BY BILL FAETH
Marketing is essential to growing your transportation company, but the potential investment in a marketing agency or software can be too much for many business owners. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to effectively market your company with little to no budget: All you have to do is make a plan and then implement it.
If you’re just getting started with marketing and don’t have a budget behind you yet, here are some of my favorite low- or no-cost ways to reach your audience.
1. Google Reviews
How to Do It
The first step in this process is to set up a Google+ account for your company, which you can do for free on the Google homepage. After you’ve created the account, follow the steps to have your business verified by Google+. Once this is done, you’ll need to start leveraging your happiest customers by asking them if they would be willing to leave a positive review of your services.
The easiest method of collecting reviews is to include specialized calls-to-action (CTAs) in either a final-charges email or a separate follow-up email that you send to customers once their trips are complete.
These CTAs should be attached to a review caption within your email, asking customers if they are happy with your services. If their answer is yes, they’ll select your “yes” CTA, which will lead them to your company’s Google review page; here, they can leave a positive review, helping your company build its social proof.
If their answer is no, they’ll select your “no” CTA, which will lead them to your company’s website where they can communicate any issues directly with you.
How It Benefits Your Company
This method helps you in several ways: It allows you to control and respond to negative reviews immediately, and it also helps you leverage your most satisfied customers for positive social proof. You can even take screenshots of the good reviews and post them on your website.
Positive reviews will also boost your company’s local SEO results in searches so you’ll be found by more prospects.
2. Speaking at Events
How to Do It
Before you can start promoting yourself as a speaker at an event, you need to know what the event’s organizers are looking for.
Do some research on the event’s topics, the demographics of the attending audience, and, if possible, the topics that will be presented by other speakers. Once you’ve compiled this information, you’ll need to create a short, resume-like document that pitches your niche issue and highlights your expertise in that area.
The most important thing to remember when creating your pitch is that it’s not about you; it’s about the audience. Focus on how your knowledge can help them, inform them, and allow them to think differently about their own industry or expertise. No one needs a sales presentation when they are expecting education.
How It Benefits Your Company
Speaking at an event provides you and your company with strong word-of-mouth connections and in-person networking opportunities. The spotlight of speaking at an event provides you with an audience that is there to listen and learn about your topic; with this type of attention, you have the power to give yourself and your company an identifiable voice.
3. Creating a Video
How to Do It
Most people think that creating a high-quality, valuable video takes hundreds of dollars in gear and equipment; in actuality, you can probably create a high-quality video with equipment you already own. (You can read more about this in “Traffic Tips” in the February 2016 issue of Chauffer Driven.)
It’s important to have a tripod available, even if you’re filming with your smartphone. This allows you to make the video without help from anyone else, and ensures that the resulting film isn’t shaky or unsteady.
It’s also important to ensure that you, as the subject, are well-lit and easy to see. This can be done either by purchasing affordable, basic lighting or finding a space that provides optimal lighting conditions.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you need to make sure that your voice can be heard clearly throughout the video. Good sound can be accomplished by filming in a place that has minimal background noise and echo. This will ensure that your voice is the highlight of the video and isn’t drowned out by other noises.
How It Benefits Your Company
Video is the most valuable and shareable content on the web. Having video content that represents and promotes your company can help you increase engagement on social media and market effectively, even if you don’t have a blog or strong email marketing presence.
Get started with these three easy-to-implement techniques, and you’ll be able to start marketing your business more effectively without having to allocate a large budget to it first. [CD0316]
Bill Faeth is founder and president of Inbound Marketing Agents in Nashville and founder of Limo University. He can be reached at bill@limogrowth.com.