Positive Employer Branding Grows Your Fleet

We’re continuing our recap of the important takeaways on recruiting drivers from the second annual Technology Conference presented by the Ohio Trucking Association. The conference covered topics focused on how to use technology to grow your trucking business. I had the privilege of sitting on a panel to discuss the best ways to leverage technology to improve your digital driver brand and recruiting efforts.

3 Ways to Effectively Brand Your Company

Think of all of the reasons that a driver would want to work for you. Whether it’s your culture, pay, or home-time, there’s one to three reasons someone should pick you over the next carrier. Now ask yourself, and answer honestly, how would a driver looking for a new job know these things about you. The fact is, most companies have a great story to tell but they fail to tell it. Effective employer branding gets your company’s story out to the world. When you build a positive brand around your trucking company, you’ll have a much easier time generating leads. We prioritize three components to employer branding:

1. Online Reviews

2. Video Storytelling

3. Social Media

How to Utilize The Power of Positive Reviews

When is the last time that you ordered something on Amazon with 3-star reviews or less? Or, when’s the last time you read some mediocre Yelp reviews on a restaurant and decided to check it out? If you’re like most people, you’ve never done either. Your driver candidates treat your reviews the same. If you have anything less than glowing reviews, they’ll think twice before they apply.

You need positive reviews to recruit and hire new drivers. Here’s the problem, though: people are more likely to leave negative reviews than positive ones. That’s why you need to ask your drivers to leave positive, honest reviews. It’s that simple, and you don’t even need incentives. If your drivers like working for you, and you ask, they’ll tell the internet why they love working for your company. If you have a referral bonus program, drivers will be even more likely to leave positive reviews.

Why is Video Storytelling Important?

Does the outside perception of your culture match the inside reality. Again, you have a great story to tell. The most effective way to tell it is with video.

Landing pages with videos convert 80% higher clicks than ones with just pictures and texts. It comes down to neuro-marketing. Video reaches the part of our brain that makes decisions much faster and deeper than words. When you make a video that is specific to your culture, you’ll convert unknown drivers into leads. If you want a video for your landing page, we can help.

Social Media: What Does it Have to Do with Recruiting?

Are you proud of how you treat your drivers? Do you think that you’ve created a driver-centric culture? If your answers are yes and yes, then it’s time to show the world. Social media is a window of your company culture to prospective drivers. When you have a positive social media presence, you’ll demonstrate all of the reasons someone should work for you. Start campaigns for driver of the week, month, and year. Give recognition posts to those who win, detailing specific reasons why you’re grateful that they work for you. Or, maybe you run a book club for your driver’s spouses. Using social media as a communication platform with existing drivers shows prospective drivers how you treat your drivers.

The Importance of Branding and Storytelling

Your candidates have dozens of other trucking companies to choose from. You don’t need us to tell you this. You’ve been living and dealing with the driver problem every day. In such a noisy driver marketing environment, branding is your chance to stand out from the crowd. Passive candidates are professional drivers who already work somewhere. They’re not looking to leave their current employer until they’re wowed by your company culture.