Industry Analysis: Logistics

If you provide logistics services like freight and delivery, you might be looking for ways to tell the story of how you build value behind the scenes. Marketing your business to gain maximum visibility may seem a tough goal if you are not ready to embrace innovative and robust marketing strategies that have some clear return.

Being involved in logistics automatically means you have more functional ways to promote your work outside of traditional media, such as TV and digital ads. It is also a great industry to use as an example as we break down the myths that sponsorships are not effective and no more than expensive billboards.

Sponsorship is one of the most effective marketing platforms when activated correctly.

Logistics in motorsports

Motorsport is a fast-paced and intense competition on the track. That is what most people see when watching any given event. Many miss out on the equally amazing work and planning it takes to get from one event to the other with the necessary equipment to compete at the highest level.

F1, NASCAR, INDYCAR, IMSA and most other series organize races in multiple countries across the world throughout the year, which means that teams and drivers participating in those events require constant support from logistics service providers to transport their equipment to different venues in a timely, efficient, and professional manner.

This is where a logistics-focused business can add real value. As an official logistics partner, you gain access to an effective platform to showcase your services and technology. DHL is one of the most well-known examples of partnerships across a variety of motorsports, notably F1.

Activating this type of partnership allows you to handle key responsibilities with regard to road, sea, and air freights and express delivery assistance to race teams and series for parts they need ASAP.

Other details behind-the-scenes like transport documentation, customs clearance, packaging, and carrier supervision also need to be looked after. These very unique needs allow you to tell a story around something naturally exciting and in need of what you do best.

Telling the story

We can also see how logistics services and motorsports share some common culture and passions, making them a perfect partnership match. Logistics services and racing organizations thrive on strong pillars of dependability, teamwork, speed, safety and accuracy. Sharing these common characteristics on the same platform allows you to showcase your business expertise to audiences around the world and demonstrate your commitment to achieving excellence. Besides the activation and customer engagement, there is a notable piece of B2B that can tie the partnership together.

Logistics services partnering with a team or series (the property in this case) to promote technical innovation and efficiencies can go a long way to be adopted by the industry. Serving motorsports means managing rigid time constraints, adhering to a global event calendar and transporting pricey equipment door to door safely and on time. If you can handle all of that as a sponsor and partner, you’ve just unlocked a storytelling platform and treasure chest of assets to engage your partners, customers and employees with. 

Content development

This platform provides perfect opportunities to develop fresh and relevant content, like what DHL has done with its relationship with F1. This content is specific to motorsports at first, but with the right strategy and distribution it builds up to create a strong online presence and keep your social media channels active and engaging. It becomes the ultimate working case study producing content year-long for your sales team to leverage.

Sometimes the business you are in is not as glamorous or as sexy as you'd like it to be on the surface. That doesn't make what you do any less valuable. Partnerships give you the glamor while relying on your core business. Win-win.

Steps to becoming a technical partner

This concept is simple, but it is not easy. Getting involved as a sponsor and partner requires research and an attention-to-detail approach as a brand to make the most out of your investment.