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Social Media and Content Marketing Works, Just Ask Freight Logistics Company Cerasis

Social Media and Content Marketing Works, Just Ask Freight Logistics Company Cerasis

by | May 1, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain

freight logistics company Cerasis

By launching a new digital, social media, and content marketing strategy, Cerasis saw a big, positive impact on its bottom line.

Companies within the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries have been slow to create and execute digital, social media, and content marketing strategies.  The primary reason: a lack of understanding of the business case or value.

These strategies utilize platforms that many within these industries perceive to be for socializing, sharing photos, and connecting with friends (e.g., Twitter and Facebook), and they turn the sales process on its head. Content marketing strategies are fundamentally different from traditional strategies employed by businesses to attract new customers, foster relationships with current customers, and grow their bottom line.  Because of this, companies do not recognize how these strategies can positively impact their bottom line and therefore decide to steer clear — they feel engaging is too risky.

The reality is that not participating is risky.  Like it or not, things have changed.  The internet and social networks are where customers are.  Content is how you can establish your company as a thought leader within the industry, and how you can attract and retain customers.  If you want to grow your business you need to participate.

Looking at the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries, there are a few companies that have emerged as leaders — companies that exemplify the business value of creating and executing digital, social media, and content marketing strategies.  Cerasis, a freight logistics company, is one of them.

How Cerasis acquired 98 customers through content marketing

Cerasis was founded in 1997.  For 15 years the company utilized traditional sales and marketing strategies: placing ads in industry print publications, and relying heavily on referrals.  This strategy worked.  The company acquired new customers, retained current customers, and realized positive growth.

There is a saying: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  Cerasis ignored these words of wisdom.

In the fall of 2012, Cerasis launched a digital, social media, and content marketing strategy.  The results have been impressive.  For example, visits to the company website have increased by close to 670 percent, and search visits have increased by close to 2,190 percent. The company boasts an impressive number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and LinkedIn followers.

The business value of the strategy? Cerasis has acquired 98 customers.  For the freight logistics industry, one customer can generate significant revenue; 98 new customers has a positive impact on the company’s bottom line.

Cerasis will be guest blogging for Fronetics for the next three weeks.  The three-part series will begin with an overview of the company’s strategy and will discuss the results the company has realized through the execution of the strategy.  The next two articles focus on how to create and execute a strategy.

When looking for best practices, Cerasis is a clear example.  For companies within the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries these articles are a great opportunity to learn why (and how) your company should create and execute a digital, social media, and content marketing strategy.

Download the case study to learn more about how Cerasis’ content marketing strategy helped the company acquire new business and increase sales.





Get the case study



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Speak Volumes with Packaging

Speak Volumes with Packaging

by | Jan 27, 2014 | Blog, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Supply Chain

This post originally appeared on EBN.

Packaging

For many customers, both current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.

I recently read a great piece by Zach Williams, founder and creative director of Venveo, on the role of packaging from a marketing perspective.

Williams puts forth the idea that packaging is a critical element to marketing, and therefore, should become the fifth P in marketing (the other four being Product, Pricing, Placement, and Promotion). He makes the point that “packaging embodies so much more than promotion… [it] can make or break how your company is positioned.”

Williams discusses how packaging can create customer experiences. He offers the example of Apple’s packaging and how getting a box with the Apple logo on it creates an emotional response for customers. So emotional is the response that Williams pointed out that there are videos on YouTube of people “unboxing” their new products. When Williams wrote the article in October 2012, there were “thousands” of videos; when I looked today there were close to 3.5 million. That growth alone says a lot. And, the joy and excitement displayed in the videos speaks volumes to Apple, the product, and to the packaging itself.

Another company whose packaging has become iconic in the realm of creating customer experience is Tiffany & Co… New York Times writer Alice Rawsthorn wrote an articleabout the role Tiffany’s packaging played in her decision to purchase a pendant for her goddaughter: “Would I have bought that pendant without the packaging? I’m not sure, but the thought of Delilah opening that duck egg blue box tied with white satin ribbon certainly clinched my choice.”

Williams also notes that packaging can also serve to justify the price of the product and that “packaging should always aim to increase the perceived value of the product.” To Williams’s point, look at both Apple and Tiffany — their prices are higher than their competitors.

The final point in Williams’s article is that the packaging of a company needs to go beyond the physical and extend to the company’s website — that the website “can be considered packaging as well.” The point is a good one, but I think it should go further. I believe packaging should not only include the company’s website, but should also extend to the company’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter account, blog, and any outward-facing materials. If your company does not take the time to create an exceptional package for customers, you will be passed over.

Your company’s physical packaging and online packaging speaks volumes about your company. For many customers, current and prospective, you are your packaging. Take the time to do it right.