We are entering a new era of digital sales and marketing for logistics service providers. A number of businesses in the sector have the potential to create new entry points within the traditional logistics market by tapping into the resources of digital technology.
This is the current challenge that Logistics Service Providers – LSPs – face and the success of their business will depend on how they respond to it.
Over the past few years, digital technology has transformed the logistics industry and brought with it a new set of sales and marketing challenges. Where once the focus of sales was on single decision-making, the customer now has access to various channels, conducts research online and is constantly evaluating the competition. With a variety of options at every buyer’s fingertips, LSPs need to be present on social media channels to personalise discussion and to create a distinctive online presence.
The majority of medium-sized LSPs continue nonetheless to approach the market through more traditional methods, foremost amongst which is cold calling. As a marketing strategy, cold calling is not dead: sales executives are still required to build a personal relationship with buyers and nurture customers with new services and ideas. But it is limited in its effectiveness and cannot be relied on alone.
LSPs need to recognise that buyers have an appetite for experience sharing and are often put off by traditional sales and sales speech. Consumers are looking for experts to challenge them, provide them with useful information and enriching content before they engage in transactional discussion. Good content means building trust.
No business today can continue to thrive without constantly adapting to the possibilities presented by these new technologies. Innovation has proven essential to growth. It is through embracing innovative techniques and developing an insistent and appealing online presence that businesses have the possibility of embracing new channels of communication and providing content that is crucial to shifting consumer behaviour.
Making this leap might seem daunting. But it’s really a question of knowing how to tell the right story about your business. Telling a story is one of the key techniques to delivering the right message to the right audience. By storytelling you create vital interactions with buyers: the interest is not in selling a product or service but rather in cultivating interest – enough interest that the potential buyer might begin to invest in the consumer experience.
To appear innovative, LSPs need to think about constantly building their online profile: adding new digital channels and establishing a consistently engaging online presence. A combination of digital techniques and a dedicated service is a tried and tested strategy. Attention needs to be paid to website design, social media channels, videos, marketing campaigns and webinars.
The digital shift in the logistics industry forces businesses to rethink the market and audience they are targeting. If you do not give sufficient attention to your target audience, you end up addressing the wrong clientele and simply create noise which results in no value added to your business. It is essential to remember that, whether or not you are using digital or innovative approaches, the crucial tool of a marketing executive is to provide the solution to a customer’s problem.
Digital solutions might sound far-fetched to the traditional salesman. But their methods are not distinctly different: they both essentially involve refining one’s target audience. The successful LSP is one that negotiates a combination of these methods. Balancing digital and traditional techniques provides a unique opportunity for logistics providers to redefine their target audience, leverage their relationship with that audience and thrive in a tight economy.
At Tokema, we believe that an investment in digital strategy is key to driving sales and to tapping into new markets. We provide assistance to LSPs who are looking to implement a new digital strategy and guidance on how to identify the right content for your business. We are able to assist in defining a target audience and in delivering high quality, informative content so as to provide a full consumer experience. We specialise in providing solutions to LSPs who are interested in creating digital marketing strategies but who are unsure of how to make the first step. Combining digital marketing techniques with knowledge of the logistics industry, we have a deep understanding of how LSPs can capitalise on new digital technologies to drive sales efficiency.
