An increase in competition, labour shortages and rising fuel costs are just some of the stumbling blocks transport and logistics companies face. These issues are just part of the cost of doing business, and then you haven’t even touched on acquiring new customers or keeping those you already have. Digital marketing for logistics and transportation companies offers a cost-effective way of acquiring and keeping new customers.
The intense everyday demands on the transportation industry as a whole are a constant uphill battle. This comes with regulatory compliance ranging from safety and security to regulations and environmental impact. The country’s aging infrastructure also adds to the challenge, while technologies like autonomous vehicles and logistics software are constantly evolving.
The bottom line is that new and repeat customers are the lifeblood of logistics and transportation companies. Through digital marketing, you can address these issues by communicating with new and existing customers where they are.
The hard part has always been acquiring new customers, and this is usually the main focus of many companies. This comes at a higher cost and requires far more effort than retaining customers. However, it is possible to do both through a number of different digital marketing channels, which will free up time for you to concentrate on running your business.
Retaining the customers that you put so much effort into getting is such a crucial step. This side of digital marketing is also, funnily enough, the most cost-effective side of it. You will be able to communicate with existing clients in several ways, often in an automated way, to ensure your brand stays front of mind.
Communicating your value propositions and sharing valuable information is often overlooked when it comes to existing customers. However, three channels can help you really stay in touch with your customers: email, SMS, and social media.
The messages you communicate through these channels will reach a relatively small existing audience. They don’t need to be elaborate, but they need to be consistent.
Sharing information on how to maximize cost-savings, the options for long-distance hauling, how refrigeration can save them a bundle… and so many other topics can be covered through images, infographics, text and videos.
If clients know why they chose you and are reminded of all the value you bring to the table, it makes their decision much easier when they need to decide who to call the next time they need what you offer.
New customer acquisition is usually the hardest part, but with these two options, you will have ways of getting qualified leads regularly. Both options work on searches done through search engines.
When someone searches online for a transportation or logistics company, you should ideally appear near the top of the results.
PPC (pay-per-click advertising) is the solution that works best in the short term, but if run effectively and efficiently, it can be continued in the long term. Through PPC, we will target specific keywords related to what people are searching for.
Going after a general term like “transport” wouldn’t make sense. There will be a lot of competition for that term, and only some of the traffic generated from it will be relevant. Some people searching with this term might be looking for jobs in the industry, kids might be using it to gather information for a school project …and then there would be some looking for what you are offering.
Targeting keywords like “hauling from Manchester to London” makes a lot more sense. If someone searches for that and it is relevant to your business, then you know exactly what you are going to get, and so does the person searching.
SEO is, however, the best thing you can do for your business in the medium and long term. With PPC ads, a constant fee must be paid for ads. However, the investment in SEO will remain constant while delivering results that keep growing with every passing month.
Through SEO, you will start to rank for relevant keywords in Google’s organic search results. This will bring in more traffic to your site and result in an increase in leads.
The key to success in SEO is applying the right optimizations to a site and consistently building it out by providing relevant information to people searching for it.
In the transport and logistics industry, there are enough challenges that businesses face simply to keep their businesses running. It just makes sense to partner with a company that can help you increase your customer base and keep the customers you already have.
Digital marketing for transport and logistics is also not done on a gut feeling. It is data-driven. Results are tracked, and data is used to optimize and grow your business’s marketing campaign.
If your business starts gaining dominance in search results and always offers valuable information, it will increase your credibility. Your overall brand awareness will also increase, helping you stand out.
