Haulage is a business that has been in existence for a very long time even during the pre-internet era. Therefore, it is no surprise that a lot of haulage contractors feel no need to make use of the internet in their business. A lot of haulage companies do not even have official websites or social media accounts; they just cannot be bothered with the internet.
I believe that anyone who goes into business does so for two major reasons; growth and profitability and every serious business owner must always search for ways to grow his/her business and increase profitability. The internet is one of the tools which can be used to grow any business at all.
Because a lot of businesses were doing fine before the introduction of the internet, most people feel that they do not have any need for the internet; but even if your business is doing well, you shouldn’t run away from something that can help your business to do even better. When you position your business properly on the internet, you stand a chance of increasing visibility, awareness and patronage of your business by more than 50%.
The internet is used by people from all walks of life and the internet has a way of leveling businesses such that all businesses become equal. Small haulage companies have a better chance to compete with large-sized businesses on the internet because on the internet, things like size and structure do not matter. What matters is how good your website is and how well you can advertise your business.
In case you are still in doubt about whether the internet would be useful for your haulage business or not; here are a few ways the internet can help your haulage business grow faster-:
10 Ways the Internet Can Help Your Haulage Business Grow Faster
Table of Content
1. Aggressive Sales and Marketing
There is no better place to advertise your business these days than the internet. Why? Because a lot of people live, eat and sleep on the internet. I don’t mean that literally but the rate at which people use the internet is so high that it’s almost laughable for any company not to have a strong internet presence.
There are several ways you can market your haulage business on the internet. You can advertise on popular social media platforms, make use of search engine optimization tools, Pay-Per Clicks and make use of the numerous internet marketing tools to generate more sales for your business.
2. Promote Tracking
Haulage business is a distance-based business. What I mean by this is that it involves transporting items to people in other geographical location. Most times, these people would not be there to accompany their goods and would rely on communication and feedbacks from the haulage company. With the internet, you can provide tracking features for your clients to update them on what is going on with their goods at every point in time.
3. Encourages Transactions
The internet also makes it easier for people to transact business. Meetings, discussions, signing of contracts and even payment for services can be done over the internet making it; thereby making it easier for you to run and manage your business with significant reduction in overhead costs.
4. Networking
Another smart way to make use of the internet to grow your business is by using it as an avenue for networking. You can meet with other people who are also into haulage business and you can share ideas and come together to devise strategies to move the business forward. There are lots of forums you can join on the internet. In Nigeria for instance, you can find a lot of haulage contractors on Nairaland who would be willing to share tips and tricks with you.
5. Lead Generation
The internet also helps with lead generation. With a blog or a website, you can easily drive people who are searching for haulage contractors to your website. You can also get details of people who are in need of such services and follow up on such clients. Following up could be through cold calling or e-mail marketing.
6. Content Management
People are generally encouraged to do business with people who are knowledgeable about their industry or field. You can use the internet to show potential clients that you are an expert in your field. What you need to do is to make use of content management system.
This involves posting engaging contents about the haulage business or the transportation industry generally on the internet to educate your existing and potential clients and also convince them to do business with you.
7. Awareness
The internet can also be used to increase awareness for your business. When you make use of internet marketing tools or SEO optimization tools, it makes your business visible to thousands of internet users which may become clients now or in the future.
8. Employment
Another good way the internet could help your business is by providing a platform for employing professionals. You could find good managers for your business on the internet and you could find professional drivers too.
9. Security
Security cannot take the backseat in haulage business because it is a business prone to theft and security challenges. Therefore, you must take steps to put the right security infrastructure in place. With the internet, you can also improve security for your vehicles. Tracking devices can be installed in your vehicles which would be monitored using the internet.
10. Learning and Improvement
No man is an island. We all need to improve on what we know and learn new things that we do not know. The internet is the greatest learning center in the world today. There are thousands of books, articles, write-ups, reviews and even videos on the internet that could teach you a lot of things that you need to know about running your haulage business profitably and growing your business. The internet also makes it possible to meet with experts and consultants from all around the world who may have contributions to make to help you improve your business.