Written By: Lionel Johnston | Nov 2, 2015 12:00:00 AM
By Lionel Johnston, Corporate Marketing Manager, Bison Transport
At the height of the Mad Men era (1964), Bob Dylan released one of his top singles, “The Times They Are A Changin’”. At the time the hit song was largely considered a social commentary, but if the song were released today you could argue The King of Folk may have been signing about marketing, as the industry continues to shift. With the growth of new, wide-spread tactics like email marketing, social media and pay-per-click advertising, plus emerging strategies such as geo-fencing, there are a lot of benefits to attending industry events like Content Marketing World, Hubspot’s Annual ‘Inbound’ Conference and Adobe Max, where we can learn about the advantages of such innovative technology.(A ‘Mad-Men’ Halloween at Bison Transport)
Marketing skills are transferable between companies and industries and the opportunity to swap best practices with other marketing professionals at events like these has proven to be invaluable. That said, I had a recent discussion with a colleague about the value of the word ‘transportation’ at a Transportation Marketing and Sales Association (TMSA) meeting. Over the course of the conversation, I brought up four common themes that I’ve experienced as a member of TMSA:
Personally, when I joined TMSA, I was new to the industry. I seized the opportunity to meet people and grill them with questions about their companies: What did their staff look like? Did they outsource or hire talent? etc. Three years later I am still learning at an equal rate, but I am now also able to share my journey of expanding marketing functions at Bison Transport.
I am fortunate to work with Bison Transport, especially since we are a very progressive company. We don’t just accept change, we actively pursue it. The Corporate Marketing team at Bison was established so we could do the exact things that we are doing - attract recruits and customers through traditional and digital channels. Even though there was a lot of support, it still took time and several discussions with colleagues, in my office and throughout the industry, to determine our needs and craft effective strategies. Thankfully Bison Transport made the investment in the TMSA and supported me, as many of the peers I used as sounding boards are people I met through TMSA.
Do you feel you have more to learn about marketing in the transportation industry? If you answered yes, I encourage you to check out TMSAtoday.org.
Tags: TMSA
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