Where Does Print Fit into Your Driver Recruiting Campaigns?

There are a lot of ways you can get your jobs in front of drivers. From email to paid search advertising to job match leads, not only can you reach drivers, but there are plenty of ways to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
The days of pushing out tons of ads and recruiting messages and relying on anecdotal evidence to justify your efforts are long gone. In many cases, you can actively measure and adjust your ads in real time.
Blog: Why Is My Cost-Per-Lead Going Up?
New is flashy and cool, but now you’re left with a bigger question. Can traditional recruit. Can traditional recruiting efforts compliment your newer, flashier tools? Even more to the point, where does print fit into modern recruiting campaigns?

The best place to start is with your audience.

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Print Usage and the Modern Driver

To understand what methods you should use to reach your audience, you need to understand your audience. Truck driver media usage habits, like always, will determine the best methods to get in front of drivers.

Print is one of the top information resources for drivers.

However, we want to make sure we have a complete picture. There are some differences between the types of drivers we need to look at. Let’s split this up between company drivers and owner-operators.
owner-operator print stat
For owner-operators, print is a fantastic resource. These drivers turn to print more than any other media resource. On a scale of 0 to 10, printed magazines were listed by owner-operators at 7.4 compared to email newsletters (the next highest) at 5.7.
owner-operator print list
Looking a bit deeper at the numbers, around 53% of owner-operators said they would choose printed magazines over any other source of information. Again, the next highest was email newsletters at 16.8%.

For owner-operators, print is the top media resource.

Company drivers, on the other hand, have a much more balanced approach to media consumption. Not only is their media usage more level, but there isn’t one media source which dominates.
company drivers research 1
According to our research, printed magazines, radio/satellite radio, and email newsletters are all important information sources for company drivers. In fact, Radio/satellite radio tops the 0 to 10 scale at 4.5. However, radio is quickly followed by printed magazines and email newsletters, which are both tied at 4.2. The next highest is social media at 3.3.
company drivers research 2
Yet this isn’t the entire picture. While company drivers may not value print as the best source of information, it is still very valuable to them. According to company drivers, if they could receive only one source of trucking industry information, they would choose email and printed magazines over anything else.

That’s right, print is still one of the top resources for company drivers.

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Print and the Modern Campaign

Sure, there are tons of methods you can use to reach drivers, regardless of whether they own their own truck or not, and they’re important. They can be cost effective and drive tons of applications. But you can’t overlook the value of print in a driver recruiting campaign.

When a driver sees an ad in a respected publication, they’re more likely to apply for your jobs later.

At the end of the day, drivers are looking at printed magazines. They’re looking, they’re reading, and they are putting their eyes on your advertisements. Until that stops happening, you have to integrate both the traditional and modern in your approach to advertising.