Nowadays, the business world has shifted online. With the rise of the e-commerce model of retail and wholesale, the reliance on freight forwarding and third-party logistics has increased. To keep up with consumers’ buying habits, not only B2C businesses but also B2B businesses have shifted their operations online. These operations include marketing, networking, and sales.
So, how can you lure your customers who are primarily using the digital world to do their business using digital marketing? Use this guide to start.
Step # 1: Know Your Customers
You must know who your business will be serving if you want to brainstorm service packages that speak to them. At the same time, learning about demographics, needs, and buying behavior helps you with defining the 4Ps of marketing which are your proposed service, the price of these services, the place where your ideal customers do business (from manufacturing to delivery), and the message and platform of promotion.
Knowing the psychology of your clients will help you in the long run. For example, even in today’s fast-paced world, people aren’t blind to the needs of fellow humans. So, you can use your efforts to train your employees through the LGV theory test and practical test to represent your corporate citizenship and win the hearts of philanthropic clients.
Step # 2: Start with Social Media
Once you have identified the business needs of your ideal customers, a huge part of your marketing will sum up into the promotion area. How will you create awareness of your services among your customers? Luckily, your sophisticated and knowledgeable customers already know your service but they may not be aware of your brand.
Your marketing goal is to tell them about your service options and how they will solve the unique logistic and business issues they cannot get help from other logistic providers. You will do this marketing on the platforms where your customers hang out. LinkedIn and Instagram attract most business and C-suite personnel so you can start your networking from there. For an aggressive marketing strategy, you will want to enter other social media channels as well including Facebook and Quora.
Step # 3: Bring Them to Your Business Page
But social media is only a starting point for digital marketing. It’s used to create awareness about your business. Once you have attracted their attention, you have to keep it using other tools including your website, service brochures, white papers, and newsletters.
Most businesses in B2B industries have success with blog posts and case studies unless you are introducing unique features and technologies. The introduction of new technologies is best presented with whitepapers.
Also, share glimpses of these pieces of content on your social media handles. This content will establish you as an authority in the eyes of your customers and they will keep you in mind when they are ready to broaden their reach beyond their geographical location.
Step # 4: Sell
When they are ready to purchase the services, you need to convert their interest into a contract by offering the right package and the right price. If you are starting, don’t shy away from offering great value for money to your customers. This way, they will not only bring repeat business but will also refer your services to others.
Takeaway
This post talks about the process of digital marketing for freight forwarders. Just like marketing a product in any industry and any platform, you need to start by understanding your customers’ psychology and business needs. And don’t forget to also use offline marketing to support your digital marketing efforts.
