Five key pointers to building a strong profile in the logistics & warehouse sector.
The UK logistics sector is huge, generating £170 billion for the British economy. For any business supplying services or equipment to this market there are boundless opportunities, but reaching and influencing those buyers isn’t necessarily that easy.
There are a number of channels that can be brought into play, from print and online business publications, to social media, newsletters and direct marketing. All require expertly written content. A good story that has impact and draws an active audience needs to deliver value to the reader in terms of knowledge, guidance, and an authoritative understanding of the issues involved.
Of course, it’s important to support the industry’s media in building any campaign – their reach goes far beyond your immediate social media network. Here are a few pointers to building a strong campaign that gets noticed:
1. The key to a successful campaign is good content creation. Any piece of collateral, whether it be a short opinion article, blog or longer white paper, must be well-written, insightful, convincing, authoritative, and well-grounded in the sector. But above all else, it needs to be easy to read. AI tools may misleadingly appear to offer a simple way of generating material but the content is often inaccurate or difficult to verify and as the technology uses algorithms to trawl the internet, there are dangers of plagiarism and bland copy. Expertly written copy takes a human touch.
2. There’s so much information out there, how do you get noticed? Firstly, select a pertinent topic, get your key messaging clearly defined and importantly, avoid the temptation to deliver a sales pitch. Authoritative content should be editorially focused and issues based. Any references to proprietary products or solutions should be minimised. The solution to any problem outlined in the piece may be best implied, leading the reader to look to the author of the article, and the company they represent, for more information.
3. Structure your campaign. A campaign centred on a white paper article of two thousand words or more can be a highly effective way of making a bold statement in a new or expanding market segment – it can help demonstrate that your business understands the market, the issues involved and has a vision for the sector in terms of solutions. Posting the white paper to a knowledge centre on your website, with a gated entry to gather details for free downloads, offers a rich source for potential leads. Follow-up press releases on key topics from the white paper and short opinion articles/blogs on some findings can be highly effective in driving traffic to your download page, increasing potential sales leads and maximising value from your content.
4. Build market positioning with opinion pieces and blogs. A long-established business can easily drift or lose market profile if it is left unheard. Having a voice that is clear and assured counts for a great deal when it comes to getting noticed or when reasserting market positioning – who you are, what you offer and what you stand for.
A regular series of opinion articles is a great way of projecting that voice. Opinion articles are best kept to a few hundred words and should be focused on a hot topic, making keen observations on key issues, highlighting common challenges and, importantly, offering a solution. Demonstrating knowledge on a subject helps build a profile as a ‘thought leader’ in an area of expertise and helps instil confidence within a target market. Creating a series of opinion articles, say one a month, positioned in online and print media, followed by posting on social media can help build profile and drive sales leads.
5. Keep the market informed through press releases and case studies. News releases and product updates are an important part of the mix, too. Keeping your target market informed of developments within your business – perhaps, new services, capabilities or product advancements – is critical to promoting sales and driving revenue.
When it comes to demonstrating to the market just how brilliant your solutions are, there is no better way of building confidence in your products and services than with a well-written case study article. The content should set out the problem faced, the solution provided and the resulting benefits. But beyond this simple structure, detail and in-depth analysis of the business reasons behind the decision to invest and how performance gains were achieved, makes for a richer story and a more convincing argument for change. A good case study can be posted to your website, positioned in the digital and print media, promoted on social channels and set out on a pdf for direct mail or printed for distribution at a show.
Businesses that use informed content written by industry experts can expect sound results. AMA PR is a content and media services business founded on strong editorial principles. As ex-editors of some of the logistics and materials handling industry’s leading publications, AMA PR provides expertly-written content to many of today’s most successful supply chain services companies.
To learn more about AMA PR’s dynamic content-driven marketing campaigns visit www.amapr.com or email info@amapr.com
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