I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months now but I’ve seen the benefits and I’m definitely a believer. Because we track everything we do, we can directly attribute a significant increase in our web rankings on Google to our blog efforts. Jerry, who manages our Web, IT and SEO and Robin who heads up our Promotional Services are also frequent bloggers on our site.

From my perspective, there is no shortage of marketing related topics to write about. I find it somewhat therapeutic as a matter of fact and enjoy putting my digital pen to paper as a regular part of my weekly ritual. At this point, we haven’t seen direct comments in response to our blogs but they are being read and shared. As we gain more experience in this venue and with time, we hope our efforts will be helpful to others and that eventually we’ll get more interaction and collaboration on the various subject areas posted.

This past 4-day week we had two sales leads that materialized as a direct result of our web marketing. One where we weren’t the right solution (company was looking for canned newsletter content) and one that was right up our alley and turned into an appointment. Not all that significant maybe, except that 1 branding/web appointment for us can turn into 20-50,000 dollars of immediate work and a customer for life.

In the B2B environment, I believe getting your web ranking higher organically is (at a minimum) like having another full time sales person on the road and at a fraction (3%) of the cost. Similar to adding a new sales person it takes time to see the results. In this past economy it can be 6-9 months before you see the benefit…but there are soft benefits in the meantime. Now more than ever, the purchasers of your services are forming opinions of your organization based on your presence on the web. Your message needs to be clear; your look professional and when someone searches, ending up on the first page in your category doesn’t hurt.

At Palmer Marketing we do our utmost to keep current with design and marketing trends. We also attend various industry functions to further understand the challenges the transportation industry is facing. The take aways from a recent conference are as follows:

What are large shippers looking for when selecting carriers?

• Commitment to timing, now more than ever
• EDI interface
• Modern equipment and financial stability
• Proactive solutions to maximize consolidation opportunities and utilization
• Solutions away from LTL to Multi-Stop truckload
• Vendors shipping collect to big retailers
• Adopting flow model from UK with smaller more frequent deliveries
• Investigating more DC’s in Western Canada for better control through shorter distances

How carriers should approach rate increases

• In person, not by e-mail
• Open book approach-these are my costs
• Show what you have done to keep costs in line through fuel saving technology and better efficiencies
• Take a partnership approach and treat parties with respect
• Timing expectations-probably September of 1-3%

Want to hear a current financial and carrier’s perspective on the balance of 2010? Let us know and we’ll send it off…

Over the last two years we’ve seen most of our clients downsize and reduce spending. No surprise, the recession has touched everyone and creating a new balance between performance and profitability has been a tough one for us all, large and small…especially when it’s on the fly.  

Our business, like many others has experienced a major and likely permanent shift away from who we were, to who we are now. In our case, we have reduced our dependence on print and promotions and dramatically increased our capabilities in the areas of branding, web development and search engine marketing. As a result, we’ve added creative personnel and reduced administrative staff to match our new business patterns.

As painful as it is to let people go, the reality is business today cannot run fat and be sustainable. We need to be in tune with our company’s dynamics now … more than ever.

For those going through similar restructuring I would offer this encouragement. As tough as it is, I would suggest you may experience some unanticipated benefits in reducing your numbers in certain departments and possibly adding in others. In our case, we have achieved a better balance of work and resources. We have significantly improved our operation through streamlined communications and have very noticeably created a tighter, more unified team.

We need to summon the courage to take the steps we need to, yet fear the most. Slay the dragon that defends “no change” in your company by issuing this proclamation, “Starting today, the words I’ve always done it that way are officially banned from our company vocabulary!” It’s an interesting exercise that moved us forward many years ago.

In short, the more we listen, the more we learn. The more we learn, the more we grow. The quicker we accept the difficult steps we need to take, the more decisive we’ll be in making the next difficult decision. And each move we make in the right direction brings us closer to the leaders we need to be to ensure our company’s future success.