What Trucking Companies Can Learn from Famous Brands

August 30, 2018

Ford Motor Company is worth billions of dollars, producing vehicles for every corner of the globe. In the early 1900s, it was just a new car company trying to find a foothold.

Nike is the largest sports apparel company in the world, but as recently as the late 1980s, it was facing bankruptcy.

How did they do it? How did they build these market empires? And more importantly, is there something that people in the trucking industry can learn from these impressive brands?

What Trucking Companies Can Learn from Famous Brands

While the details will change, there are some basic principles that you can learn from global brands to enhance your trucking company. By implementing these principles and giving them your own twist, you can generate more business, get better word-of-mouth, and retain the clients you already have.

Personalize the Contact

Although Amazon.com has millions of users, they make sure to customize a large portion of the customer experience, including site browsing and follow-up emails. Take a look at their site a few times. When you come back, you’ll see unique suggestions based on your browsing and purchase history. You may even get email notifications with your first name on them. While we all know this is automated, it still helps build an emotional, if subconscious, attachment to the company.

Make sure when you are contacting customers, you are personalizing the interaction. Use first names, discuss past business transactions, and treat people like (surprise!) people. You’ll find your success rates for keeping and landing clients are much more effective.

Stay Positive Through Every Challenge

The world has enough negativity. Make sure your trucking company doesn’t add to it. Coca-Cola is a great example of positivity in action as a branding message. From the “Share a Coke” campaign to the cute polar bear cubs, there’s always a large dose of feel-good positivity in their messaging.

It might be harder to bring a smile as a trucking company compared to a sugary soft-drink bottler, but you can make sure to stay positive in your messaging. Use smiling faces in your ads, have positive interactions, and always keep a positive message from start to finish.

Keep the Message Consistent

In 1903, Henry Ford founded his now world-famous Ford Motor Company on the basic principle of affordable, dependable vehicles. How does Ford market their products in the 21st century? As affordable, dependable vehicles. (See a pattern?) The specific marketing pitches might vary over the decades, but the simple, consistent branding of reliable vehicles that anyone can afford remains consistent.

What is your trucking company’s brand? Whether it’s consistency, cost-savings, or a particular type of trucking, when you keep the message consistent and simple, you’ll be more memorable to your customers.

Short Slogans are Effective Slogans

Just Do It. Without even saying the company’s name, you know exactly what we’re talking about. These three little words had a massive impact on sports, marketing, apparel, and fashion; pretty good for three little words! (And only eight letters!) The short-slogan principle can be seen from Chevy (Like a Rock), McDonald’s (I’m Lovin’ It) and Budweiser (This Bud’s for You).

If you are crafting a slogan to put on the side of your trucks or on the banner of your website, remember that short slogans will stick with all of your potential customers.

Deliver Consistent Quality: The Not-So-Secret Secret

All of the brands we’ve talked about have a very common theme. They all deliver high-quality results day-in and day-out. McDonald’s creates cheeseburgers and fries that are good enough to keep people coming back over and over again. Ford builds cars and trucks that are consistent, reliable, and affordable. Everything that Nike puts out uses top-quality materials.

It’s really not a huge intellectual breakthrough, just a simple principle that far too many people forget: deliver consistent quality, and people will come back for more. Can your trucking company be more consistent? Could you reduce late deliveries by 10 percent this quarter? Could you do it again next quarter? Little changes can add up to consistent quality and long-term success.

Grow Your Trucking Company with Invoice Factoring

If you’re looking to grow your trucking company, consider invoice factoring to provide you with the working capital you need to meet the growing demands of your business. Instead of waiting to get paid, factoring pays you same day on your invoices. To get started fill out the form below. We’ll get you a consultation and quote for a custom, month-to-month program in just 15 minutes.