Where are your potential clients? How can you attract their attention? And how can you convert that attention to business?
In the digital age of marketing and advertising, the more obvious ways aka traditional forms of marketing have either become obsolete or are simply too expensive for small and mid-scale businesses to create brand or business awareness among their target consumers. From the perspective of ROI on advert spend, digital platforms have affirmatively changed the marketing landscape for good. From social media companies gauging user activity to suggest adverts to razor sharp accuracy to search engine optimisation connecting businesses to customers, digital marketing offers marketing solutions to a precision that can bolster your businesses growth exponentially.
As the digital marketing tools get more accurate, they also get more complicated, particularly for the average small business owner to fully leverage their utility. In the trucking industry, this gap of under utilization of marketing tools available is apparent. For the average owner-operator or a small fleet company, between driving, scheduling, maintenance, compliance and bookkeeping etc., there isn’t enough time to get on the digital marketing wagon in good measure to create positive business impact. Especially as it keeps changing so frequently. And while the other activities are necessary to sustain business, they just might not be enough to grow business. Marketing agencies and freelance marketers allow small and mid scale businesses to grow business through the digital platforms without trying to play catch up with this ever-changing digital landscape.
Why should I market my business?
“My roster is full; I don’t need more clients. Why should I spend on marketing?”
That’s a logical question. But perhaps, if we account for the prospect of future growth and the uncertainties of business, a moderate spend to keep up a digital presence, to continue building reputation and awareness among your target market, even through organic means may be considered a forward-thinking business strategy.
Digital presence and identity are in many ways like a physical office space for your business where customers can drop in at will, to know more about your business and quite likely make up their mind whether they want to do business with you. And that alone, is worth while a consideration to put some degree of effort into the digital persona of your company.
Be where your customers can find you.
The first thing that majority of people do when they are looking for a service or a product is that they Google it. From there on starts a journey of a digital footprint that elaborates on each service or product that appears on the search page. If you’re in the growth phase, investing in SEO so that your business appears on the top of the search page is quite likely the best investment you can possibly make.
Does your digital presence represent you and your business accurately and in the best light?
So, a new client searched for a local trucking business and found you. Now is your time to make an impression. That’s where your website and social media presence will take the client further into the sales funnel. A concise easily navigable website, with clear listings of your service, contact co-ordinates, and a clean aesthetic look can go a long way in the client shooting an inquiry email.
How to decide what my company must spend on marketing?
That depends on what your business goals are. But some worthwhile questions to ask to determine whether some marketing spend may be good for your business are:
- Are you looking to grow your business?
- Are you satisfied with your current clients/brokers/business arrangements?
- Is your current business model sustainable and resilient to changing market conditions?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it might be a good idea to mull over a marketing strategy for your business. We at TruckStaff Solutions, with years of experience in every facet of the trucking industry, are happy to offer practical marketing solutions that make sense for your business. There are also many online freelance marketeers who you can reach out to through websites such as Fiver and UpWork to get an opinion on your marketing options.
