We’ve been covering and helping to market the trucking/supply chain/logistics industry for nearly 20 years. We’ve written about everything from truck parking to scales to route optimization to the digitization of the freight process. We’ve interviewed carrier CEOs, tech innovators, 3PL founders and even academics who specialize in the industry.
And something is bothering us.
For an industry that literally everyone relies upon for its essentials, you sure don’t get a sense of the industry’s impact in the way most companies talk about themselves. People are so caught up in the obsession with SEO words and industry clichés that they’re taking companies who actually deliver the goods on a day-to-day basis, and making them sound like a page from a Harvard textbook on management theory.
What we should be doing is telling stories.
We should be telling the stories of the shippers who were delivered from anxiety and exasperation into relief and exhilaration.
We should be telling the stories of the drivers who embraced the new technology and found their jobs less stressful and more fulfilling.
We should be telling the stories of the potential disaster that was averted because the 3PL account manager sprung into action and executed a plan to save the day.
We should be telling the stories of the companies who have thrived over the long term by committing themselves to a culture of performance excellence and employee well-being.
We should be telling the stories of the cybersecurity attacks that could happen – but don’t – because we have brainy heroes in the industry who are a step ahead of the bad guys.
We should be telling the stories of the tragedies we’re preventing because someone figured out a way to find parking spots for drivers who needed to rest.
By the way, those trucks out there on the road are pretty cool, too. They’re the stars of the show and we should all be celebrating the difference they make.
Look, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that’s important. The software that helps with route planning, forecasting and load procurement is cool, and it’s helping, and that deserves attention. The potential impact of AI is brimming with promise, even if it does make a lot of people nervous. We should be able to talk openly about that.
But in all of this, it’s critical not to get so caught up in the technical details – or even the statistics, as much as some people don’t want to breathe without tossing in a stat – and remember that the real story here is what happens – both literally and figuratively – when the rubber hits the road.
It’s the impact on people.
It’s the healthier margin our companies make when they find better ways to do things, and the benefit that offers for so many.
It’s the resolve and resourcefulness of the pros who have weathered the ups and downs of the last few years and emerged stronger.
Their stories are the ones that market this industry.
Our perspective is that the trucking/supply chain/logistics industry has gotten too comfortable talking amongst itself about how it’s leveraging and optimizing and whatever the heck else this corporate newspeak is telling them to say. And we’re forgetting that the trucking industry has produced the greatest romance of the road that this country has ever known – while making it possible for people everywhere to stay supplied. And alive.
We’re here to produce your newsletters, your press releases, your blog posts, your web copy, your whitepapers . . . just like others in the industry. But we don’t want them to sound like the others are making them sound. We want them to be as cool as the image of a 53-foot semi tractor/trailer traversing the cuts in the Rocky Mountains, or speeding across the plains, or heading out from the distribution center on its way to make someone’s day with what’s inside.
If you agree with us that the trucking industry needs to start marketing itself like this, then we need to get to work. Together.