a smooth transition.
If you’re interested in using City Marketing to educate the citizens for a smooth program roll out, contact your sales representative at IPS to find out how you can put a customized City Marketing program to work for you!