Ever wonder where all that stuff in stores comes from? If it says made in China anywhere on the box, you know it's probably had a long journey from raw material to store shelf. Companies like Target, IKEA and Heineken supply their southeastern stores through the port of Savannah, which has grown at a furious pace in the last ten years. From lumber to lager, Savannah has risen to the challenge of out-competing its nearest neighbors in Jacksonville FL and Charleston, SC.
Port City Logistics got in on the excitement in 2001 with one warehouse which has now grown to multiple facilities and over 2 million square feet of warehousing.
One of the distinctives of Port City Logistics is their use of current digital technologies to manage the flow of goods into and out of ships, storage buildings, trucks and store shelves. Customers have access to inventories in real time: where every box is, how long it's been there and when it's scheduled to be delivered. A sales team that can see inventories with that kind of precision has a definite edge.
A client login on the new site was just one of the features that was essential to Port City Logistics’ new marketing centerpiece. PCL needed a way to allow shippers to directly access information like orders, receipts, addresses and invoices. With scanning technology, every box or bag is completely visible to anyone doing business with Port City Logistics, whether freight is on a truck, train, or a warehouse shelf. So we added a set of pages that display all that data, sectioned off by a user password.
United WebWorks was brought in to help Port City maximize their website. They had attempted to upgrade it for a few years, but never found the right working relationship with a web development firm. We were glad to make it happen for them! In about 60 days, their old, cluttered, ineffective site was replaced by a lead-generating, eye-pleasing home on the web.
One feature we offered was a panoramic video billboard on the front page. It's actually a bit mesmerizing, like you're in one of their warehouses riding along on a forklift among all the neatly organized shelves of products from all over the world awaiting the next leg of their journey from manufacture to market. We have to admit we're impressed with the immaculate floors, flexible shelving and the variety of stuff on them.
The color scheme was a bit of a challenge. Always thinking about converting visitors to customers, we recommended green for a new logo and trim, but the bright red color they used before was too important to their brand to give up. We finally settled on a more muted darker red. The red globe and curving road carry a sense of speed and urgency. Port City is on the ball!
We worked with Jed Young, Port City's director of business development. He's the guy that makes and maintains connections with all kinds of stakeholders, from customers to governing organizations like U.S. Customs.
Jed is active on Port City's Facebook page, just one of their social media channels. LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube are others on which we regularly post the goings-on at PCL, plus of course producing blogs on shipping-related topics. The goal is not only to interact with the public, but establish Port City as an expert and leader in the logistics industry. When it's all integrated and working, their new site will be a lead-generating machine that never sleeps or even takes a break.
We're using a platform for PCL that is mobile-friendly, adds layers of analytic depth so they can pinpoint where their website traffic is coming from, leverage their most viewed pages and change their least-viewed ones. Email blasts with workflows to track responses and social media posts can be done from one dashboard, too.
We're super-pumped that Port City Logistics has agreed to a marketing plan with United WebWorks, with ongoing support, training, social media publishing and three original blog articles per month. We don't know who's more excited, their staff or ours!
