Freight Vision 2020: Digital Transformation Will Be A Game-Changer

This is the third installment of a 4-part series that provides perspectives from TMSA members on predictions for freight transportation in 2020 – and the impact digital transformation and CX can have on overall business success.

“Digital Transformation” is a hot topic these days, and a very real challenge in 2020 is going to be determining the right technology to adopt, according to Greg Roberts, Director Business Development, Matson Logistics, a leading provider of ocean transportation and logistics services.

“Differentiating between what looks cool but ultimately adds minimal value compared to technologies that can make a tangible difference to the end product for the customer,” he says.

“The key is going to be to identify where the largest gaps in what a customer’s needs are and the services offered,” he continues. He suggests a taking a ‘1 size fits ONE’ approach to each relationship, and working with them to find out how to make quickest impact and improve the customer experience (CX).

John Meier, Marketing Director, ODW Logistics and current member of the TMSA board of directors, agrees that CX hold tremendous opportunity from a marketing perspective in transportation and logistics. ODW Logistics is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider specializing in integrated logistics solutions. 

“A challenge facing marketing professionals in the logistics industry is creating a holistic user experience for the customer throughout the organization,” he says. “The warehouse teams are busy focused on successfully executing on the operation. IT has to focus not only the customer’s needs, but overall network demands of the organization. To differentiate as a logistics provider marketing professionals need to build a successful strategy to align all business units.  At the end of the day, it’s the customer that matters. And if you can’t deliver a unified experience across all business units, your customer will find someone who can.”

Integration Matters: Bringing Together Sales and Marketing
Meier also suggests that one of the biggest opportunities for marketing professionals in the logistics industry is blurring the lines between sales and marketing. “Passing off marketing qualified leads to the sales rep and hoping for a conversion is not going to get you far,” he says. “Marketing needs to understand the entire buyer’s journey and what sales needs to successfully close a prospect. This means designing and delivering targeted nurturing email campaigns, case studies that specifically address the prospect’s pain points, messaging and demos that coincide with proposal development, and engaging the client frequently for feedback and regular client business reviews.”

Smart Marketing in the New Year
From a digital marketing standpoint, there are two areas that Meier suggests will hold significant opportunities in 2020: Interactive, targeted e-mail campaigns and long-form quality content.

Interactive and Targeted Email Campaigns: Contrary to belief, email is alive and well.  But let’s be real, everyone knows when they are the target of mass-marketing emails. Even if your name is at the top, you know when you’re just a number on the list.  Do a little homework on your prospect and target your message to their specific need. To further increase engagement, thing about more interactive email formats. Anyone can embed images and videos into email campaigns. Think about surveys, quizzes, and other unique and engaging formats to further differentiate your offering.

Long form quality content: Not necessarily an emerging trend, but a consistent trend that is often overlooked.  So many businesses, create content for the sake of content and the logistics industry is no exception. Establish a robust content marketing strategy that helps your target weed through the mundane and meaningless blogs. Become a trusted subject matter expert and source of quality by generating detailed articles, white papers, and blogs for your specific audience.

Smart Sales Strategy in the New Year
In 2019, there were a large number of carriers who have filed bankruptcy and ceased operations with very little notice, notes Matt Wagner, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Jarrett Logistics Systems. Wagner also is a member of the TMSA Sales Advisory Council. “The amount of trucks that have been taken off the road has had a significantly impacted shippers with reduced capacity.”

But with the challenges that come with this situation, there comes opportunities, says Wagner: “Carriers and 3PL’s alike will need to remain disciplined in their pricing strategies as well as focus on continuous improvement opportunities to gain greater operational efficiency. The key is being open to understanding business requirements from each perspective and working toward being a preferred partner (shipper/3PL/carriers) to do business with. When shippers, 3PL’s and carriers strategically work together they can achieve significantly better results that will benefit everyone.” 

So what does this mean for the sales professional in transportation and logistics?

“This is a great industry to be in that offers tremendous opportunity for sales and marketing professionals alike,” continues Wagner. “At the end of the day, people buy from people whom they come to know, like and trust. Become an expert in your field, always be curious, push to be better – for yourself, your company and your customers. Executives are looking for ways to make their business better it’s our professional obligation as a strategic partner to help them move the needle forward.”