B2B marketing for transport & logistics industry - where to start?

[jas]

Hi All,

Newbie here. My husband and I recently started a road transport & logistic business and are keen to expand to provide our service to manufacturing businesses.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on marketing ideas for B2B. Do you think the social media platform is suitable for the transport & logistic industry as we are targeting well established and large companies.

I was thinking of email marketing or sending our info packs.

You're thoughts & ideas will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[vangogh]

I wouldn't think social media is best place for B2B marketing. It's hard to know without actually trying, but I would agree with email marketing and sending out info packs. Are you looking at specific companies? If so why not do some research on those companies. Find out where people who work there spend time online and see if you can be there. Maybe there's a way to discover what they're looking for when it comes to logistics and then letting them know you can do whatever it is.

[David Hunter]

Curious... why should these manufacturing companies choose to do business with you versus all the other options available to them (This is an important question)?

I'm a huge fan of direct mail... why? Because it works! But, you have to make sure it gets past the gatekeepers. So, you need to think outside-the-box.

What would be in your info-packs?

[Harold Mansfield]

Hi All,

Newbie here. My husband and I recently started a road transport & logistic business and are keen to expand to provide our service to manufacturing businesses.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on marketing ideas for B2B. Do you think the social media platform is suitable for the transport & logistic industry as we are targeting well established and large companies.

I was thinking of email marketing or sending our info packs.

You're thoughts & ideas will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

What does your website look like? Inevitably whatever you do outside of physically shaking hands with people and signing them up personally will bring people back to your website. It's the foundation of ALL of your online marketing.
Any advice we give to try this, try that, go here, is wasted if people end up at a bad website.

You need to start there, and then branch out from there.

[Fulcrum]

What makes your service different from UPS or Fedex?
Can you offer overnight or same day emergency delivery?
How about LTL or FTL loads? What about oversize/overweight loads?
Do you ship international?
Do you offer import and export brokerage for a reasonable price?
Do you offer insurance against damaged shipments? How are the values calculated?

These questions may not be directly related to marketing, but you will need to answer them in order to close sales.

Aside from that, get a pair of comfortable running shoes, fill a gas tank, hit the road, and start stopping in at places locally to get your name in front of your potential clients. Websites are great as part of a long term marketing strategy, but if you need to start drumming up work yesterday, you need to get out physically and start hustling.

[jas]

thank you all for your replies - great points made.
I've always thought social media isn't a professional tool for marketing when targeting B2B clients but I have been reading a lot lately if done properly can work (not to mention cheaper option). However I don't think im good at it :o

[jas]

information about the company, our services offered, compliance and health & safety....?

[jas]

What makes your service different from UPS or Fedex?


Aside from that, get a pair of comfortable running shoes, fill a gas tank, hit the road, and start stopping in at places locally to get your name in front of your potential clients. Websites are great as part of a long term marketing strategy, but if you need to start drumming up work yesterday, you need to get out physically and start hustling.

My husband suggested this. A friend of ours did this and his company is huge now. nothing better than meeting potential customers face-to-face.

[Fulcrum]

information about the company, our services offered, compliance and health & safety....?

Exactly. You don't need to give the nitty, gritty details but an overview is always good. Something as simple as "Our drivers will always wear appropriate safety gear and will yield right of way to your equipment" can suffice.

[Paul]

In the past I’ve found trade shows to be great opportunities to target certain industries. You don’t necessarily need to be an exhibitor which can be expensive. I’ve done what I call the reverse trade show. Just attend and visit the exhibitors with a handout. It’s a concentrated captive audience in a way. You may be surprised at the response. Just a thought.

[SZ Alliance]

If your customers are in the manufacturing industry and you are providing logistics services to them, here are some ways to market business:

Lead Scoring and Ideal Customer Profile:
Building an ideal customer profile helps you segment your customers who are willing to buy from you. It is a description of a ficticious organization which gets significant value from your service or product. By knowing what they need and by figuring out how they will respond, your marketing strategies can evolve and become more personalized.

Customer Prospecting:
Find out the owners of these businesses and what their contact details are. These people are either CXOs or VPs - the key decision makers. Make a list of their email addresses and phone numbers and start either emailing or calling them. One of the most effective outbound B2B marketing strategies is email. Due to its low cost and wide reach, email is the cornerstone of every business marketing campaign. From cold email lead generation campaigns, to staying in touch with customers, email is a great way to funnel prospects and cold leads into engaging customers.

Telemarketing:
Although telemarketing might be a controversial method of B2B marketing, it is extremely effective in engaging with potential customers who are already interested. Once contact has been made via email or by a lead filling out a website form, it is extremely important to follow up on the phone. This allows you to learn quickly about someone’s pain points and allows you to offer solutions to their problems

Events:
Event marketing is a crucial part of lead generation. This can include attending tradeshows, webinars or a company function. Events offer you the chance to define your brand, clarify the solutions you provide, and establish personal connections with participants. Events also provide a venue to deliver speeches and content that convey your company’s thought leadership and raise your perception in the eyes of buyers. One of the most powerful experiences to promote your business is via face-to-face.

The purpose of our business is to help small business like yours get more customers, so i hope these tips help you out a bit.

[Suman Verma]

Well, social media is going to help you a lot on this as people are very much into social media and the more visibility you will get, the more people will know you. I mean, one can not completely rely on the same but yes do increase your online presence for better results.

[Pop Alexandra]

You can try to get in touch with Cargolution (https://cargolution.com/en/logistics/). They have some experience with B2B logistics.