Digital marketing activities have become more popular among logistics service providers. Earlier, logistics business owners limited their activities to trade shows and printing ads. Now, more of them are investing in various digital marketing activities. This shift is positive because logistics companies were not among the early adopters in this field. When there weren’t many companies engaging in marketing activities, any effort yielded results. However, as more logistics companies invest in marketing, success now requires choosing strategies wisely. This article will discuss the traditional digital marketing approach and its effectiveness. Additionally, we will share advice on improving marketing approaches and explore other popular options for consideration.
Overview of Traditional Digital B2B Marketing
The traditional digital B2B marketing approach involves marketing departments generating leads using lead magnets such as e-books, webinars, infographics, quizzes, SEO, and other activities. These leads are then either pre-qualified or forwarded to the sales department. The primary aim of these activities is to garner as much visibility about your company as possible. The marketing department’s effectiveness is often judged by the number of leads generated relative to the expenditure.
This strategy has its benefits. It increases brand awareness and generates many leads that can be nurtured over time. Additionally, it is often more cost-effective than strategies like Account-based marketing. However, a significant drawback is the generation of many unqualified leads. Furthermore, without a long-term nurturing strategy, the full potential of these efforts may not be realized.
Critical Considerations for Marketing Logistics Services
Before addressing the effectiveness of the traditional marketing approach for selling logistics services, it is crucial to identify the key challenges logistics service providers face when choosing marketing tactics. We will also offer advice on how to improve marketing activities.
Expect More Unqualified Leads
When marketing logistics services to a broad audience, be prepared for numerous unqualified leads. While all trading and manufacturing organizations require various logistics services, filtering those needing specific lanes or services is challenging. Additionally, investing in SEO activities targeting keywords does not guarantee qualified leads, as it may attract price shoppers merely surveying the market. Furthermore, organizations must understand that shippers may have diverse requirements that their organization cannot meet, resulting in inquiries that do not translate into business.
TIP: When creating content, ads, and lists, focus on your strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators to establish an Ideal Customer Persona (ICP), making your activities more efficient.
Avoid Cliché Phrases and Emotions
Unlike marketing other services like weight loss, identifying emotional triggers and pain points in logistics can be challenging. Despite this, many companies use cliché phrases typically reserved for the B2C sector.
TIP: Avoid using cliché phrases like: Are you feeling confused with your customs paperwork? Are you feeling stressed with your logistics operations? Call us, etc. Instead, show that you understand your customers, offer advice, and craft industry-specific calls to action.
Invest Effort in Content Creation
Creating compelling content to generate leads or enhance brand awareness requires understanding customer needs, operational and supply chain knowledge, and strong writing skills. Finding this combination can be challenging, as many marketing agencies lack expertise in logistics. Consequently, many opt for employee branding or generic content creation, which yields poor results.
TIP: Seek employees or agencies with experience working with logistics companies who can offer more than generic content.
Consider Multiple Decision-Makers
When executing marketing tactics targeting trading and manufacturing organizations, understand that decisions to engage with a logistics service provider, especially for long-term contracts, often involve multiple decision-makers.
TIP: Develop personas for each decision-maker and tailor content and visuals accordingly.
We could talk more about other differences and mistakes, but we will leave this for next time; if you want to be well-informed, remember to subscribe to our newsletter. You can do this here on LinkedIn or by pressing this link.
Is the Traditional Marketing Approach Effective for Selling Logistics Services?
As with every good question, the answer is not straightforward. For some organizations, it can work; for some not, it generally depends on the goals and position in the market.
If your organization provides a service that fits the needs of many, and you have high growth goals, then the traditional mass marketing approach fits your needs. For better results, please consider some areas we discussed earlier in this article. In addition, when choosing tactics for lead generation, we urge you to avoid traditional lead magnets like e-books and guides because, nowadays, everyone is doing this. A far better option is to opt for events, quizzes, audits, newsletters, and blog articles. Before choosing channels, make a thorough analysis of where your customers are. If you are targeting B2B companies, then LinkedIn and email marketing, along with affiliate partners, are some of the best options for you. If you opt for traditional media, look for industry-specific ones. Speaking of SEO, it’s also an excellent option to avoid the biggest mistake everyone makes: when someone gets in touch with you and doesn’t buy right away, do not forget to set up a long-term nurturing campaign.
Suppose your organization sells to multinational companies or you have a narrow niche. In that case, opting for advanced marketing strategies like Strategic ABM, ABM Lite, or Programmatic ABM may be far better options. Mixing different marketing approaches is another option if your organization has various services and goals.
If your organization has just started a business or you are providing services as a solopreneur, in such cases, your top goal should be generating brand awareness. We observe in the industry that many logistics startups initially focus solely on sales-related activities, and we believe this needs to be corrected. This is because when someone purchases logistics services, they are unlikely to entrust their business to someone they don’t trust. With proper marketing and public relations activities, it’s possible to build trust more quickly, leading to faster results.
And, of course, remember to pay attention to what your competitors are doing because this can also impact your marketing strategy. For example, if your competitors aren’t engaging in marketing activities, your marketing approach can be lighter and more cost-effective. However, if your competitors are strong in this field, your activities must be more active and strategic to stand out.
In conclusion, we want to draw your attention to the fact that marketing activities in the previous few years have become more widely used by logistics companies. When we started our activities, we often repeated that just doing something was enough. Now, when more companies are heading in the same direction, quality has become a critical factor.
If your organization needs advice on marketing strategy or tactics, or you are looking for a marketing and PR agency that deals with logistics industry customers only, then please get in touch with us. You can do this by pressing the link below.
