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      Set up an interactive website where customers can request rate quotes, and customers and carriers can contact you for other information via forms or email. In addition, always make sure your phone number is prominently displayed on every page of your website and within the profiles of your social media accounts. You want prospective customers to be able to find and contact you as easily as possible. Don’t make them look for your phone number or email address when they visit your website or company Facebook page, for example.

Communicating with Your Customers

      Once you’ve selected a niche, you’ll need to consider how to let the shippers in that niche know about you. This is the essence of marketing. Don’t be discouraged if your marketing efforts don’t produce an immediate response. This is a relationship business, and it takes time to build your reputation and the rapport you need with shippers. Also, remember that your marketing efforts support your primary sales efforts but rarely generate a sale on their own. Even so, they deserve your attention.

      All your promotional and advertising materials (including your website and social media presence) must clearly indicate your status as a broker, must be under the name by which you are registered, and may not directly or indirectly represent your operation as a carrier. With that legal caveat out of the way, be sure all these items are professional and letter-perfect. Consistency is important; your business card, envelopes, letterhead, labels, invoices, promotional items, email signatures, website, social media accounts, blog, etc., should all have the same logo, use the same typeface, and use the same color scheme.

      Small but useful giveaway items—such as pens, mugs, scratch pads, and baseball caps—are very effective in supporting your marketing efforts. Customers aren’t likely to choose a broker based on these items, but it’s important to keep your name in front of them in a positive way. Be sure the promotional items clearly and consistently identify your company and tell how to contact you.

      Both online and offline directory listings are important so shippers can find you. Check with your local phone company to find out its advertising deadline and directory distribution date, and, if possible, plan to launch your business in time to be included.

      For most freight brokers, a print Yellow Pages display ad will not be worth the substantial investment that goes along with it; however, you might want to give your listing some distinction by having it set in bold type or including a line or two indicating your specialties or market niche. More importantly, make sure your website gets listed on all of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.), and that your business gets listed with other online-based directory services, such as Yelp!, even though you’re not targeting consumers as your customers.

      Broadcast (radio and television) advertising is generally not effective for freight brokers, but some print advertising (within industry-specific publications that cater to your niche audience) will help build your credibility and name recognition. Look for publications that shippers in your target market read; if you’re not sure what they are, ask some of the shippers you’d like to have as customers. Your ads do not have to be wildly creative; in fact, a better approach is to simply say what you do and why you do it well in an abbreviated format and then include your company name, your logo, and how to contact you. Keep the design of the ad clear and uncluttered; don’t cram so much text into it that no one will read it. Some great places to begin your print advertising are in the newsletters of your local transportation organizations.

      You will also want to create a brochure that describes what you do. A basic 8.5-by-11-inch, three-panel piece is sufficient. It should include your company name, address, phone, and fax numbers; website and email addresses and other contact information; your logo; a detailed list of the services you provide; a brief description of your background to establish credibility; and a benefits statement that tells shippers why they should use you.

      tip

      A more targeted approach to paid advertising is to use online search engine advertising via a service like Google AdWords (https://adwords.google.com). These campaigns are inexpensive to create and launch, highly targeted, and can generate results very quickly. You can get started for a little as $50.

      Once the brochure is created in printed form, make sure you offer the same content as part of your website, Facebook page, and any other online presence that you manage. For example, the printed brochure can be offered online as a downloadable PDF file, or the same content can be displayed as part of an interactive webpage.

      Use a professional graphic designer and copywriter to produce your ads, brochures, and website content. All printed materials should be professionally printed; don’t just run them off on your laser printer or a photocopy machine. Your prospective customers will be able to tell, and you’ll look like an unstable, fly-by-night operation.

Know Thine Enemy

      One of the most basic elements of effective marketing is differentiating yourself from the competition. One marketing consultant calls it “eliminating the competition,” because if no one else does exactly what you do, then you essentially have no competition. However, before you can differentiate yourself, you first need to understand who your competitors are and why your customers might use them.

      As a freight broker, you’ll be competing with other brokers, freight forwarders, carriers, and probably some types of transportation consulting firms. To a degree, you’ll also be competing with your customers’ internal traffic departments.

      Finding out about your competitors isn’t difficult. In many cases, you’ll know their people from your own industry networking, perhaps from previous jobs or professional associations. Your customers and potential customers will usually be very open about what they like and don’t like about other service providers. The key is to pay attention, take notes, and use what you learn in your own marketing efforts.

Outsourcing Opportunity

      As you plan your marketing strategy, consider how the trend of outsourcing can help your brokerage. Outsourcing is the practice of contracting with an outside firm to handle tasks that are not part of a company’s core business. For example, as a freight broker, your core business is to link shippers and carriers, so you may choose to outsource such tasks as certain accounting procedures, some of your marketing functions, or perhaps the technical work involved in building a website and blog (and managing your company’s social media accounts).

      aha!

      Establish yourself as an expert by writing articles for transportation trade publications and blogs, as well as the trade publications and blogs your target market reads. If you don’t have the writing skills and/or the time to compose articles yourself, hire a professional writer to ghostwrite (write under your name) them for you.

      Many companies are outsourcing all or part of their shipping functions. Brokers are in an excellent position to offer themselves as an outsourcing resource, essentially functioning as the customer’s traffic department. You can relieve your customers of all the work related to transportation and traffic management, save them money, and improve their service.

      “A number of our smaller customers use us for their entire shipping and receiving business,” says Bill Tucker. “Not only on the traffic management but also some of the purchasing and acquiring of products.” This

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