Why Topsy markets only where it operates
Advertising into a town with no drivers is how platforms lose a market permanently.
It is tempting for a young platform to advertise nationally. The reach is cheap, the ambition looks good, and the sign-ups arrive. It is also one of the most reliable ways to destroy demand in a market you will later want.
What happens when supply is not there
Someone in a town with no drivers sees an advert, downloads the app, requests a ride, and waits. Nothing comes. They wait longer. They eventually arrange transport the way they always did.
That person will not try again. Worse, they will tell people, and the story that spreads is not "Topsy is not in my town yet". It is "Topsy does not work".
You have spent money to create a negative impression that costs far more to reverse than the original advert did to place.
Coverage leads marketing
So Topsy markets where it operates: the cities and towns of the Greater Accra Region. Accra, Tema, Madina, Adenta, Ashaiman and the surrounding towns. On-the-ground activations run at markets, transport hubs, campuses and shopping areas in those places.
Driver and courier recruitment runs alongside rider campaigns rather than after them, because a promotion that brings riders without drivers makes the wait longer for everyone already using the service.
Online is the same discipline
The same campaigns run on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, adapted to each rather than posted identically. Short vertical video for TikTok, longer explainers on YouTube, town-level community reach on Facebook, campaign creative and merchant spotlights on Instagram.
What we do not do is buy national reach for a regional service.
Merchants follow the same rule
Local store activations happen in the towns Topsy serves, so a customer ordering in Madina is served by a merchant in Madina. A marketplace that lists distant merchants produces long deliveries, cold food and disappointed customers.
When that changes
It will change town by town, with supply first. If Topsy is not in your area yet and you want it to be, the most useful thing is drivers signing up there. That is not a deflection: it is genuinely the constraint.