Banner Advertising to Drivers and Trucking Owner Operators
Banner Advertising, What is it?
Throughout most of EveryTruckJob.com you will find graphical advertising at the top, bottom and side of the page; these are know as banners. Banners have become a standard to Internet advertising since their first introduction in 1994 and the debate over there effectiveness started shortly there after. Many believe that the saturation of banner advertising across the web has resulted in many users ignoring them outright, thereby contributing to the decline of avertising return.
Effective Banner Advertising on EveryTruckJob.com
Drivers and Trucking Owner Operators respond to imagery and animation just like the rest of us. They click if the message is relevant to them and don't if it isn't. A banner works only if they can read the message and it's relevant to their needs.
Imagine you are driving down the interstate at 75 mph with the radio going and the windows rolled down. Suddenly you see a billboard that read; "Free fuel next exit!", you're excited about the idea of free fuel so you pull off on the next exit.
You start on your trip again and accelerate to 75 mph. The sun is shining and with your radio playing, you see another billboard. This billboard shows an image of a trunk, then as you start getting closer, an image of free... and you just passed the billboard without getting the message. The number one killer of banner advertising is time; take too much time in your message and you're going to lose the driver.
You have 7 seconds to convince a truck driver to click. That's on any website. Keep in mind that when a driver or owner operator comes to a page on EveryTruckJob.com they are coming to that page for a specific purpose, they clicked a link with the intention to read that material. Your banner must interrupt and respond to the needs of a driver or owner operator in order to get the click. A banner that relates with their needs will always get the click over a banner that doesn't.
Ask yourself "If I was scrolling through this page would by banner get my interest right away and would I click it?" The driver or owner operator is just like you, sitting at the computer, drinking coffee or coke, listening to music in the background. What would you respond to? Flashing images? Bright images? Animation that takes 30 seconds to read? Vague branding? The answer is more than likely not.
A successful banner is one that quickly and clearly states the message of the company. Highlight the benefits addresses, and supports, the recruiting message of the company. For example you could put "top pay", but it is more effective to put "31 cpm". Similarly, "cheap, quality family insurance" is better than "we care". Short and direct beats sweet every time.
Measuring Effect Banner Recruiting
The industry standard for banner impressions (number of eyes that have seen your banner) to click throughs (clicks on the banner to visit your site) is 2-3%. That's it. Why so low? Keep in mind that banner advertising is supportive of the page content, not the focus, and that depending on the stage in which the job seeker is in his career your message may not be relevant to their search. Also, as with any type of advertising your online message will support your offline advertising.
Example of offline advertising support by on line banners:
Driver Jim is an trucking owner operator with Professional Trucking Company, Inc. He's not
happy with the miles or pay for the amount of driving experience he's put into the industry. Jim goes online and
does a search for "trucking jobs", locates many trucking job related sites and starts clicking around.
Jim's discouraged, but not ready to just yet dive head first into the driver job market due to family
responsibilities.
Jim reads profile after profile, searching through the EveryTruckJob.com job site when a banner catches his eyes, "6 days per month home time, 38 cpm, benefits". Clicking he reviews a trucking company profile that's saying the right things, but he's just not ready to bail from his current company yet.
The next week Jim's on the road, he's been driving straight through and forced to fudge on his log book. Dispatch calls to send him on another run; waiting at the docks to load and frustrated by all the promises of home time and pay. Picking up a magazine he sees a familiar name and logo, the ad is brief but he remembers additional information he picked up from their on line profile and the feedback from the forums drivers offered. He gives them a call to see what they have to offer...
Example of cross web site support of recruiting message with banners:
Owner Operator Tim types in the term "owner operator jobs" and locates EveryTruckJob.com, looking around
he searches for "owner operator" and researches companies. He reviews a number of profiles and a
banner highlighting base place and permits catches his eye, he notes the logo.
Tim goes back to the search page and looks for "owner operator solo" jobs, this time after looking
through a few pages he notices a banner talking about percentage of the load and notices it's the same
company logo from before. He clicks. He calls. He gets a new job.
The effectiveness of any banner campaign depends on the strategy you have behind it, how you measure success, and how you track.
Banner Tracking and Driver response
As a advertiser on EveryTruckJob.com, Trucking Jobs, Inc. provides you with direct feedback monthly on how many impressions your banner made, how many click throughs; and with a multi-banner campaign, which banner was most effect and tips on bringing up conversion. Need additional help? EveryTruckJob.com's creative staff can design for you a custom banner and profile to maximize your marketing approach. Trucking Jobs, Inc. offers various banner sizes and media types on EveryTruckJob.com and our affiliate sites, the size and frequency is up to you.