The trucking industry is profitable but the competition is fierce. The competition will eat you for breakfast if you don't know what you are doing.
Every year, truck drivers try to get into the trucking business but they fail. They fail not because they are bad truck drivers but because they don't know how to market their trucking business.
Find below ways to market your trucking business that'll help your reach your potential customers.
1. Provide quality service
The quality of your trucking services has the biggest impact on the way your company grows.
If your service is shitty then no brilliant marketing will help to grow your trucking business.
Fix your service first. After that, think about marketing.
Think about this like that, if you want a positive outcome from your marketing campaigns make sure people are impressed by your transportation services. Otherwise, potential clients will be disappointed and their words will spread like fire.
Doing marketing when your quality of service is poor does a disservice your company.
2. Ads
Place ads in industry-specific trade publications.
These types of publications gather the audience interested in different aspects of the trucking. A part of them may be looking for trucking services. These are the readers that you want to target with your ads.
Many of the industry-specific trucking trade publications have an online version. Consider placing your ads there also. Especially with the benefit that digital marketing provides to target the audience based on their geographic area.
Also, consider placing ads at trade events that gathers your potential clients.
Create an eye-catching booth at a trucking industry show targeted to attract new customers. Or bring marketing materials to send them home with interested attendees who will remember you when they'll need transportation services.
Another aspect to consider is placing ads on online platforms such as industry-specific websites, search, and social media groups.
3. Social media
Social media provides great marketing tools to reach your targeted audience.
These tools allow you to create an online presence that you can use to market to your potential customers.
Considering that almost anyone interested in trucking uses some kind of mobile gadget connected to the internet. These people navigate through the internet to search for information and entertain themselves. Social media is the medium that most of them spend considerable time on.
Build your trucking company profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Then share with your followers shipping prices, link to your business website, add contact information such as address and phone numbers, share pictures, and any updates and promotions.
Also, social media provides tools to reach a wider audience. You can use sponsored ads to promote any kind of coupons or discounts.
Thirdly, building your trucking company profiles allows potential customers to connect with you much easier. This allows them to easily find you online and ask you questions your service.
4. Get a website
Having a website for your trucking company allows potential customers to find your contact information much easier 24/7.
If they need to do their research of local transportation companies that serve a specific route they can simply access your website at night, during the day, or whenever they want.
A website is first of all a marketing tool. Its goal is to attract visitors and convert them into paying customers.
You need to choose a domain name like "www.domain.com". You need a hosting account to host your domain. Install WordPress and choose a free customizable theme.
Once your website is ready, describe who you are, what type of service you provide, and how potential customers can find you (contact information).
Add the address of your website on any form of marketing that you'll use such as print ads, digital marketing ads, social media profiles, create a Google My Business account to rank it in the local pack in search engines.
Since people can access websites easily, your website should become the central universe of all your marketing efforts.
5. Other marketing tips
6. Ask for reviews and recommendations
People will trust the customer's words more than you telling them about your service.
Normally, happy customers don't mind leaving good reviews or recommend it. They just forget about it. But if you ask them, they can give you a review or a recommendation.
The customer's trust level rises to the top regarding your trucking business.
