Here are five common mistakes 3PLs make in their marketing efforts. Avoid these and you’ll be a step ahead. 1. Marketing from the inside out.
The first place many 3PLs look when crafting marketing messages is the mirror. But what they see often describes most of their competitors, as well. For buyers of 3PL services, too much of the same information is confusing. If everyone says “we’re quality-focused, we’re easy-to-work-with, we can provide visibility to your inventory, etc.,” how does the prospect know who to buy from? She doesn’t and, for want of helpful information, the message is ignored and some portion of the marketing budget is wasted. 1.由内而外的市场营销。许多3PLs企业在传达市场信息时首先对照典范，但是它们经常也可以看到大多数竞争者的情况。对于3PLs服务的购买者，太多相同的信息让它们感到迷惑。如果每个3PLs企业都说“我们关注质量、易于相处、我们能提供透明的库存控制，等”，潜在客户如何确定向哪家购买？事实上，潜在客户经常会迷惑，它们想得到有价值的信息，然而当信息被忽略，部分营销预算便打了水漂。
The antidote: get inside the mirror. Look at the buying choice from your prospect’s point of view. Is it easy for your best prospects to recognize what sets your company apart? Consultant Jack Trout refers to the process of differentiating your service in the mind of the prospect as positioning. Create a positioning statement that starts, “We want to be perceived as….” This statement is your marketing destination – the perception your communications are designed to create. If you’re thinking from the outside in, the positioning statement will be simple, believable, differentiating and relevant to the challenges of your best prospects. Before communicating, think about the position you want to occupy in your prospect’s mind and be disciplined about reinforcing this perception in all your communications.
解决策略是：到镜子里面去，了解潜在客户对于购买选择的观点。使最有希望变成你的真实客户的潜在客户认识到你的与众不同容易吗？咨询人士Jack Trout指出使你提供的服务在客户心中实现差异化的过程使定位。制定一份定位声明，以“我们希望被认为是...”，这种声明就是你的市场目标——交互过程种你所传达的观念或者理解被有计划的创造。如果你从外向内思考，那么定位声明就变得简单，可信，与众不同并且和你的最好的潜在客户的挑战关联起来。在交流之前，想想你渴望在消费者心目中占据什么样的位置，然后在所有交流过程中遵守加强这种理解的原则。 无论何时我们购买一样东西，一辆汽车，一颗棒棒糖，或者物流服务，我们经历相同的购买循环：意识，验收，偏好，选择。然而此循环过程可长可短，在没有经历其他程序之前，购买者不会到达选择这一环节。销售功能，使之具有一对一交互特征是创造对于服务的偏好和选择的最好设计。营销功能，通过应用网络，媒体关系，广告和其他工具向更大的目标客户群传达信息，是创造意识，验收和引导广泛理解公司品牌价值和获得理想的，领先的市场份额的有效途径。销售工作是3PLs竞技场里的一项特别消耗时间和具有挑战性的工作，所以物流企业应细分潜在客户，在最有可能购买你的服务的公司中间创造偏好和选择。3PLs忽视市场力量和低市场投资迫使它们的销售人员背负整个购买循环的压力，导致低效率的商业发展进程。
2. Over-investing in sales at the expense of marketing.
Whenever we purchase something, whether a car, a candy bar, or logistics services, we go through the same cycle of buying: Awareness, Acceptance, Preference, Choice. While the cycle can be long or short, the buyer does not get to Choice before going through the other stages.The sales function – characterized by one-on-one interactions, is best designed to create Preference and Choice for your service. The marketing function, which uses the web, media relations, advertising and other means to communicate to a large target group, is the most efficient way to create Awareness, Acceptance and broad understanding of your brand’s value, and to generate a good percentage of the leads that your sales professionals pursue. Sales’ job, a time-consuming and challenging one in the 3PL arena, should be to create Preference and Choice among the companies most likely to purchase your services. 3PLs that under-invest in marketing force their sales people to carry the weight of the entire buying cycle and create a far less efficient business development process. 3. Selling as the primary means to drive inquiries.
3PL lead generation efforts often consist of targeting groups of prospects (via mail, email or phone) with sales-oriented messages, hoping that their timing is right and that one or more of the recipients will have an immediate need. But hope is not a strategy and such efforts rarely yield a solid ROI. 3PLs should place more marketing focus on creating reasons for the prospect to contact them. 3.将销售作为推动需求的主要工具
3PL客户开发努力一般包括向潜在目标客户群体（通过邮件，电子邮件或者电话）发送销售导向的信息，祈祷时机恰当和至少有一个或者更多收件人恰好有现时需求。但是祈祷不是战略而且这种努力极少能产生稳定的投资回报率。物流企业应在市场营销方面付出更多努力来创造潜在客户与其建立联系的动因。
Case in point: Since 1990, Gross & Associates, consultants in material handling logistics, has published its “Rules of Thumb” for estimating capital equipment costs associated with alternative layouts, operating systems, and equipment applications. Each year the firm
receives about 2500 requests for this handy reference guide from the very people with whom it wants to build a relationship. With the prospect names and contact information in hand, the firm can continue to cultivate these relationships so that Gross is top of mind when theprospect is ready to buy.
一个很好的例子：1990年，材料处理物流领域的咨询公司Gross & Associates已经发表了对于预测与多变的选址地点，运营系统和设备应用有关的固定设备成本的定性方法。每年公司都会收到大约2500份对于这种参考指导手册的索取函，索取人想建立关系。手握潜在客户的资料信息，公司可以不断培养关系，当客户准备购买服务时，它们第一个感恩戴德的就是Gross & Associates。 Think about what you are an expert at, then stop selling to cold prospects and start educating. By providing helpful, substantive information, you will draw more people to your message, position your organization as an expert, and generate more leads than typical hard-sell marketing messages. 思考你的优势在哪里，然后停止冷点客户发动销售攻势，开始培育市场。通过提供有价值的真实的信息，你会得到更多人或者公司的回应，将你的组织定位成以个专业公司，开发更多真实的客户而不是成为那种“典型代表”辛苦地发送营销信息。
4. Underestimating the power of the web.理解网络的力量
While logistics service providers still rely heavily on referrals for new business, buyers of logistics services increasingly look to the web for guidance. According to WordTracker.com, which tracks keyword searches on the internet, about 205 searches are conducted daily on the term “warehousing” and about 576 on the term “logistics.” Add in additional searches on variations of these terms (e.g., value-added warehousing) and other logistics and supply chain-related phrases, and there are thousands and thousands of daily searches relevant to warehousing and logistics. Your prospects are on the Internet looking for help. The question is, will they find your company during their search? 当今物流服务提供商仍然严重依赖通过中介机构来获得新商业交易，而物流服务的购买者不断趋于搜索网络来寻求指导。根据经营互联网关键词跟踪业务的WordTracker.com提供的数据，每天大约会有205次以“仓储”作为关键词和576次以“物流”作为关键词的搜索。其他附加搜索（比如，增值仓储）和以物流与供应链相关短语作为关键词的搜索更是不计其数。潜在客户开始在网络上寻求帮助。问题是，它们会找到你的公司吗？
Online marketing includes search engine optimization, or SEO (the science of getting your web site to rank high on search engine queries for specific keyword phrases), as well as keyword purchases, link building, advertising and other tactics to bolster your online visibility. It has become a complex discipline requiring specialized expertise. Most 3PLs lack the internal know-how to do this well and should seek outside help to assure they are leveraging this critical part of the marketing mix.
在线营销包括搜索引擎优化（SEO，使网站在搜索引擎中通过关键词获得高排名的科学），关键词购买，建立更多链接，在线广告和其他提什在线可见度的技巧。它是一门要求专业技能的复杂学科。大部分3PLs内部缺乏这方面的专门知识，所以应该寻求外部帮助来保证它们在自己的战略中加入这一营销策略组合的关键部分。
5. Delegating marketing responsibility.5.委托营销责任
As the 3PL industry has become more competitive, there is a greater need to identify new markets, differentiate the company and tell its story in a compelling way. But attracting people with the marketing skills to do these things well has not been a 3PL recruiting priority.随着3PL领域的竞争化，识别新市场，使公司差异化和传达情景体验以获得持久注意越来越必要。但是采用营销技术来实施这些计划以争取眼球还没有被3PLs优先考虑。
In fact, the marketing function often is delegated to a manager in another discipline as an add-on responsibility. This may be the only option in a lean organization, and it can work. But don’t assume this manager can quickly develop the requisite skills needed to execute programs well. Provide the budgetary support to allow this person to hire communication specialists or source needed talent on the outside. 事实上，营销功能经常被作为一项附加责任强行委托给某位经理。在一个精益组织中它可能是唯一的选择，而且会有效果。但是不要认为这位经理可以迅速发展出可以帮助他很好地执行计划的必要技能。向这位经理提供预算支持以使他可以从企业外部雇佣沟通专家或者其他人才。 As a 3PL executive, marketing deserves your attention. Great service at an acceptable price are now table stakes and therefore difficult to leverage as a source of competitive advantage. You’ll need smart marketing to help understand the market, identify profitable niches, and create awareness and understanding of your company’s unique value among those most likely to purchase your services. 作为3PLs经理，市场营销值得你注意。以可接受的价格提供高质量的服务（服务美价格廉）已经是台面上赌注，因此把它当作一个竞争优势的来源很难到来实质性的变化。你需要敏捷的市场营销策略来帮助你了解市场，洞察最有利的位置，创造热点潜在客户对公司独特价值的认识和理解。
About the Author. Jim Bierfeldt
is a former 3PL marketing executive who is now president of Logistics Marketing Advisors, (www.logisticsmarketing.com) a firm which specializes in marketing and public relations strategy and execution services for 3PLs and other logistics industry firms. Email Jim at jim@logisticsmarketing.com
(Reprinted Winter 2004 Edition of The 3PL Executive)
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