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Cerasis talks content marketing and social media

Cerasis talks content marketing and social media

by | May 6, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy

This is the first in a series of blog posts written by Adam Robinson, Director of Marketing at Cerasis.  Founded in 1997, Cerasis is a top freight logistics company and truckload freight broker.

The purpose of this series of blog posts is to give others in our industry and especially those in the manufacturing industry, a guide to create an effective digital, social media, and content marketing strategy which will produce results for your company. If you have followed the Cerasis blog since its launch in March 2013, you have noticed that we work really hard at executing our strategy. The reason we work so hard is because we are passionate about educating the marketplace on information that matters to them. In that way, we want to be the de facto expert in the manufacturing and logistics industries. If we can help those who are our customers and potential customers (manufacturers and distributors) with best practices around logistics and freight, as well as manufacturing industry news, we are continuing our mission of driving long term value (even if we give the information away for free). The result (we hope and have seen) is that people view us as the expert and will want to engage us in a long term relationship as their logistics services provider. We hope this is helpful and you learn something from it!

Background of Cerasis use of Content Marketing and Social Media

  • Company started formal marketing for the first time in October 2012, its 16th year.
  • Little brand awareness, not thought of as a thought leader, but company still grew well by referral.
  • It was important for us to establish our messaging, our target audience, and how we were going to best market the company.
  • We didn’t have any budget for advertising, and with the rise of content marketing, we knew it was important to use social media and content as a way to start marketing and fine tuning the messaging of the company.
  • We finished our market research phase (tips below on how to conduct one), and knew the content and who we wanted to reach.
  • We then looked at all the social media channels and decided which platforms to use and what online communities to join.
  • We built a strategy and started executing our content by simply posting one piece of content every business day.

Digital Marketing Strategy Approach for Cerasis

There is a process to strategic planning in order to lead towards sustainable marketing programs which yield a tangible return-on-investment (ROI). The process starts with understanding where social, digital, content, and traditional marketing fits in the world of inbound lead generation and increased brand awareness.

 social media strategy strategic planning

The goal of any strategic plan should be to find and acquire new customers and to grow existing customer relationships. The map on the next page shows how customer engagements happen online and in general. This map to the left helps us determine Cerasis’s route, analyze where we currently are, and hone in on where we should focus our attention to keep the strategy on track.

So, what are all the results from our social and digital marketing you ask?

Cerasis Quick Stats (Sept 12 to March 14)

  • All Visits to Cerasis.com: 4,476 to 34,461 (669.91% Increase)
  • Blog Visits: 0 to 28,271 (notice how without our content and social media, we would not have grown our website visits to where they are today)
  • Social Media Visits: 4 to 8,546 (214,550% Increase)
  • Search Visits: 711 to 16,275 (2,189.03% Increase)
  • Social Community: 175 users total to 9,635 users total
    • Twitter: 0 to 2,760 Followers
    • FB: 0 to 492 Likes
    • LinkedIn Group Members: 0 to 3,550
    • LinkedIn Profile Connections: 120 to 1,456
    • LinkedIn Company Page Followers: 51 to 529
    • Google Plus Followers: 0 to 662 and over 310,000 views of the Company Page
    • Pinterest Followers: 0 to 188
  • Engagement Numbers:
    • Twitter Mentions/RTs: 14,825/5,721
    • LinkedIn Group Comments: 12,766
    • Facebook Comments, Likes, Shares: 1,484
    • LinkedIn Page Impressions/Interactions/Clicks: 247,359/566/1,560
    • Pinterest Impressions/Repins: 73,698/327
    • Blog Comments: 841
    • Google Plus +1s: 2,976
  • Conversion data (note, leads vary based on industry; 1 sale for us can mean a lot of revenue)
    • Leads From Search Engines: 71
    • Leads From Social Media: 65
    • Leads From Webinars: 52
    • Total Customers Gained: 35

Conclusion

Social media, content, and digital marketing are much like the Pareto Principle: Focus on the platforms and entities which yield the highest results, don’t just do something or be somewhere to do it! It all comes down to strategy! Now, if you have the resources to be on every social media platform, you should, but only if you do it well!

Social Media and Content Marketing Works, Just Ask Freight Logistics Company Cerasis

Social Media and Content Marketing Works, Just Ask Freight Logistics Company Cerasis

by | May 1, 2014 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain

freight logistics company Cerasis

By launching a new digital, social media, and content marketing strategy, Cerasis saw a big, positive impact on its bottom line.

Companies within the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries have been slow to create and execute digital, social media, and content marketing strategies.  The primary reason: a lack of understanding of the business case or value.

These strategies utilize platforms that many within these industries perceive to be for socializing, sharing photos, and connecting with friends (e.g., Twitter and Facebook), and they turn the sales process on its head. Content marketing strategies are fundamentally different from traditional strategies employed by businesses to attract new customers, foster relationships with current customers, and grow their bottom line.  Because of this, companies do not recognize how these strategies can positively impact their bottom line and therefore decide to steer clear — they feel engaging is too risky.

The reality is that not participating is risky.  Like it or not, things have changed.  The internet and social networks are where customers are.  Content is how you can establish your company as a thought leader within the industry, and how you can attract and retain customers.  If you want to grow your business you need to participate.

Looking at the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries, there are a few companies that have emerged as leaders — companies that exemplify the business value of creating and executing digital, social media, and content marketing strategies.  Cerasis, a freight logistics company, is one of them.

How Cerasis acquired 98 customers through content marketing

Cerasis was founded in 1997.  For 15 years the company utilized traditional sales and marketing strategies: placing ads in industry print publications, and relying heavily on referrals.  This strategy worked.  The company acquired new customers, retained current customers, and realized positive growth.

There is a saying: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  Cerasis ignored these words of wisdom.

In the fall of 2012, Cerasis launched a digital, social media, and content marketing strategy.  The results have been impressive.  For example, visits to the company website have increased by close to 670 percent, and search visits have increased by close to 2,190 percent. The company boasts an impressive number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and LinkedIn followers.

The business value of the strategy? Cerasis has acquired 98 customers.  For the freight logistics industry, one customer can generate significant revenue; 98 new customers has a positive impact on the company’s bottom line.

Cerasis will be guest blogging for Fronetics for the next three weeks.  The three-part series will begin with an overview of the company’s strategy and will discuss the results the company has realized through the execution of the strategy.  The next two articles focus on how to create and execute a strategy.

When looking for best practices, Cerasis is a clear example.  For companies within the manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, transportation, distribution and freight industries these articles are a great opportunity to learn why (and how) your company should create and execute a digital, social media, and content marketing strategy.

Download the case study to learn more about how Cerasis’ content marketing strategy helped the company acquire new business and increase sales.





Get the case study



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