Many local, regional, and niche delivery businesses focus on delivering their promised services on-time and reliably, but to build your customer base, perhaps it’s time to rev up your marketing! Marketing can seem too expensive with fuzzy ROI, especially if you haven’t invested in it strategically before. It’s quite possible that you have an in-house employee who wears many hats, marketing being just one of them! For delivery partners who are unsure of whether marketing is the right investment for your business, Alter Marketing has put together a guide that can help you navigate your marketing journey and capitalize on its significant potential in the freight delivery industry.

Develop a Digital Presence

First, it’s time to develop a digital presence for your brand. (For those of you who are still working out the details of your brand, we recommend you complete this critical step first. You can find helpful resources on the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association’s website here.

Businesses in the freight transportation industry may wonder why it’s important to have an online presence, especially if you’ve grown primarily through traditional sales tactics, relationships with carrier partners, and customer referrals. The truth is, prospective direct shippers, 3PLs, and parcel delivery customers are using the internet more than ever before to source capacity.  Their transportation managers are likely active on LinkedIn, conducting online searches, and engaging with email marketing delivered directly to their inboxes. And, if you happen to get on their radar without using these marketing tactics, then they’re likely to search for your business online after learning about you. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you create space and budget for crystallizing your brand and putting yourself online in a manner that best represents your capabilities, geographic footprint, culture, and values.  We’ve prepared a digital presence checklist to help you get started and keep you on track. 

Digital Marketing Checklist – Establish an Online Presence

1. Create a professional website that highlights your brand’s services, coverage areas, company culture and unique value proposition. 
2. Optimize your website for search (SEO) to improve visibility and attract website visits from potential shippers and customers searching for delivery services online. 
3. Consistently add educational content to your website. This will boost organic search results and establish your business as a thought leader. (We’ve included more on this in the next section because it’s so important.)
4. Leverage email marketing to get the word out about your capabilities, culture, values, and thought leadership content. There’s no better ROI in the industry than email marketing! 
5. Use social media platforms like LinkedIn and Youtube responsibly to engage with prospects, share industry insights, and showcase your company’s expertise. 

Content Marketing – The Key to Successful SEO

Now that you’ve built a great online presence, you can begin creating content to represent your brand. While content can be multi-modal, common forms are blogs, custom videos, case studies, infographics, webinars, and whitepapers that address common challenges or trends in the delivery industry.

Implementing a solid content marketing campaign requires strategic planning and on-going tactical execution. Below are a few tips to get yours up and running successfully. 

Content Marketing Tips

1. Share informative content through your website, social media channels, email newsletters, and industry forums to position your company as a thought leader and trusted advisor. 
2. Incorporate visual content, such as infographics, videos, and interactive tools, to enhance engagement and communicate complex information more effectively.

Direct Targeting With Paid Advertising

When you feel like your digital presence is strong and your brand has produced a solid flow of content to engage your target audience, it’s time to start thinking about direct targeting methods. One of these methods is a paid advertising campaign. 

Online platforms, such as Google (paid search ads) or Meta (paid social media ads), can reach your target audience directly. Managing an advertising campaign requires knowledge of your target audience, the keywords and phrases that best describe your business, and an experienced manager who understands the platform algorithms. This person or team will experiment with different ad formats, targeting criteria, and messaging to optimize your advertising campaigns for maximum reach and conversion.

Pro Tip: Monitor campaign performance regularly and adjust your advertising strategy based on key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI).

Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Once you’ve begun to implement your digital marketing strategy, it’s important to continuously monitor your relationship with your customers and how it appears online. While it might seem obvious, many companies neglect to check in with both negative and positive customer reviews or customer testimonials. However, for anyone interested in working with your business, one of the first places they would look to see if your brand is the right fit is in your company’s online reviews. 

Tips for Managing Customer Reviews

Here are some ways to leverage positive customer reviews and make them work for you!

1. Showcase positive customer testimonials, case studies, and reviews on your website and marketing materials to build credibility and trust with potential customers.
2. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on popular review platforms such as Google My Business, Yelp, and industry-specific directories.
3. Respond promptly to customer feedback, whether positive or negative, to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

The Value of Networking in Person

Finally, you’ve done everything you can behind-the-screen, but you’re well aware that shipping customers don’t just exist just online. Now it’s time to get out there and start networking! Here are some tried and true methods to get started with networking in a way that will be productive for your delivery business and your brand.

Tips for Networking

1. Attend industry trade shows, conferences, and networking events to connect with potential customers, industry peers, and decision-makers.
2. Sponsor or exhibit at relevant events to increase visibility and brand awareness within your target market.
3. Host webinars, workshops, or seminars to educate prospects about industry trends, regulatory changes, or best practices, while also showcasing your company’s expertise and capabilities.

Building a strong digital presence and leveraging marketing for your freight delivery business is no small task. For many of our successful clients, this process can take a year or more to roll out in its entirety. It’s important to know that marketing doesn’t have to happen all at once. Review the tips and checklists above and discover a path that works for your, your business goals, and your budget. You won’t need to revamp or accomplish all of these to start seeing results.  Good luck out there, and congratulations on taking the first step towards leveraging your marketing capabilities!