From Driver Seats to Freight Lanes: A Marketer's Guide to Pivoting

If you've spent the majority of your career focused on driver recruitment, this year might feel disorienting. Budgets are tighter. Roles are blurring. AI is everywhere. And suddenly, you're being asked to support business development or sales marketing, possibly with little preparation and even less time to get up to speed.

You're not alone. Across the transportation and logistics industry, marketers are being asked to do more with less, often in areas outside their expertise. The good news? If you've historically focused on recruitment marketing and employer branding, you already have most of the skills you need. This shift requires a change in mindset more than a complete overhaul of your skillset.

Why This Change Is Happening Now

A slower freight market and increased carrier availability have changed priorities. Drivers aren’t the bottleneck anymore; winning business is. Factors influencing this shift include:

• Import Tariffs Continue: Imports of softwood lumber and timber will face a 10% tariff, while kitchen cabinets, vanities, and upholstered wood furniture will be hit with a 25% duty starting Oct. 14. This is on top of a 25% import tax on all heavy-duty trucks, which started on Oct. 1.
• Sour Job Market: New hirings totaled just 204,939 so far in 2025, off 58% from the same period a year ago and the lowest level since 2009.
• Cargo Theft: According to the American Trucking Association, thieves targeting freight shipments cost the American economy up to $35 billion per year. 

Sound familiar? If you're being asked to focus on filling freight lanes instead of driver seats, you'll want to keep scrolling.

Mindset Shift #1: You're Not Starting from Scratch

You're in luck! The skills that made you effective in recruitment marketing are directly transferable to B2B marketing:

• Storytelling worked for driver recruitment. It works for shippers, too. They want to know why your fleet is reliable, not just that it exists.
• Audience segmentation helped you reach experienced drivers vs. student drivers. Now, you'll segment by things like industry niches, shipment types, or freight volumes.
• Campaign management is campaign management, whether you're promoting sign-on bonuses or service capabilities.
• Data analysis that tracked application rates now tracks lead conversion and customer acquisition cost. You know the importance of data already!

Mindset Shift #2: Think Partnership, Not Transaction

In driver recruitment, you sold a job. In business development marketing, you're selling a partnership. The shippers you want probably aren't looking for the cheapest carrier; they're looking for someone who won't let them down.

Reframe your thinking:

• Instead of "Why work here?" ask "Why trust us with your freight?"
• Instead of culture and benefits, emphasize what makes your company unique. That could be reliability, safety records, or technology. Using the unique selling points of your brand will work best, just as it did with drivers. 
• Instead of application-to-hire conversion, track lead-to-customer conversion.

Your new goal is to position your company as the logistics partner shippers can't afford to lose!

Mindset Shift #3: Grow Your Circle

To be successful, you'll need to collaborate closely with people across your company, many of whom you may not have worked with before.

Start with sales. This relationship is critical. Schedule regular check-ins and ask if you can share access to a CRM. Understanding which marketing activities generate qualified leads makes both your jobs easier. If shared CRM access isn't possible (common in our industry), ask sales to pull a list of existing customer contacts. This helps you develop a clearer ideal customer profile.

Your sales team holds real-world intelligence about your target audience. In your first meeting, ask questions like:

• What pain points do prospects raise most often?
• What closes deals? (Price, reliability, technology, relationships?)
• What objections do you hear repeatedly?
• Which verticals or freight types are most profitable?
• What does the sales cycle look like, and where can marketing add value?

Additionally, make time to meet with other departments including operations and safety to uncover the stories that make your company unique. Want to talk about cargo theft in a compelling way? You need to understand the real process behind how your company prevents it. Want to highlight on-time performance? Talk to operations about what makes it possible.

This is where your storytelling skills shine. But first, you need the raw material. Be curious!

Quick Wins to Build Momentum

When you're learning on the fly, early wins can be motivating. Here's where you can start:

1. Audit existing content: Repurpose testimonials, case studies, or operational content that already exists. A driver testimonial about safety can become a shipper-facing message about your safety culture.
2. Create an impactful case study: Find your best customer relationship and document it. How did you solve their problem? What results did you deliver? This can become a template for future marketing efforts.
3. Build a simple lead nurture sequence: Work with your sales team to create a 3-5 email sequence for new prospects. Even basic automation shows you understand the sales cycle.
4. Establish new metrics: Collaborate with leadership to define what success looks like. Lead volume? Qualified opportunities? New customer acquisition? Get aligned so you know what to work towards!

Give Yourself Permission to Learn

Here's the reality: you're being asked to do a job you may not have trained for, with fewer resources than ideal, in a market that's currently struggling. That's not a reflection of your abilities, it's the state of the industry right now.

Be patient with yourself. Ask questions. Lean on your sales team. Find a mentor who's made this transition before. Join industry groups like TMSA and get active on LinkedIn, where other logistics marketers are navigating the same shift.

Need more help? Connect with our team here!