Drop & Hook

August already?! Here are a few easy starting points if you're still scrambling to fill out your social media calendar this month: 💼 August is National Black Business Month! According to data from the Annual Business Survey (ABS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation Transportation and warehousing is one of the top sectors for Black or African American majority-owned businesses. 🏆 🦆 Forget Paris! Who will take home the gold in Indianapolis? The American Trucking Associations brings the best of the best together once again this month for #NTDC24 - the 2024 National Truck Driving & Step Van Driving Championships. 🚺 Women's Equality Day is coming up on August 26th - time to celebrate by highlighting an inspiring story from your business. Come back and name-drop them here even, we truly do love to see it!

Get that industry recognition you rightfully deserve! Deadline to enter is coming up on August 2nd.

We never got that Zuckerberg x Musk cage match - but how has Threads fared in the year since it launched? Let's take a look: 👥Threads recently hit 175 million users after a year while X currently claims 550 million monthly active users. ↗️Threads has a larger percentage of younger users compared to other platforms and an estimated 30 million monthly active users in the United States. The verdict on value to transportation & logistics marketers: still up for debate. Have you considered adding Threads to your social strategy?

"Prime Day" is here again! We've talked a lot about the "Amazon effect" in transportation, but carrier capacity isn't the only thing impacted by this e-commerce event. Is there anything marketers can learn from this annual sale? 100% yes. And here are just a handful: 1. *Start with a strong foundation* - OK, yes, we can't all be Jeff Bezos. But what we can do is look at Prime Day in the larger context of Amazon as a company and the efforts that had already occurred prior to the 2015 launch of this holiday to lend a hand in its success. If you're thinking about introducing a new marketing campaign or tactic, take a minute to ensure you have a strong foundation first looking at your overall brand awareness, values and strategy. 2. *Make your own narrative* - If you DO have established brand awareness then this one gets a whole lot easier too. Way back in 2015, Parse.ly found more than 36K media mentions of Amazon Prime Day, an entirely fictional holiday promotion that was started to drive sign ups for a paid subscription service during a slow sales season. Take a minute to let that sink in and then consider how much it has grown in more recent years. Marketers can still learn from this even if they *don't* have an Amazon-sized paid media and PR budget. Consider how you can create a sense of urgency, exclusivity or community for your audience—can you match your new narrative to their psychological needs or desires? 3. *Embrace a repeatable format* - Prime Day was invented to be culturally agnostic to reach a worldwide audience and over the last decade it has become a repeat extravaganza that competitors are eager to replicate. But why? One key to that success is a very simple premise coupled with repeat, frequent exposure. Marketers can use this format easily with a repeated content series or a sale or deal of their own, but the big trick is to keep it clear and simple. 4. *Take bets, but double down on data* - The ecommerce giant hit nearly $575 billion in net sales revenue worldwide in 2023 so it's easy to see that they have access to a bit bigger data set than most marketers even without Prime Day. All the same, the platform looks meticulously at results and continues to iterate every year on the experience. That's something we could all likely stand to do a bit more of! 5. *Encourage user-generated content* - Has Amazon essentially reinvented the home shopping network, but made it cool? The Amazon Influencer Program offers content creators an opportunity to earn commission on qualifying purchases, but Prime Day encouraged user-generated content sharing even in the first year. Marketers who want to make the most of their existing customer relationships should consider - is there anything we can do to get more engagement from our community? Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool and even B2B brands can surprise and delight customers with exclusive deals or promotions or unique experiences worth sharing! What would you add to this list?

Does your business share a safety culture? It's Operation Safe Driver Week! The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is working with law enforcement to improve the driving behaviors of passenger vehicle drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers. The focus area for this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week is reckless, careless or dangerous driving. Industry events like this one can have an impact from driver communications and employee engagement right up to rate negotiations and capacity. Share those safety stories and help your audience stay in the know!

Considering how to respond to the impact of Hurricane Beryl as a transportation or logistics business? Check out the American Logistics Aid Network for effective opportunities to assist or this handy list of Hurricane Relief Do's and Don'ts: https://lnkd.in/eKxN_RUf

Happy Independence Day from the drop & hook team 🇺🇸 Our offices are closed today, because it's too hard to eat hotdogs, watch fireworks and work simultaneously. We hope everyone has a relaxing day!

It's another busy month for transportation and logistics marketing! What's on your recognition radar? (PS: ask us for our industry planning calendar link if you're looking for an easy answer to staying on top of it all in the second half of the year!)

We're always honored to support Wreaths Across America in their communications with trucking partners, corporate supporters, and volunteers and in 2023 we were excited to extend that support to helping the non-profit launch its presence on TikTok! Drop & Hook Marketing Account Manager Kenzie Copeland and Wreaths Across America Director of Transportation and Industry Relations Courtney George had a chance to meet up at this past weekend's Texas Trucking Show and took advantage of the opportunity to toast to our recent TMSA - Transportation Marketing & Sales Association Trailblazer Award in support of the work once again. Thank you Courtney George, Amber Caron and the whole Wreaths Across America team for letting us play a small role in your success!

Today is #SocialMediaDay and hopefully you're logged off to celebrate with a well deserved rest afk! This holiday was created by Mashable way back in 2010, and yes, Drop & Hook founder Michelle LeBlanc was already working in the field for the first one. Need some expert assistance or just want to give your in house social media manager the occasional day off? Let's chat.