Driver recruiters, you are awesome. For about a decade, you have had to fight and scrape to keep your fleets fully staffed, despite driver turnover hitting between 70 to 120% and shrinking budgets. But that doesn’t mean you can relax.
The industry outlook isn’t improving. That means you need to find new, more effective ways to improve and adapt your recruiting to changes in the industry.
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Content marketing is the art of communicating with drivers without actively trying to recruit them. Instead of pitching yourself as the best fleet for drivers to work for, you deliver valuable information to drivers. Essentially, if a fleet delivers consistent, ongoing, and valuable information to drivers, they will reward you with an application.
Content can come in a number of different forms, including video, blogs, whitepapers, slideshows, and infographics. We use a lot of different types of content, but figuring out what works for your audience is key. Not every type of content is effective for engaging every audience.
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Drivers are almost constantly bombarded with job ads online, in print, and even in the truck stops they frequent. This means that many drivers are pre-programmed to ignore ads when they aren’t actively looking for new jobs. This means missed opportunities if you are only relying on advertising to fulfill your driver recruiting needs.
Drivers don’t view content the same way they view ads, because your content isn’t a direct job advertisement. You aren’t always telling drivers to work for your fleet. Instead of broadcasting that your fleet needs drivers (which they are well aware of), you are providing your audience with interesting content they can engage with.
A great rule for creating content, whether it be for marketing or driver recruiting, is the 80/20 rule. Simply put, 80% of the content you develop should be helping drivers solve their problems and challenges. The other 20% should be recruiting focused.
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If you aren’t already using content, then you have a big gap between advertising and conversion. The best ads may have high click-through or conversion rates, but you are wasting real opportunities if drivers aren’t immediately choosing to convert.
Fortunately, you can use content to bridge the gap between generating driver applications in the short term and the long term. While not every driver will convert immediately, your content helps you continue to engage and nurture driver leads.
Regular communication with drivers will allow you to gradually build a bond with the reader, increasing their trust in your employer brand and making your fleet top of mind. This dialogue with your reader is also an open line of communication, meaning you have a constant stream of feedback to improve your recruiting.
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It’s important to remember that content marketing is not a short term solution to better driver recruiting. It takes a long time to both build an audience and nurture leads to conversion. If you begin a blog or videos, you may not immediately see hundreds of drivers submit applications for your positions.
But content marketing is still a sound investment for your recruiting strategy. It can help you:
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The fact that interstate trade is alive and well is a testament to the marketing prowess of driver recruiters. But employing content marketing now will help you adapt to the increasing pressures of the driver shortage.
