Good advertising for freight services answers the customer's questions in a couple of seconds: what you carry, from where to where, in which vehicles and how quickly you'll respond. And it points not only to a phone number but also to a page where they can send an enquiry. If an ad has nothing but a number, a customer who doesn't get an answer straight away simply calls the next carrier.
Below: what to build the text from, four ready-made examples for different platforms, and how to tell which ad brings in enquiries.
Freight ad copy: what goes into it
"Fast, reliable, high quality" appears in lots of ads and doesn't answer a single question the customer has. Instead of generic words, write five things:
-
What you carry. Removals, building materials, goods for shops, equipment: whatever you carry most often.
-
From where to where. Within the city, within the region, between cities, to other countries. A customer will notice "Tashkent to Samarkand" but scroll past "anywhere in the CIS".
-
Which vehicles. Vans, curtainsiders, refrigerated trucks, and whether loaders are available.
-
How quickly you'll respond. Only write what you actually deliver: if the dispatcher answers until 10pm, say exactly that.
-
Where to get in touch. Telegram and a link to a page with an enquiry form, not just a phone number.
Start with the service and the place, not the company name: the customer will read the name later if they're interested. If space is tight, as on a business card or the side of a vehicle, keep the essentials: what you do, where, and how to contact you.
Freight advertising: sample texts
Put in your own routes, vehicles and contact details, and keep only what's true of your company.
For a map listing
The description in a listing is read by people who have already found you on the map. They need to see quickly whether you carry their kind of cargo and where to get in touch.
"Freight transport in Tashkent and the Tashkent region and between cities across Uzbekistan: furniture, building materials, goods for shops and warehouses. Vans and curtainsider trucks, loaders available. Our dispatcher answers on Telegram every day. Routes, vehicles and an enquiry form are on our website."
For a classifieds site
On classifieds sites there are lots of similar ads side by side, so put the vehicle and the service in the headline, and in the text say exactly what you carry and how to get a quote.
"Covered van: removals and deliveries in Tashkent and the region. We move furniture, appliances and building materials and help with loading, for private clients and companies. Message us on Telegram with where the load is going from and to, and we'll work out the price. Routes and vehicles are on our website."
For Telegram groups
People skim in group chats, so start with the question the customer is already asking themselves.
"Need a truck from Tashkent to Samarkand? We run this route regularly: curtainsiders and refrigerated trucks, and we take small loads too. Send an enquiry via the link with your route, cargo and date, and our dispatcher will reply on Telegram."
Post these where your customers spend their time: in chats for business owners, sellers and builders. Check the group's rules before posting; in many groups, advertising is only allowed with the admin's approval.
Advertising freight services on your van
If you work with your own van, your advertising is classified ads like the example above, plus the van itself. People see it in traffic and parked outside blocks of flats, so the lettering on the side has to be readable at a glance:
-
What you do, in large letters. "Freight transport. Removals. Loaders": a few words that can be seen from a distance.
-
Phone number. Large and high-contrast, so people have time to remember it or take a photo.
-
A QR code linking to the enquiry page. It works while the van is parked: a neighbour can point their camera at it while you're carrying furniture out of the next entrance.
It's best to take a long list of services and any small print off the side of the van: nobody can read them while it's moving anyway. The customer will find the details on the page the QR code leads to.
Keep business cards with the same QR code in the cab and leave them after every trip. Next time, a satisfied customer will find you through your card rather than through the next ad along.
Where to send people: a page, not just a number
A customer sees your ad in the evening and calls. At that moment the dispatcher is talking to another client, the driver is at the wheel, and nobody picks up. The customer probably won't call back: the next ad has a different number.
If the ad leads to a page with your routes, vehicles and an enquiry button, that customer isn't lost. They send an enquiry, and it waits for you, not for a competitor. What the page needs:
-
The same thing as the ad. Someone who came from a removals ad sees removals, not a general homepage. An ad for a van around town leads to the city transport page; an intercity ad leads to the route page.
-
A short form. From where, to where, what needs carrying, when and how to get in touch.
-
A Telegram button. Many customers find it easier to send a message than to call.
If a platform doesn't let you add a link, a QR code or a short page address will do the job. We covered how to put the page itself together in our article on freight company websites.
How to tell which ad is working
If your ads are on maps, on classifieds sites and in three Telegram groups, and enquiries come in "from somewhere", you don't know what you're paying for. Three simple methods help you find out:
-
Different links. Each ad has its own link with UTM tags: an addition at the end of the address that tells Yandex Metrica or Google Analytics where the visitor came from. The report shows which ad led to an enquiry.
-
A separate number. For advertising on your vehicle or on classifieds sites, you can get a separate phone number; then you know straight away where a call came from.
-
The question "How did you hear about us?" The dispatcher asks every new customer and writes down the answer. It's a simple method, but it only works if you ask everyone.
Once enough enquiries have built up, you'll see which ads bring in customers and which you can drop. For how to build your online channels as a whole, read our article on how to attract clients to a transport company online.
Checklist
-
Specifics. Does the ad say what you carry, from where to where and in which vehicles?
-
No empty words. Is it free of "fast, reliable, high quality" in place of facts?
-
Not just a phone number. Is there a Telegram contact and a link to a page with an enquiry form?
-
The page matches the ad. Does a removals ad lead to removals rather than the homepage?
-
Missed calls. Does someone return missed calls the same day?
-
Source. For every enquiry, do you know which ad it came from?
If you need a page worth spending your ad budget on, with routes, vehicles and an enquiry button, we'll build it and help you set up tracking of where your customers come from. See what we do for logistics companies, and an example from this industry: the Renoda Logistics website.