Opportunities for Courier Companies
It’s not something that is said all the time, since few people in the Courier Industry even still understand the importance of this: The use of technology within the realm of marketing is our business’s most significant development.
In just several years it has become clear that the Internet has established itself as an extremely effective platform that has revolutionized how we conduct business and also the way we communicate. The Internet unlike any other media, has brought the possibility of an International or global perspective in the global community.
The Internet is one of the least democratic among of the media. With a minimal cost, anyone can get an online presence. Virtually every business can be reached an extremely large audience quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Size and location do not have to be factors in the realm of Online Marketing.
E-marketing, also known as Courier Internet Marketing is a element in electronic commerce more commonly called electronic commerce. It’s the use of the Internet to market and promote the sale of goods and services. World wide, many companies shift their marketing budgets towards electronic marketing. They are using a range of different strategies to meet their objectives.
The Courier industry isn’t any different. Indeed, the trends that are prevalent in the current industry of couriers like consolidation, product and expansions in service and the growth of agent networks complement recent trends and successful developments in the field of electronic marketing. This type of marketing offers numerous advantages that are not available through traditional methods.
It is the most important reason that e-marketing helps grow the market from a local one to national and international and, in a way it creates a level playing field for both big and smaller players. Contrary to traditional marketing mediums such as radio, print and television, entering the world of Internet marketing is significantly less expensive.
Additionally, because the response, exposure and the overall effectiveness of digital media are more easily tracked than conventional offline mediums, e-marketing provides an increased sense of obligation for the advertisers. In essence, each step of e-marketing is assessed and tracked and, consequently, provide immediate results in terms of the ROI (ROI) on the media in use.
Since the introduction of public Internet in 1992 the change in business practices toward new marketing approaches has seen both negative and positive strategies. As with all types of business, planning and strategy are essential to achieving success online. Contrary to the majority of companies on the internet however, the Courier business is an traditional and traditional one that typically requires an establishment that is brick and mortar strategically situated to support others, both individuals and businesses. But, since the industry is evolving in the present, reaching out to those who need to know about your business in a variety of circumstances can be done via new channels.
Although it’s fairly recent, Internet marketing is just entered a growth phase of its cycle. These are the times when economies of scale can be seen and profit is inevitable. people are aware of the concept and competition is growing. It is long gone from this being a novel concept.
In order to understand both a pulling and push marketing approach, it’s essential to comprehend the methods that can be used to attract or convince people to join your company’s delivery service. Also, knowing the demographic groups that are crucial in establishing an effective electronic strategy. There are four major groups you can target or influence to your business via electronic channels:
A) CLIENTS
B) AGENTS
C) DRIVERS
D) PROSPECTS
With regard to each group, various methods will be explored within the discussion of all four groups. First, consideration of each group is essential.
CLIENTS
This includes individuals and businesses who currently use or have previously used your service previously. This is the biggest and most profitable group of customers that companies are unable to effectively reach out to. Understanding your customer’s needs is crucial to your success. If you don’t is, in essence, planning to be a failure. Your clients have already opted to work with you, and not being aware of their requirements potential opportunities could be lost.
simply, does each client you have know the business you run, where you’re gone, the new services that you’re offering, or even new projects. Are you aware of your client’s complete shipping portfolio and each one of their requirements? Consider this question and you’ll find that there’s not a single delivery firm in the world who would not benefit from knowing more about their customers to gain advantage.
AGENTS
As our industry experiences expansion in national networks composed of individual companies across the country The need to find top-quality agents is in highly sought-after. This could be a huge source of income for courier businesses, particularly those that have the experience and networks to deliver and pick up from local airports. In light of the recent changes to the public transportation system and the cost of transportation, it’s now more affordable than ever before to transport packages throughout the nation and give the big players an opportunity to compete which allows smaller businesses to be competitive at the national level and, often, with superior service and making costs affordable.
DRIVERS
Averaging a turnover of 20 percent for contractors who are independent It is essential that delivery companies hire drivers who are culturally compatible with their courier business. While employee turnover isn’t as high, the same amount of importance is hiring the most suitable driver for your company and the clients. In many areas, attracting the right individuals isn’t easy. With more than 90% of people living in the U.S.A. have access to the internet, it is a simple way to reach out and find people who are suitable for this job.
PROSPECTS
This isn’t to be confused with customers, as this is the group of people from which couriers have historically found their revenue by the expansion and acquisition more customers. While these customers haven’t yet utilized your services however, more than the majority of couriers utilize some type of sales strategy, whether it’s sales team or a single person who is responsible for or spending their time for direct sales. Traditional methods of selling such as cold-calling is essential to generate leads, but leads can be easily generated using a variety methods.
There are many ways to market via e-mail to promote your business, in this article, only the most well-known and effective strategies will be reviewed for the use of a courier service. The methods discussed include:
Search Engine Marketing
Email Marketing
Viral Marketing
Digital Presentations
SEARCH ENGINE marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the fastest-growing form of advertising on the internet in the world. If you would like your company to be recognized through the Internet It is essential that your website be listed in the top three results on the most popular search engines, but preferably the first. “Search Engines have generated more attention for websites than any other forms of advertising, including newspaper ads, banners TV and radio” The IMT Strategies. As per the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization, SEM methods include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well as pay-per-click (Paid per Click also known as PPC) as well as paid inclusion.
Furthermore, in searches for business-to-business on the Internet more than 80% of users click Organic results in preference to pay per click results. Courier Marketing on the Internet is increasing at an astounding rate.
A Organic Search result the method by Internet users discover websites that have no paid search engine listings as opposed to the ads paid for per click that are displayed in results of the search.
Pay per Click (PPC) can be described as an advertisement strategy that is utilized on advertisements networks, websites and search engines to bring traffic to websites by placing advertisements strategically placed across the web. Advertisers pay a cost for every click they make on their advertisement. The costs are determined using an auction process determined by their rivals for the specific keyword or phrase.
Of the over 180 search engines within the U.S.A. The top three have around 90 percent of the market. The three top search engines are Google.com, Yahoo.com and msn.com While the sources vary in relation to market share of these three, there’s no doubt that these three are the top three in 9 out on 10 queries.
SEO stands for Search engine Optimization (SEO) can be described as an aspect of marketing through search engines. It is an approach to increase the quantity and quality of website traffic via search engines through organic or natural (sometimes called algorithmic) results from searches.
SEO is marketing that focuses on knowing how search algorithms function and what visitors to a website may be searching for. SEO strategies may include improving the code of a website and presentation, as well as the structure and robot file, and most importantly , the amount of relevant links inbound, or reciprocal hyperlinks.
At the close of the millennium, phrase “page rank” was coined by two people during their time at Stanford University. Some say that this term has changed the entire world. It actually did as this was the basis for the Google company and the algorithm employed by Google in the present.
The concept that based the quality of a website’s positioning on the search engine’s links that are inbound to the site gave the human user the most relevant results for search. In simple terms, it is a contest to vote. The more links that are inbound to a site and the more popular it was, which in turn, the more popular that site was by search engines. It’s only the remedial level. Google analyzes hundreds of variables in determining the page rank as well as the importance of the links inbound to the search term or keyword that is used. A link from sony.com to your site doesn’t assist in the search for “courier service”, however an inbound link that comes from an organization that is a national courier company is highly relevant.
This is not straightforward nor is it a planned procedure. Since companies are claiming to provide SEO services Search engines are removing web sites on their websites because SEO companies employ black-hat methods. These are tactics used to boost rankings, but are not favored by search engines and involve deceit.
It can include ‘hidden’ text that is hidden behind the background redirects, doorway pages keywords, duplicates, keyword stuffing and interlinking, to mention only a few. White Hat techniques are in accordance with guidelines of the search engines and do not involve deceit. Additionally, it guarantees that the creators create content for the users and not to be a search engine. In February of 2006, BMW Germany were banned by Google for using Black Hat techniques. Be extremely cautious of the SEO company you choose to work with.
EMAIL Marketing
As per Forrester Research, 85% of all businesses within the U.S.A. use any form of electronic marketing and Jupiter Research specify that 38 percent of businesses have an e-mail marketing central department. These numbers are shocking. Furthermore it is one of the most efficient of all strategies for eMarketing.
Although it’s a kind directly marketing it’s highly cost-effective, specific and quantifiable. It is possible to measure bounced emails reading receipts, clicks through, read receipts downloads, and click through connect that data to marketing and sales efforts. Although they are increasingly used in the field of couriers, companies are seeing great success selling to customers already in their database to market new products and services that are not known to their customers, promotional offers and other new offerings.
DIGITAL PRESENTATIONS
While a website may be an essential requirement for couriers, digital presentations are currently only utilized by a handful of. It is first and foremost important to have a professional web presence, and it is surprising that the majority of couriers within the U.S.A. have poor websites. There are very few who track the traffic flow. Very rarely do websites use the basic techniques taught in the ‘Web Design 101’ course and only a few meet to the minimal requirements of search engines to be considered “search engine friendly”.
For an industry that is based on advanced technology like online order entry, and emerging technologies like GPS tracking, it’s astonishing that the web-based marketing industry isn’t as good. Actually, many websites offer opportunities to beat your competitors. Effective design and implementation of your website is essential to determine the ROI of your website, however this article will determine the methods of marketing via e-mail, but not the most effective way to use it like a well-designed design. However, it is essential that you think about the needs of your company and review your strategy for e-marketing every three years.
A complimentary feature to your site, will be the digital version of your brochure. It’s not an image of your printed brochure it’s an dynamic digital display. The presentations are distributed through different methods including downloads from the website or email attachments CDs, DVDs, CDs as well as memory sticks.
Some couriers require their drivers to carry business-card-sized CDs that have digital presentations, which they send to non-customers and then offer incentives to drivers for every new customer who is that is closed by the sales team when the driver has left the customer without a presentation.
Each presenter can track as to where it originated and who saw it, to whom they emailed it to, and the content they saw. This data is a effective instrument to your sales team in creating new customers. Furthermore, digital presentations aren’t just for marketing purposes by courier businesses. As the market expands, so does the technology for couriers, the majority are making their own digital training videos to fill in the gaps between their existing software applications and the operations of the courier company.
The time for traditional businesses like delivery companies must rethink their marketing strategies has arrived. The days of yellow pages as the best way to attract new customers and couriers must maximize every penny of profit they can from their existing customer base. The shrinking margins, the increasing regulation and an industry that has relatively low barriers to entry mean you’ll need an e-marketing plan. This isn’t something to think about, but e-marketing is something you must implement to stay relevant and profitable.
