Without a doubt, technology has changed and galvanized many things, and that is including marketing. The old-school, put up a Billboard is still a nice way to promote a business, but chances are, the space is limited and its quite expensive.
Enter Digital Marketing. What is it? How can it help? Where to get in Singapore?
First, let’s talk about some staggering facts. 80 percent of people in Singapore own or use a Smartphone. What’s more, is that the younger generation in Singapore is spending a lot of time on their mobile devices, so much time, that they spend 3.5 hours a day, according to TNS, a global consultant research group.
Numbers and statistics mean nothing unless one is to understand the meaning. And what these numbers are telling us is that Singapore is crawling with future customers and clients.
Online Marketing isn’t exclusive, meaning anyone should be capitalizing on it. It’s not a matter of it if helps, it is how it helps and how much. This article will explore the different ways an express delivers and local courier service in Singapore can maximize their benefits from internet marketing.
What It Is
Many express deliver and local couriers promote what they ship, how fast they ship, and of course, the price. It’s how and what they promote that determines how efficient the promotion will be.
Not every business has a budget to advertise on Global TV or MediaCorp. Digital Marketing uses search engine optimisation, social media, email, and mobile apps all together to promote the courier brand.
How Does It Help?
Digital marketing agencies will incorporate a few tools and tricks to extend the reach of a business. For instance, even creating a social account on Facebook and LinkedIn, will help generate leads. Leads are good, because they are possible customers.
Facebook is a very good platform to advertise, whether that is paid or organically. A digital marketing agency can effectively create an advertising or marketing campaign on special offers that the express deliver business is offering. Example: “For this week only, international shipping is S$13.50 on packages up to 20KG”
There are many methods used in digital media marketing. It would be foolish for a brand not to take advantage of the billions of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest users out there.
Can Online Marketing Work For Courier And Delivery Services?
The important thing to note is, that many APAC businesses are finding that their biggest obstacle in the way of their brand is, quality content. According to Hubspot, 57 pct of APAC businesses consider that their biggest obstacle.
Digital Marketing is not limited to certain brands. As a matter of fact, companies like DHL and Speedpost utilize the services of a Digital Marketing agency as well. And it show.
Speedpost’s website is organized and easy to navigate. They have sections like “ezy2ship,” which helps customize a customer’s shipment, a price calculator, question and answer section, packaging advice, and much more.
If I’m looking for something to buy or need help with anything, the first thing I’m doing is researching by search engine. With proper SEO and Search Engine Marketing, that a Digital Marketing agency provides, a business for whatever solution I need will pop up.
Just to add to that point, 42 percent of Singapore consumers use online services to inquire about products before they buy. What does that tell us? You’d be foolish not to be online marketing your brand.
Why Should Local Courier and Express Delivery Companies in Singapore Invest in Digital Marketing?
The digital space isn’t one to be ignored.
You need it to get the exposure your local courier company needs to inflate its clientele. An alternative would be to spend millions on commercials and sponsorship programs that many companies can’t simply afford.
To cut a long story short, your local courier company needs a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy to thrive, and here are the supporting reasons:
The Outreach
The first reason anyone would want to invest in digital marketing is for outreach.
Almost every single one of the customers you’re targeting can be found online. You also have billions of users on the various social media platforms that could benefit from your business.
These platforms can drive public opinion, and get you even more exposure than the traditional media.
Search Traffic
People looking for courier services in Singapore will begin by searching for it online. By not investing in your online presence, you’re not just losing traffic, but throwing away real business.
It’s simple logic – the more you rank your website, the more traction it gains.
If your courier company is focused on delivering parcels in Singapore, then it’s quintessential that you’d want to optimise your website such that it will be generating traffic from all the cities where people look for courier services.
Make good use of both local and organic SEO to develop a footprint of where you want your presence to be felt.
Bear in mind that such outreach is not feasible with conventional marketing – and if it is, then the chances are high that it’s too costly.
Advertising, Branding, Leads and Sales
Digital marketing is a full cycle of marketing strategy. You can use it for advertising, branding, generating leads, and cranking up sales.
By setting up your website, optimising it for search engines, and populating the internet with relevant ads, what you’re doing is advertising your courier services, generating leads, and winning over new clients — all in one fell swoop.
Leave It To The Pros
Ultimately, a business will thrive when they leave it up to the professionals to handle their content. A business-owner is busy with daily operations and record-keeping. Handling all of the social media activity is too much of a job for one person to do.
Digital media marketing is much more cost effective than the traditional newspaper and television ad.
And From There…
A digital marketing agency will set up an Express Deliver company with the right tools. First and foremost, developing a page, creating a blog, advertising on Facebook and using Google’s Adwords are just a few essential items that one can expect from a professional.
Why do these things?
The Benefits Of A Website
Customers look online before they buy, and more and more are exhausting this trend. An informed customer is a buying customer. Inform a customer about the brand, about the services, deals and offers, contact information, pricing, etc.
A website helps market that brand. It cost money at first to host and have the domain, but it pays off in the long run because it allows the brand to connect with the customer or client.
The website helps a customer take a look at different experiences of prior customers. Review sections are a great tool for any business to have. It shows engagement and trust as well as brand reliability.
Advertising, linking social media accounts, and creating blogs are also important elements of a website.
Digital Marketing Strategy for Local Courier Services in Singapore
You need a marketing strategy for your marketing process to move the needle.
That said, here are the things to include in your marketing checklist to make sure your strategy if covered from all angles.
- Define your Audience: Every marketing strategy should begin with you defining your target or niche audience. You can start by studying your current customers and compiling their data.
Define their characteristics, age, location, language, favourite hanging spot, spending power, and interests. The more information you gather about them, the more you’ll be able to target them.
- Research on Your Customers Value: What do your customers value most? Is it quality, timely deliveries, safety, insurance, or customer support? Use that to hook them in.
- Identify Your Competitors: The next thing you want to do is shift your attention to your competitors, both direct and indirect. What are they offering or doing differently?
You need to understand your competition to come up with a unique value proposition and gain a competitive edge.
- Run a SWOT analysis: Evaluate your business for strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The results you get should help you strengthen your marketing strategies and other initiatives.
- Set a Goal or marketing objectives for every single one of your Marketing Initiatives: A set of objectives should accompany each marketing initiative.
What’s your deal? Do you want to retain more of your current customers? Win over new ones? Or increase your customers’ order size?
- Plan on how You Intent to Promote Your Services: How do you plan to promote your services? Which channels will you be using – both online and offline?
Find out which channel attracts a majority of your target customers. If you’re targeting enterprises, then LinkedIn could be the right channel option for you.
- KPIs for Measuring your Online Success: Which key performance indicators (or KPIs) will you be using to measure your online success? Remember to match every single one of your marketing initiatives with a KPI. This will help you monitor your progress or if you’re any closer to reaching your marketing goals.
Marketing Channels for Promoting Your Local Courier Business in Singapore
Here’s a list of marketing channels and methods that you could use to promote your local courier or express delivery business in Singapore:
SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is earning traffic through unpaid or free listings using keywords that help rank the article to a search engine. Proper and good SEO skills and tools will help any business thrive when they utilize it correctly.
Google AdWords
Google AdWords is another effective way to drive relevant search traffic to your website. It differs from SEO in the sense that you do not have to wait for the traffic to start flowing.
The biggest advantage of running Google AdWords is the fact that its traffic tends to be more targeted. These people searched for your business in the first place. The odds are good that they’re actually interested in one of the solutions you’re offering.
You can set the ad to target a particular city in Singapore instead of targeting everyone. You can even target people with a specific interest and increase the chance of directing the right group of people to your website.
Lastly, you’re only billed when someone clicks on your ad, and not for impressions. So, your ad enjoys free display on the SERPs, and until a prospect clicks on it, Google will not be charging you for it.
Google AdWords is a profitable way to promote your business online. According to a recent report, for every $1 you spend on Google AdWords, you’re likely to make $2 in profit.
Remember, Google AdWords isn’t exactly cheap, especially here in Singapore. It’s also a marketing strategy that offers no leniency to errors. It’s either you get everything right, or you suffer the losses.
Retargeting
Retargeting offers you a chance to market to your prospects over and over again until they finally decide to make up their mind and go through with a purchase.
It targets people who visit your website and leave without purchasing your products or services.
Many courier companies in Singapore have yet to explore this digital marketing option, and that’s because many of them are oblivious of its benefits.
For one, retargeting is a good way to boost the visibility of your brand. When prospects browse the web, your business ads will be following them wherever they go.
Most of them won’t even know that it’s retargeting.
Confirming this statement is a recent report suggesting that retargeting can help you boost the response rate your ads are getting by up to 400%. It’s a marketing strategy that could mean the difference between running a successful marketing initiative and setting yourself up for failure.
You can use Google remarketing to retarget your customers on the web and the various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Another option would be to use third-party tools such as PerfectAudience and AdRoll.
Facebook Marketing
With more than 2.45 billion active users, no other platform bests Facebook in terms of users. You can bet more than half of your prospects are signed up with the world’s leading social media channel.
There are a few ways to promote your business on the platform. Among them are Facebook advertising and Group promotions.
If you have a budget for it and are looking for a way to grow faster, then you should consider going with Facebook advertising.
However, before you take a plunge into the world of Facebook advertising, you’re at this moment reminded that there’s a lot of nitty-gritty details to wrap your head around first.
For instance, you have several options for Facebook ads that you can run – including sponsored stories and page posts.
Depending on the nature of your courier business, you have to decide which option is best suited for your business. The ad you create must target your audience and deliver your marketing message more effectively.
While at it, you have to keep in mind that Facebook is constantly updating its algorithm. What worked for you in the previous year might not be effective now.
In other words, your finger must never leave the pulse of what’s latest in the world of Facebook advertising.
You can do this by signing up with blogs that specialise in Facebook advertising. Examples include Razor Social, Bufferapp blog, and Social Media Examiner, to name a few.
LinkedIn Marketing
LinkedIn is the second most important social media platform to promote your express delivery and local courier business in Singapore. It’s also the largest social media channel for professionals and businesses.
At the time of writing this, the platform boasts more than 610 million active users.
The best way to promote your business on the platform is to find targeted groups and join them. The platform allows you to engage with different groups directly and respond to some of the questions people ask or share your thoughts.
The goal should be to establish yourself as a thought leader that other people will have an easy time trusting.
You’re even allowed to set up your own Group and invite as many people as you want to join it.
Here are a few reasons some people create groups:
- To establish thought leadership
- To drive traffic
- To generate leads and make sales
- To connect with your prospects on a personal level
Creating a LinkedIn group is a no-brainer. What may prove to be a little bit of challenge is figuring out how to make it grow.
Here are a few pointers to help you out with this:
- Have a value proposition for the group. Why would anyone want to join it?
- Find the people to invite to the group, instead of waiting for them to find the group and join it.
- Focus on creating a good experience for the people who join the group.
- Moderate Your Group. Don’t let it run itself. Your presence must be felt, and anyone who goes against group policies must be shown the door. In other words, let the group members know there are rules to be observed, and that you’re the person in charge.
- Promote the group on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
Blogging
Blogging is a platform for educating masses. It’s what you use to establish yourself as an online authority.
It also doubles as a powerful online marketing tool.
Confirming this is a recent report, which goes on to state that a business with a blog is more likely to get 126% more leads compared to a blogless business. Another study goes on to suggest that about 92% of businesses with blogs depend entirely on them for business.
It goes without mentioning that about 81% of online customers trust the advice they read on blogs, as per the research findings of another study.
It’s, therefore, safe to say that you’re losing a lot of money and potential businesses by not blogging.
Here are some of the benefits associated with blogging:
- Blogging allows you to engage your customers and prospects more directly and casually. It’s a platform for airing your views and opinions on various matters, besides guiding your site visitors on how to go about various things.
- It’s a platform that you can use to gain invaluable insights into your customers’ needs and interests.
- Blogging breathes life into your brand. It also makes it approachable and relatable.
However, you have to be very specific with what you write. Your readers must find your posts useful in every sense. In other words, there’s no room for generic topics.
Do some research and find your customers’ pain points. Now, dedicate the rest of your life to solving them through blogging.
The more your clients find your blog useful and relevant to their needs, the more they’ll be compelled to buy from you.
Referral Bonus Program
Referral bonus marketing is a game-changer in this. You’re simply enlisting a team of marketers to refer your business to an interested clientele for a small commission.
Here are the benefits associated with a referral program:
- You don’t need a significant budget to get started with the program
- It’s a quick and easy way to get your brand to your customers
- Better ROI compared to other forms of marketing.
All you have to do is to introduce a referral program that willing customers can join and refer their kith and kin.
Customers love the idea of referral programs, and here’s why:
- About 88% of online customers say they like being rewarded for recommending or sharing businesses. The rewards they get can either come as a free subscription, early access, loyalty points, or commission.
- There’s no limit as to how you can design the program. For example, you can come up with a program where your customers receive free delivery when they succeed in referring five or so clients to you.
It’s, however, important that you carefully analyse the result and make sure you’re making necessary tweaks to it to avoid running losses.
- You have a laundry list of automation tools that could help you out with this.
Direct Mail Marketing
Very few marketers in Singapore understand the value of marketing their business through direct mail. If anything, many of them consider this marketing strategy old-fashioned and outdated.
But they couldn’t be more wrong – direct mail marketing is as effective as it’s ever been. Backing up this claim is another recent report, which goes on to suggest that more than 40% of customers are likely to try out a new product after receiving a direct mail.
Here are a few benefits associated with direct mail marketing:
- Your messages will have a personal touch
- It’s highly targeted
- Its analytics are simple and very straightforward
- It’s cost-effective
- It’s tangible
- It’s a good way to make your marketing messages stand out
To harness the full power of direct mail, you’re advised to mix it with digital marketing. You can even cut on the mailing charges by getting your own driver to deliver the messages, which also helps to build credibility and maintain a personal rapport with the customers.
Make sure you’re listed with Courier Exchange Services in Singapore
You just never know where your business will be coming from.
You have to trace all the sources and make sure you’re covered everywhere. The local courier industry itself is a good source of business.
Scour the internet for courier exchange services in Singapore and make sure you’re listed on all of them.
You have an even better chance with big companies with this. Just pray that one of them notices you. It’s also a good way to go in partnership with other well-established courier services companies in the country.
When a big company finds it hard to fulfil certain courier requirements, they may choose to pass the job to you.
And Thats Why Digital Marketing Is A Must For Express Delivery And Courier Firms
Digital marketing is growing, it’s cost effective, and it is much need. Especially for a business like Express Deliver and Local Courier Services. Bringing choice and optimisation to the customer, making it convenient, while extending its reach to prospective customers.
Singapore is tapped into technology, and this means that a business needs to adapt to what society is doing. Future generations go online to buy. This shouldn’t scare any courier service at all. Embrace it, take advantage of it, and let a digital marketing firm take care of the nuts and bolts of the online marketing world.
Branding, advertising, leads and sales is a digital marketing agency’s speciality. Expand and grow with Digital Marketing for Express Delivery and Local Courier Services in Singapore.
Set Aside a Marketing Budget
Before you go any further with anything, determine how much you’ll be using to market your business. This is like the driving fuel of any marketing plan.
If this is your first year of operating, then 20% of the marketing money should go to making your business known. You want to get your business name in front of as many eyeballs as your budget allows.
Focus on raising awareness around your brand first before you can even think of generating leads and locking in sales.
After that, you might want to dedicate between 1 and 10% of the money you to marketing your business if you’re concerned with its growth.
