Are you looking for new ways to market your logistics services? Digital marketing offers a wealth of tools to help you target customers at every stage of their journey.
This guide provides an overview of digital marketing tactics that can be used by transport and logistics companies to improve their digital footprint.
You will find advice on how to talk to the right people at the right time via a range of digital marketing channels, including social media and search engine optimisation (SEO), and the key benefits of each activity.
Why use digital marketing to promote transport and logistics services?
The biggest benefit of digital marketing is that it is measurable.
With marketing budgets under increased scrutiny, particularly in logistics right now, demonstrating return on investment (ROI) is vital.
With Google Analytics, you can see the traffic that is visiting your website, where it is coming from, what users are doing once they get there and, most importantly, which marketing activities are generating leads.
This information is incredibly valuable when planning any marketing strategy, as it highlights the areas where you might need to improve efforts.
Below, we outline how to use digital channels to improve the online visibility of a logistic company while also improving brand awareness.
Use SEO to ensure your logistics company can be found
How easy is it to find your logistics business online? When you Google your key services and location, does your company appear in the results?
If the answer is no, then you’re relying too heavily on customers finding you through your brand name alone.
That means you are missing out on website traffic, and more importantly, potential leads.
And if your website isn’t drawing users in via Google and other search engines, then it isn’t working hard enough.
Here are four ways to make SEO part of the digital marketing mix for your logistics company.
Google Business Profile
Data from Google suggests that 46% of all searches have local intent – so almost half of users are actively searching for businesses and services that are near them.
This highlights the value of having an online presence and appearing in local search results.
One of the quickest ways to improve your local presence is to ensure you have a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) and that it is regularly updated.
Key benefits:
- It’s free to create a profile
- Highlights your location on Google Maps
- Supports and improves your overall SEO
- Includes your contact details
- Helps you to collect and respond to reviews from customers
- You can share news and updates that link back to your website
- Answer customer queries
- Share a list of your products or services
- Update customers on business opening hours
- Enable customers to book appointments
Follow Google’s guidelines to start or update your Google Business Profile.
Keyword research
Does the copy on your website include relevant keywords? These are the words and phrases people use to find the products and services they need.
If the answer is no, then it is unlikely that users will find your website in search engines.
To target users that are unfamiliar with your brand name, you need to incorporate the word and phrases customers are using to find logistics services that meet their needs.
For example, ‘logistics service provider’ or ‘third party logistics services’.
Key benefits:
- Understand how users are searching
- Find out the number of monthly searches for a keyword
- Match user search intent
- Tailor online content to better support users interests
- Use it to reach new audiences and increase the amount of traffic to your website
There are some free tools available to research keywords, including Keyword Planner in Google Ads and Ahref’s keyword generator.
Share news and resources
To maintain your online presence, you should share information and updates that are useful for existing and potential customers.
What type of guidance and advice on logistics will help their business? How can customers increase efficiency, reduce carbon emissions or improve safety?
For example, you could create content that solves a common problem your customers face:
- What are the biggest issues they may face with their current logistics provider?
- What problem can you help to solve with your logistics services?
- Why is your business best placed to help customers?
Key benefits:
- Demonstrates expertise, skills and knowledge
- Underlines your position as a trustworthy business
- Google likes websites that are regularly updated with new content
- Information can be repurposed for other digital marketing channels, including social media and email marketing
Create sector specific content
Do you provide logistics services for specific sectors? Create content that demonstrates your knowledge of the industries your customers operate in and that is seen as helpful content by Google.
This could be frequently asked questions about logistics services for specific industries, or case studies that demonstrate your work.
While content marketing is most often used the the awareness and consideration stages of a customer’s journey, research suggests that it does impact lead generation.
Data from marketing software provider Demand Metric suggests that B2B companies that regularly publish blog content receive 67% more monthly leads than companies that don’t blog.
Key benefits:
- Showcases knowledge and experience
- Case studies act as third-party endorsement of your services
- Repurpose content for PR by issuing to media titles
- Share on social media and tag any featured customers
Learn how our SEO services can make your logistics company more visible online.
Marketing logistics services on social media
How often do you post on social media, and how much traction are your posts gaining?
If your updates are infrequent and your followers aren’t engaging, then you need to overhaul your content and your approach.
Also, if you’re looking to target customers in specific sectors, paid social media marketing can help you get in front of the right people.
Organic social media
A social media presence isn’t a nice to have, it’s essential. Potential customers use social media as a trust signal, so neglected social media accounts can give the impression that a business is no longer operational.
Your organic social media content should include a mixture of entertaining, educational and emotional posts.
Also, people buy from people, so show your customers who your team are and showcase their industry knowledge.
Key benefits:
- Builds brand awareness
- Keeps your brand front of mind
- Trust signal for potential customers
- Community management – know when people are saying good or bad things about your brand
- Encourages employee engagement
Read our social media tips for logistics companies for ideas on how to improve your social content.
Paid social media
Organic social media has limited reach. In fact, platforms are making it increasingly difficult for brands to cut through the noise without paying for it.
To talk to new audiences and get in front of decision makers in the right industries, you need to use paid social media.
Paid social media can be an effective tool for reaching new audiences and building brand awareness, but it should be used to complement your organic activity rather than replace it.
Key benefits:
- You can set a budget, so you only spend what you want to
- Measurable results – see how much traffic has clicked through to your website
- Target specific industries, job titles and locations
- Create ads using various types of content, e.g. video, images, graphics
- You can use it to build a database for email marketing
Take a look at the results of our paid social media campaign for Pallet-Track, which used LinkedIn and Facebook advertising to reach new audiences.
Learn more about R&Co’s social media management services and how we can help you make an impact on social media.
Add email marketing to your logistics marketing strategy
Email marketing gives you instant access to your customers’ inboxes, making it a useful tool for nurturing leads and keeping your logistics company front of mind.
With email fatigue on the up however, the biggest hurdle is getting users to open your email.
The key to success is making your subject line pique the interest of the customer and ensuring the content is useful to them.
Email marketing tips
Time poor directors and operations professionals with cluttered inboxes are unlikely to read – or even open – your email unless it provides real value to them and their business.
Here are five ways to improve your next email marketing campaign:
- Create and share content that solves problems, answers important questions or can make their working lives easier
- Show the human side of your business – use meet the team content to introduce your specialists and let customers know how they can help
- Let customers know what else you can do for them – have you introduced a new service? Can you advise them on new legislation? Remind customers of your skills and capabilities as a business
- Personalisation – subject lines increases open rates
- Include images and video – research from HubSpot found emails with multimedia perform the best
Key benefits:
- It’s cost effective
- You can segment your database to target customers with different interests and needs
- Nurture relationships with existing customers and new ones
- Upsell to existing customers
For support and advice on any of the digital marketing activities listed above, contact our team.
