Content Marketing in the Transportation & Logistics Industry
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The booming ecommerce industry continues to grow the logistics sector. Meanwhile, the transportation sector
is seeing impressive growth thanks to continued increases in global travel and sustainable commuting initiatives.
Regardless of the role your brand plays in the industry, you stand to benefit from the continued growth of
Transportation & Logistics, with the market expected to hit $12.25 billion by 2022.
That growth represents countless opportunities for brands in the industry, but it also represents a wide
array of challenges. Now more than ever, it's essential that your brand gets online and establishes a strong
digital presence for itself, and content marketing is the backbone of achieving that. Here's what you need
to know about making content marketing work for your Transportation Logistics brand.
Benefits of Investing in Content Marketing for Your Transportation Logistics Brand
As of last year, 7 in 10 marketers said
they're pouring their efforts into content marketing. Another 24% of marketers say they are going to
increase their content marketing investments. If you're new to the game, you may be wondering why content
marketing is such a big deal. Here's a look at the benefits the right strategy can offer your brand.
The power of content marketing is that it seeks to inform consumers. It doesn't constantly sell your
products or services, but instead educates potential clients about who your business is and what you
do, all while offering factual advice and guidance to readers.
This leads to a compounding effect where, by focusing on offering value to your readers, you begin
naturally targeting keywords, answering leads questions, nurturing prospects through the sales funnel,
and — ultimately — breeding trust and loyalty throughout your audience as your brand gains recognition.
When it comes to goals like spreading awareness of your company and building customer trust and loyalty,
industry authority is a mainstay. Content marketing can help you build industry authority through
consistently producing content that offers value, insights, and a unique perspective. Some of the best
content to build authority includes case studies, customer success stories, and research your company
has conducted.
Becoming a thought-leader in the Transportation Logistics industry will take a great deal of time and
effort, but if you build your content strategy around offering value — not just to potential clients,
but to industry partners and the industry as a whole — you can put your business on the path to that
level of respect and recognition.
For many businesses, one of the most popular measures of success for a content strategy is how it
impacts website visitors. Major search engines like Google have openly identified and advocated for
the fact that ranking signals are supposed to help valuable content climb to the top of search results.
While the algorithms aren't perfect, content that offers real value is most likely to rank in the
number one spot because valuable content will naturally gain backlinks, shares, and keep readers
on your page and website for longer. As your valuable content attracts more visitors, Google will
send more people to it, leading to a cycle of increasing traffic, all while you get to scale back
your paid advertising.
In addition to including long-tail keywords, if your primary goal is to increase organic traffic
to your site, you should also consider on-page SEO, among other SEO strategies. Scoring backlinks
(e.g., a link to your site) from trusted niche websites can also increase search volume. You can
track all of these metrics using a tool like Google Analytics. Of course, remember that the core
of your content writing efforts should be focused on offering value to your target audience.
By far, one of the most overlooked components of a content strategy for brands who fail to go
through the key steps is the importance of lead nurturing and conversion. Don't think of your
content as a book. Think of it as a path. Your strategy should aim to create content that addresses
readers throughout every stage of the sales funnel.
With an understanding of your audience and the various stages that they go through on their way
from becoming aware of a problem to learning about how you can solve it to eventually making a
decision, your content strategy can be built so that it captures leads and nurtures them through
the stages. Content that focuses on readers nearing the decision process can also inform your
re-targeting strategy, helping you boost the ROI on your paid advertising efforts.
With all things considered, your digital marketing will become the fuel that powers your company's
growth. You just need to build your strategy upon the right foundation.
Tips for Creating a Winning Transportation Logistics Content Strategy
Now that you've seen some of the do's and don'ts of content marketing in action, let's dive into the
step-by-step to help you actually build your strategy.
The first step to building a successful content strategy is to lay out a solid foundation. This means your preliminary research includes completing these tasks:
- Identify 1-3 key customer personas that you are trying to target with your content.
- Lay out a brand book that defines who you are and how you want your company to be perceived.
- Make sure your brand aligns with what your audience wants.
Doing some research into your audience, where they spend their time online, and how they prefer to consume content will set your content strategy up for success.
A strategy is a plan designed to help you reach a list of goals. So, before you can lay out your
strategy, you need to decide what those goals are. Ideally, you'll set both short- and long-term
goals.
- Make sure your goals work together toward a common outcome.
- Check your goals against the SMART framework to set yourself up for success.
- Focus on just 3-5 short-term goals and 1-2 long-term goals to begin with.
Your business has the opportunity to pursue a wide array of content types as part of its strategy,
but every company is limited by a budget, and it's important not to stretch that budget too thin.
Types of content include:
- Articles
- Blog posts
- eBooks
- White papers
- Slideshows
- Videos
- Online courses
- Podcasts
- Infographics
The next step in the formation of your content strategy is to lay out a schedule that defines:
- Where you'll post
- When you'll post
- How often you'll post
The important thing is to take your content strategy one step at a time. For now, don't worry about what topics or ideas you're going to cover. Simply consider your budget, your content production capacity, and how often your competitors are posting with success. You can always tweak your content calendar down the line, but the key thing is to come up with a schedule you can stick to and be consistent with.
With a content calendar in front of you, you now know exactly how many topics and ideas you
need to fill up that schedule. Before you start stressing, realize that you don't have to
plug in topics for the entire year. Start by planning for the next month and try to stay 1-3
months ahead at all times. Throughout the year, you can also make room for trending topics,
user-generated content, and so on.
Of course, one of the easiest ways to start filling your content calendar may feel like a
cheat, but it's actually fundamental to creating a successful content strategy. Keyword
research will allow your business to explore and understand what your audience is searching
for and, thereby, inform the content you should be publishing. Furthermore, it will tie
back into your SEO strategy and help you start ranking for prime search terms. When done
right, a content strategy can truly feel like magic.
As you dive into the keyword research process and begin plugging ideas into your schedule,
the next question on your mind will likely be, "How do I execute this strategy?" The fact is,
most Transportation Logistics companies don't have a team of in-house writers and editors
waiting around to help. That's why businesses like yours routinely turn to Scripted.
Successful Transportation Logistics Brands (and how they did it!)
Before we jump into the five steps required to get your content strategy ready for action, it's important
to look to industry leaders and understand what they're doing right. Here's a look at two companies in
the Transportation Logistics industry that really stand out for their content marketing efforts.
While relatively new to the industry, Uber is a startup that has revolutionized the transportation
and logistics industry by bringing the P2P (Peer to Peer) concept front-and-center. While once
known as a ridesharing app allowing regular people to sign up as drivers and get paid for taking
users across town, Uber has since expanded its portfolio to include Freight offerings and other
services.
Whether you focus on Uber Freight or
the company as a whole, this young brand gained instant recognition for being one of the first-movers
in a growing niche of the industry. They continue to outpace competitors like Lyft, with Uber
achieving a global presence. As part of the brand's content marketing efforts, Uber has a dedicated
blog for each division of the company, including Uber Freight and ridesharing Uber app.
As expected, Uber also maintains a lively social media presence. They like to emphasize corporate
values and put the stories of their drivers and clients in the spotlight, helping to build trust
and improve their brand identity. The brand is also highly active on platforms like Facebook, where
they routinely respond to comments and offer customer service through Facebook Messenger.
Most people recognize the UPS name and the
big brown box trucks associated with this long-standing company. While major competitors like
FedEx and the USPS have struggled to keep up in light of weather events, natural disasters, and
other hurdles, UPS is routinely standing out as a reliable shipping option for homes and businesses
alike — so, how are they making content work for them?
A robust website puts customers first, with quick links to account areas, tracking, and shipping
quotes. UPS also offers pages that explain their services so customers can compare options. An
"About Us" page is complemented by areas dedicated to open job positions, investor relations,
media relations, and the company's commitment to sustainability. Meanwhile, they maintain an
active social media presence.
Mistakes to Learn From
Sometimes, lessons don't always come in the form of a good example. Here's a look at a few brands that
aren't adopting content marketing just yet.
The first thing you'll notice when visiting the Reddaway Trucking
website is that the design is a bit cluttered out and outdated. While they have a lot of content,
it can be hard to find exactly what you're looking for. Additionally, while the brand does maintain
a "News" section, they don't have a
blog area to display content. Instead, they have a page with a list of links to different articles.
Ultimately, the company has a great launching-off point if they want to explore a content strategy
further, but the first thing they'll need to do is rethink their web design. They're putting effort
into content, but the presentation is inconsistent and less than user-friendly.
What they can do better:
Reddaway Trucking should consider a cleaner, updated site design that allows readers to easily see
the latest posts and find what they're looking for.
In case the brand's modern website isn't enough to impress, Coros
emphasizes the brand's impressive metrics regarding the number of deliveries they've made, along
with information on how they use AI to form the "future of logistics." The website keeps things
simple, with a long scrolling homepage that features quick links to its various sections, including
a Contact form at the very bottom.
Video content and unique graphics allow the Coros website to stand out, but what about content?
Coros only has a single page website and no blog on site. It's also tough to find any social
media presence associated with the brand. What's more, searching "Coros" leads to content from
a number of other companies that share similar names.
What they can do better:
Start a blog and start offering content to excite. They're doing a lot as a company, but for
those out of the loop, it's hard to tell exactly what that is. They should add a more robust
"About Us" page that explains their story and services. Getting on social media would be a good
idea, too.
Looking for Premium Transportation Logistics Writers?
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in the Transportation Logistics industry. With our self-service tiers and fully-managed options, we have
membership plans to fit the needs of any business, and we can grow with you.
Interested in learning more about how our writers can power your content strategy? Browse our database of
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