Opinion: With T&L 2.0, David Can Beat Goliath

By Roy Schijns

Vice President of Sales

PC*MILER Solutions

ALK Technologies

This Opinion Piece appears in the April 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Most Transport Topics readers have experienced the current downturn firsthand — dwindling freight demand, fluctuating fuel prices, clean-engine mandates and downward-spiraling leading indicators.

Given the daily challenges faced by everyone engaged in T&L — transportation and logistics — it’s critical to focus on the areas in your business where you can have an effect and not sweat the big stuff. With the right approach, you can grow your business and succeed where others fail. How? Seize the initiative. Evolve your business while others remain static. In a contracting market, taking share is the only way to grow.

We all can learn from Detroit’s mistakes: lack of differentiation, questionable productivity, insufficient innovation and failure to capitalize on high-growth trends. Do you successfully differentiate yourself from the competition? Do you employ “legacy” resources who receive premium compensation for only average performance? Do you change and renew your sales and marketing talent pool and encourage innovation? Do you leverage technology to drive demand for your services?

It can be argued that visionary leaders continue to invest in their sales and marketing initiatives during down times, but reality dictates that we do more with less — including a switch from traditional marketing to Web 2.0-enabled tactics.

Confusion and fear of the unknown can interfere with understanding Web 2.0, so it’s important to dispel the mystery. Technology — whether hardware, software or Internet applications — evolves constantly. The original Web has evolved into Web 2.0, where almost anyone can contribute, relate and be dynamic.

Web 2.0 has changed demand generation dynamics between suppliers and customers. Marketing budgets are being scrutinized and traditional methods challenged. Overwhelmed, customers and prospects struggle to keep their heads above water in a sea of information. They avoid sales calls and throw out direct mail but embrace these trusted online information sources:

Blogs — There are currently about 13 million blogs online, with 8,000 more created every hour. Fewer than 20% make weekly updates, so fresh content is in high demand. Are customers reaching and reading your blog?

Clips — More than 100,000 new videos are posted every day. Are your customers watching you? Is it too far-fetched to think you could record a video clip about your business and post it online?

Texts — More text messages are sent every day than there are people on the planet, and 97% of text messages are viewed on the small screens of cell phones or in-cab displays. Marketing messages must become more compact.

Tags — On the Internet, special software can “tag” content you think is relevant; 28% of Americans have tagged content, and 9% do it daily. People who tag content say it’s 12 times more valuable to them than a standard site or search. Are you tagging content relevant to your target customers?

Peers — The American Marketing Association estimates 35% of marketing content is customer-created. By 2012, 25% of all entertainment will be created, edited and shared within peer groups. Where’s the customer’s voice in your marketing?

Pods — 20 million people listen to “podcasts,” and 65% of business professionals use social networking sites. One in four Internet users visits a social site at least once a month. LinkedIn — a Web-based business/executive networking service — is taking the business world by storm, helping people connect to contacts.

Your customers are exchanging information with each other online because they don’t trust traditional marketing — they trust the opinion of their peers. Are you in those networks?

Here are some best practices for demand generation and sales success in the world of T&L 2.0:

Conduct — Don’t venture into Web 2.0 without an online code of conduct, stating at a minimum that employees may not talk about your company online except in pre-approved ways; may not misrepresent or disclose information about your company; and must always maintain a professional online persona. Venturing into Web 2.0 marketing tactics is critical but requires central monitoring and management.

Metrics — If traffic to your Web site or social online networking platform isn’t measurably tied to revenue, new customers or referrals as an outcome, don’t do it. Stay focused on results.

Appeal — Once conduct and metrics are in place, get a Web 2.0 face-lift. If you go online with the same old look and feel, you won’t get what you want. Add videos, end-user scenarios, referrals, links to blogs, forums or your own LinkedIn group to your Web site.

A recent survey showed that maintaining a corporate blog, doing online marketing and using social media elements outplayed traditional marketing 5-to-1 — and you don’t have to be rich or big to succeed. Small firms are winning by using social networks more frequently than larger, wealthier competitors and using their agility to differentiate them from significant competitors.

As Detroit’s executives found out, you can’t fix poor business decisions with incentives, creative pricing, budget cuts, or even Uncle Sam’s help. The only way to prevail is to invest in talent, take care of your customers, develop a demand generation plan infused with Web 2.0 tactics and ruthlessly execute that plan.

Based in Princeton, N.J., ALK Technologies is a privately held company celebrating its 30th year of developing mobile navigation and transportation technology solutions.