RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
Why is it so hard for us?
nodcc4me:
Add me to the "Owe Kevin" list. Over five years ago I was looking to get back into the hobby. DCC seemed (and still is) too complicated. I believe I saw an ad for RP on MRH. Then Googled RP and found Kevin's video. That pretty much clinched it for me. Regrets? None! Thanks Kevin! :)
Morebassman:
I too owe Kpack a lot of thanks. I also don't remember how I stumbled on RP. Lot's of research I guess. programing in DCC was too much for me.
carrson:
I waited a long time and ran old DC junk before I decided to convert to DCC. I didn't want to but it was the to only way to advance. Then I saw the Railpro ad in Model Railroad Hobbyist on line magazine, watched the video from the magazine and thought that was the way to go. Watching the limited number of youtube videos that you guys made convinced me. I thank you for the time and effort. I am in the Niagara area, asking any dealer or hobby store if they have the product and you get a blank stare ! and a question what the heck is Railpro? They get irritated because they want to sell you a DCC system and of course DCC decoders. I looked on EBAY but found the best way for me was to order from Bill. I was also surprised and just a little bit concerned to learn that Railpro has been in existence for quite a while and still there appears (via this forum) to be a limited Railpro community. I have only had Railpro for two months. I sincerely hope that Railpro can sustain itself and not fizzle out of the marketplace.
Larry
KPack:
So I think what we've established is that Ring Engineering's marketing isn't exactly the cat's meow. A few basic ads in MRH (and possibly others) really doesn't cut it.
I've learned through running a dental practice (and this applies to most businesses) is that the most effective type of marketing is internal marketing....happy customers spread the word and refer friends and colleagues. The best part is that it doesn't cost a thing to the business and it's highly effective. For example, in my practice we spend hardly anything on advertising apart from the standard yellow pages ad and a few charitable things. Yet we still see an unbelievable amount of new patients. Why? It's all from internal marketing....people are happy with their experience and want others to have the same.
So, applying that to Railpro I think the lesson is fairly obvious. We've all seen that most modelers or model train shops have never heard of Railpro. I'd rather the we be the ones to tell them, and not have Ring Engineering drop a bunch of money on more advertising when that money could perhaps be better spent on product development. Each and every one of us here has great things to say about Railpro. None of us would ever go back to DCC. Therefore we are Railpro's internal marketing.
What can we do to help spread the word? Forums? Videos? Pictures of installs?
-Kevin
TomO:
I have to thank Alan and his blog for leading me to RailPro and Kpack for his videos after that. I know I replied to some of Darryl.trains questions in 9/16 on Railroad Line Forums when he was looking for a new system.
The forum that seems most positively responsive IMO is MRH but of course there are naysayers. I think if Ring would do demos (like Matt does for Loksound) that would help. Maybe get on Ken Patterson's "Whats Neat" program on MRH. Videos are great (I have no clue how to put one together or how difficult to do) but they can be posted anywhere).
I run 3 systems. CVP miniair on battery (5 engines, 2 throttles), Blue Rail on battery (2 engines) and 4 engines on RailPro. I am most interested in sound but RailPro is by far the easiest system to pick up and run. My B-I-L loves running with RailPro and dislikes anything else.
TomO
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