If you are into the logistics business or transport business, you will need the help of digital marketing.
In a world where every single business is tech-enabled, even your business will have to go digitally. A few years back, every small business started integrating tracking technology, it’s time for every transport business to focus on brand marketing.
Before we make things more complex, by SEO (Search Engine Optimization), we don’t necessarily mean paid ads. You can create a free account on all the social media channels and start writing a blog for the same, you will get enough visitors to get started. This is also called digital marketing.
So, it’s not necessarily about paying. Let’s see the major benefits you will get if you go with SEO.
(a) Online Presence
If you’re in the logistics business and you sell directly to customers, using social media is super helpful.
It includes all the social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We can say that these tools will allow you to talk directly to people who might need your services. It’s like making friends with your customers. You can share cool stuff about what you do and how you do it. For example, you can share more information about the tracking of the parcel.
This way, when someone needs to send a package, they’ll think of you first because they’ve seen your posts and know you’re trustworthy.
Now, if your business works with other businesses (that’s called B2B), being easy to find on Google is very important. People who run businesses don’t sit on social media platforms, right?
To rank your website on Google, you need to do a little bit of SEO. SEO is Search Engine Optimization.
So, when these transport businesses or companies need someone to help with their shipping, they start by looking online. If your website shows up at the top of their search, they’re more likely to call you. You can make your website show up higher by using the right words. For example, you can try ranking for “Best transport business in Delhi”. In this way, people will find your website.
(b) Interact Directly with Their Audience
When you’re running a logistics business, talking directly to your customers online is powerful. Here’s how you can do it:
Social Media Comments: Imagine social media like a big party where you can chat with your customers. When someone leaves a comment on your posts, replying to them shows you’re listening and care about what they have to say. Don’t forget to reply frankly. Remember, it’s a social media platform and not a business platform.
Polls and Questions: You can also ask your followers questions or create polls on social media. You can ask which shipping method they would use to ship their parcel from Delhi to Noida or Delhi to Maharashtra. This will give you a rough idea about the user’s mindset.
Story Replies: There will always be people who will reply to your stories. Make sure to reply to them. You can be witty here as well.
Blog Comments: If you have turned on comments for your blog, you can know more about people’s opinions. So, make sure you keep it on. And keep on replying to these comments.
Talking directly with your audience like this helps you understand what they need and builds a strong relationship with them. You know the best part about it? Everything happens online. So, you can even hire a community manager who can talk on your behalf.
This is the best way to talk to multiple people without wasting more human resources. If they call you instead, you can only to one person. But, with messages, you can talk to more people at once and anyone can reply and explain.
(c) Valuable Insights
In the world of logistics and transport, knowing your customers well can make a huge difference.
That’s where we will bring in data analytics.
This isn’t just guesswork; it’s about understanding real people who are interested in your services.
Here’s how:
Running Ads: When you run ads online, you gather lots of data. This data tells you who is clicking on your ads, what kind of people they are, where they stay, potentially why they clicked on your ad, and what they’re interested in. Looks like enough data for marketing, right?
Reading Comments: Comments will tell you a lot about people’s real opinions. You can save your brand from negative reviews as well.
Social Media Followers Insights: Platforms like Instagram and Facebook give you a peek into your followers’ worlds. You can see things like their age ranges, where they’re from, gender when they are most active, and what other interests they have. You get a complete map of your users.
(d) Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is super important for your logistics business if you want to stand out.
Here’s a way to think of it. It is like making sure people remember you even if they’ve only seen your name or logo once. It’s like when you keep seeing the same logo everywhere, and then when you need to buy that thing, that logo pops into your headfirst.
Every time someone sees your trucks driving by or comes across your ads on the internet, it’s like you’re dropping little hints for them to remember you. That’s why we also recommended adding your logo to your trucks. But that’s an article for another day.
Making sure everything looks the same no matter where people find you also helps a lot. Whether they’re scrolling through your social media, looking at your website, or seeing your ads – no matter which digital platform they use. Everything should look familiar.
If you take Bharat Software Solution for example, you will see the same logo on every website. It’s kind of like always wearing your favorite hat, so people start to recognize you because of that hat.
This makes your brand easy to remember because it stands out like a familiar face in a big crowd. That’s why it’s important to go digital if you want people to remember the brand.
(e) Global Reach
Digital helps you reach from one end of India to the other, from Delhi down to Tamil Nadu.
But why stop at just India? If you’re in logistics, thinking about going global is something you’ll probably do sooner or later.
The cool thing is, that digital marketing can help you there too. Today, you might be all about sending goods across India, but tomorrow, you could be shipping stuff to places like Dubai, and London, or if you want to start with nearer places, you can start with Singapore or the Philippines.
The internet doesn’t care about borders, so your business can be seen by people everywhere.
If you wish to expand to other countries, how are they going to know about your brand? The only way they can know about your brand is if you go with SEO.
Heck, even if you want to go global, you can start creating a buzz saying that you are coming to a particular country and run ads targeted to that particular country. This will give you the reach you will need to get started.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know everything about digital marketing, it’s time to get started with the same. Before we go, let’s sum up the entire article and tell you why you should be doing it.
The core goal is branding by building an online presence. Thereafter, it will also help you to know your audience. Once you know the target audience or you know about their mindset, you can do the marketing accordingly. It will also help you in deciding about the pricing of your logistics services. You can offer discounts to them by sharing coupons.
Rishit Bhatt is a content strategist and a professional writer with a keen interest in technology and tech-enabled businesses. He aims to help businesses integrate tech into their on-premises infrastructure with technical documentation and helpful articles.