During the Jump Start 2021 virtual supply chain conference, Priya Rajagopalan, chief product officer at FourKites, will discuss using logistics technology to solve supply chain pain points. Joining her to discuss these solutions is Russ Felker, chief technology officer at GlobalTranz. The topic is an apt selection, as this year’s conference is 100-percent remote; even with the change in venue, the agenda is still packed with logistics thought leaders discussing important transportation technology trends and developments. 

Members of the TMSA board of directors are typically high-level marketing and sales “movers and shakers” in transportation and logistics. Mark Derks, who is Chair of TMSA’s Finance Committee and also serves on the board of directors, is no exception to that rule. BlueGrace Logistics (BlueGrace), a hypergrowth, third-party logistics provider (3PL) announced that Mark Derks has joined the organization as Chief Marketing Officer. In his role, Derks will lead brand development, marketing strategy and public relations. He’ll also play key roles in sales enablement, product innovation and customer experience. 

Derks has 25-plus years leading marketing teams and strategy for global brands. He recently served as partner and CMO for Words At Work, a Minneapolis-based digital content marketing agency and TMSA Affiliate member, where he drove strategy for clients in the logistics, technology and manufacturing space. Prior to that he spent 21 years at C.H. Robinson where he led global marketing and public relations.

At the Jump Start 2021 virtual supply chain conference, logistics leaders will discuss everything from government regulations and transportation trends to the economy. Even though this year’s conference is 100-percent remote, organizers have worked tirelessly to bring engaging speakers and thrilling, of-the-moment topics to the Jump Start “stage.”

2020 did not turn out to be the year that we all expected it to be. With everything going virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of marketing, sales, event, and travel plans had to be put on pause or reevaluated. However with those challenges, the TMSA blog helped guide industry marketing and sales professionals through digital transformation and selling in virtual environments. Reflecting on this past year, here's a list of the top 10 articles that helped us navigate 2020.

By Conrad Winter, a freelance copywriter specializing in content and copywriting for transportation and logistics

I, like many people in the world, am pretty happy scaling back and staying in these days. I just moved, and my little bomb shelter of an office in the basement is pretty darn cozy I have to say. My dog is here and the headphones are on. I’ve got something good to write (this post) and I really don’t think I’m ever going to want to leave. But alas I must go out, virtually at least. 

Shippers are limiting external visits and sales calls to their facilities to minimize any chance of COVID spread to their workforces – which layers additional challenges to building relationships with customers and prospects. Industry events have been cancelled, postponed, or have gone completely virtual – so there are significantly fewer opportunities to meet in-person with customers, prospects, colleagues and partners. And of course, transportation and logistics companies also are wanting to keep safe their own sales personnel as well. 

So What’s the Impact on Sales-Related Travel?

During TMSA’s Virtual Town Hall earlier this week, there was significant discussion around the impact COVID has had on sales success. As part of the Town Hall virtual event, TMSA had polled members and asked them about their currently travel policies as they relate to sales. Through the survey, 32 companies responded (59% are 3PLs, 25% are motor carriers, and the remaining respondents were consultants, ocean carriers, port authorities, railroads, and technology innovators).  

By Chris Chin, SyncShow is an online marketing agency supporting transportation, manufacturing and professional services clients. We specialize in inbound marketing, lead generation and SEO that produces measurable results that will help your company reach its goals.

Digital marketing is a misnomer and a construct that misses the fact that as we continue to move forward, “digital” is the way we interact. In a coronavirus world, we’ve seen trade shows move online, Zoom meetings replace the face-to-face and CRM tools enable our sales and marketing teams to better speak to our customers. Everything we do touches digital, so any marketing we do is at minimum, tangentially digital marketing. And that, in combination with the push for analytics and ROI, has blurred the fundamental reality that marketing has always had the same goal: to create a lasting relationship with your customers that helps them solve problems and prefer you over their other choices. If you do that by making it easy for your customers to understand you, find you and purchase your products or services, then you’re winning as a digital marketer.

By Jim Bierfeldt, is president of Logistics Marketing Advisors, a marketing agency focused exclusively on logistics businesses. Jim recently surveyed buyers of logistics services on how to best get and keep their attention. Read that survey report here. 

As logistics marketers, the greatest gift we can bring to our work is empathy – a genuine understanding of the buyer’s needs, wants and feelings. This empathy informs our strategy and messaging work like nothing else.

The first-ever 2020 Logistics Marketing & Sales VIRTUAL Conference & Expo packed a punch with its informative and relevant session lineup and peer networking opportunities, all surrounding the theme, "The Future Is Now." 

Here are a few highlights:

By Holly LaBoda, Partner and Co-Founder, Luminaries Consulting

Whose 2020 plans worked out the way they intended? Anyone? Bueller? 

By Jennifer Karpus-Romain, Director of Marketing Services and Industry Outreach, FayeBSG

Being a small marketing team is challenging. You want to do it all –and often times are expected to – but that’s not possible. What’s the next step? Hiring new team members? What if that’s not in the budget? Then what?

Rachel Steinberg specializes in helping companies connect with hard to reach prospects in challenging fields like oil & gas, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics management on LinkedIn.

By John Boyens, Co-Founder and President, Boyens Group and speaker at the 2020 Logistics Marketing & Sales Virtual Conference

By Sara Black, Partner and Co-Founder, Luminaries Consulting

No one sits in the back row of a zoom classroom! That might seem like a minor detail but when everyone is front and center, it demands a different level of engagement and that’s a great thing. Last week TMSA and Luminaries Consulting partnered to offer a Virtual version of the Transportation Sales Workshop that was hosted in person last October. To our surprise, we enjoyed the session even more this time! We used tools like Slack, Zoom and Thinkific to engage learners in various ways but the best part was being “back together” with people from the industry, in a virtual environment that felt very much like the real thing. The two days went by quickly as we had a handful of large group discussions that we coined “zoom power hours”, small group breakout sessions, self-directed assignments, practice time to try new entrance strategies with prospect customers and create real time action plans for immediate application.  

"Treat others how you want to be treated."  

I remember someone earlier on in my life passing along this nugget of wisdom and it made sense back then. For example, I like to be direct and straight to the point. So, as a leader, I was direct with everyone and assumed they were on the same page as me and were as short with me as I was with them. I don't like being told what to do, so I ensured everyone around me felt empowered and I expected no one to tell me what to do. I'm also a big hugger, therefore everyone gets a hug and I expected one in return (pre-Covid). I do my best to ensure people get what they need, therefore I expect everyone to make sure I get what I need. Makes sense, right?  

Let's dig in a bit deeper and think about this in terms of 4 basic human needs we have all shared since the dawn of time.  

COVID has dramatically changed event marketing strategies – particularly as they transition to either full-on virtual or a hybrid version of virtual/live. A TMSA Affiliate member, Exhibitpro explores in a 2-part series what these means to today’s marketing and sales professional in transportation and logistics. This is Part 2, which focuses on organizations that are interested in creating their own events – whether it be user conferences, workforce events, or anything in-between.

COVID has dramatically changed event marketing strategies – particularly as they transition to either full-on virtual or a hybrid version of virtual/live. A TMSA Affiliate member, Exhibitpro explores in a 2-part series what this means to today’s marketing and sales professional in transportation and logistics. This is Part 1, which focuses on what marketing and sales pros should be considering when determining the virtual events in which they will participate. 

What are the ingredients to a marketing campaign that packs punch and generates results? Think about the fundamentals. Once you’ve identified the business need, challenge or opportunity, you need to clearly define your goals and objectives. Many smart marketers focus on SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Based). Then it’s all about the development and execution of the strategy, all while measuring meaningful metrics and working toward generating the intended business results.

Along with these fundamentals, when it comes to marketing strategies in transportation and logistics, there are many unique factors to consider. Take a look at some best practices in marketing and sales specifically in this industry. TMSA recently announced 14 marketing and sales strategies that earned the 2020 TMSA Compass Award of Excellence and are considered best practices in marketing and sales specifically in the transportation and logistics world. Another 18 campaigns earned a TMSA Compass Award of Merit. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the most effective marketing and sales strategies earning the highest scores in this year’s competition. TMSA members can gain access to the full details of these award-winning programs in the Best Practices Library in the Members Only section.  

July is always a turning point in the year for me. Half the year is gone, the rest of the summer goes by in a blink and all of a sudden its Q3. This July feels so different for a myriad of reasons, and the world has changed so much in the last 6 months. We are all feeling the impact personally and professionally, and while you’re probably sick of people talking about the “new normal”, but the brutal truth is the world isn’t, and in many ways shouldn’t, just go back to the way it was. So, if you are hoping you could just wait this out and get back to your status quo, consider this your wakeup call.

If your organizational strategy is the same as it was last year, you might be in a tough spot soon (and we should probably talk) because what worked last year isn’t going to work now, or next. The same can be said for your personal skills, what got you here isn’t necessarily going to cut it going forward. Or to put it bluntly, ala Lou Holtz, “you’re either growing, or you’re dying”. Which side of that equation do you want to be on?