The Hightower Agency

4 Ways to Nurture Driver Leads

Have you ever walked into a store to just look around, and immediately found yourself pressured by a salesperson when you’re not ready to buy? If you’re like the common shopper, you want to do some research and feel comfortable before making a purchase. Driver recruitment is no different.

Because we live in a world where we’re inundated with ads, we tend to not only ignore pushy advertisements, but we want to feel ready and in-the-know before making a move. This is where inbound marketing and lead nurturing plays a role in your recruitment strategy. It allows you to promote your company to driver candidates by giving them useful and relevant content, without “interrupting” them. Lead nurturing is the key forming comfortable relationships with potential drivers and moving them through the funnel.

Here are four ways to nurture driver leads…

1. Email

Email marketing is the most common lead nurturing technique; however, not all leads are created equal. Your pipeline of contacts are all in different lifecycle stages, and should be treated as such. One of the best ways to nurture driver leads is to send targeted email blasts with strong call-to-actions and quality content.

First, segment your database so you know which type of emails you should send to what lists. If a lead is in the very beginning stages, your emails should reflect that with simple content. Give them blogs, videos and other info so they can learn more about your company, easing them into the hiring cycle. Your email blasts should continue to provide content that will filter them towards the bottom of the funnel. When your qualified prospect is comfortable and ready to apply, you have successfully nurtured that lead.

Tip: Your emails and website content should always offer a call-to-action.

2. Retargeting

Retargeting is a powerful branding and conversion optimization tool. It’s successful in recruiting truck drivers because you have the opportunity to put your brand in front of those who are already familiar with you. It’s another way to indirectly remind potential drivers what you have to offer, and persuade them to take the next step. Here are a few ways you can use retargeting to nurture leads:

Pixel-based – First, you would place a small pixel on your website. Then every time a new visitor comes to your site, that code drops an anonymous browser cookie. Later, those visitors will be served ads from your company.
List-based – If you have an email database/contact list, it’s possible to actually target those contacts on digital platforms associated with their email addresses. For example, you can upload your contact list to Facebook’s advertising platform, create the ad, and then that ad is showcased in their News Feed.
Look-alike-audience – Who is your audience? Where should you target them? These are questions you’ll need to understand when creating a look-a-like-audience for retargeting purposes. Once you’ve determined specific demographics, there are various retargeting campaign options available.

3. Social Nurturing

To send qualified candidates towards the bottom of the driver funnel, you must engage with your prospects on social media. Of course, a solid social media strategy is required to reach truck drivers, but you have to take it to the next level to really nurture those leads.

One of the best ways to do this is to create streams so you can monitor keywords across the social web. For example, a hot keyword to monitor is “looking for driver job.” Anytime a Twitter user tweets out “I’m looking for a driver job. Anyone have suggestions where to apply?”, you will be notified in your social stream. This is the perfect opportunity to tweet back “Hey (such-and-such), we’d love for you to check out our available driver jobs and give us call with your questions!” That person who was looking for a job is now receiving a personalized message from your company. What an awesome technique to recruit drivers!

Wondering how to create this “stream” we’re referring to? Platforms such as HubSpot and Salesforce have them.

4. Offline Activities

We always talk about inbound marketing, digital campaigns, and online strategies. But let’s not forget about what happens in the offline world. Face-to-face relationships pack a powerful punch when it comes to lead nurturing. Take for instance… job fairs and hiring events. They are a great technique to draw in potential drivers, and convince them why they should drive for your company. It’s an opportunity to sell yourself, and build a more personalized connection with your qualified leads.

In addition to events, direct mail and PURL campaigns are a surefire way to nurture driver leads (that’s right, print isn’t dead!) Through PURL marketing, you can send out postcards directed specifically toward your leads. The recipients can access their personal URL (PURL), which goes to a personalized landing page. Pretty cool, huh?

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These four methods to nurture driver leads allow you to maximize what you do at the top of the funnel. Always measure your efforts (calculate the number of leads that turn into hires, an important metric). If you want to learn more about this topic or truck driver recruitment advertising, contact us today!

The Hightower Agency is one of the best driver recruitment agencies. With over 25 years in the industry, we offer a wide variety of effective and afforable driver recruiting advertising solutions. Get it touch for a free consultation.