Trucking Transportation and Warehousing
The Client
DTS has been in business since 1988. After beginning life as a small freight brokerage, they began acquiring their own semi-tractors and trailers in order to get lower rates. This also enabled them to better serve their customers, and the customers were very pleased.
So pleased, in fact, that DTS has since expanded to three locations across three states. They’ve grown to become one of the most trusted names in the refrigerated and frozen food transportation game in the western United States. The DTS trucking terminals in Billings, Montana, Aurora, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah are thriving.
The Challenge
When we were first hired to work on the DTS web presence we were faced with quite a challenge. In talking with Jay Foley, the President of the company, we had had a conversation about his goals for his digital marketing. Never one to waste words, Jay came straight to the point: “I want all the pallet spaces full, all the trucks fully loaded, and all the trucks being driven by only the best drivers.”
So, no sweat.
Rising to the Occasion
DTS was going to need a web presence that was modern, attractive, versatile, and capable of scaling quickly. Their new website was to be the keystone in their new digital marketing strategy, and we needed to make sure that everyone who needed to know about DTS would be able to find what they were looking for quickly and easily.
We selected WordPress as the foundation, and proceeded to build out a custom theme that would showcase the client’s primary services. DTS would also need several custom contact forms to gather information from customers wanting rate quotes, warehousing quotes, and answers to general questions.
They also had an order tracking system which could provide the current status of anything being shipped by DTS. The problem was that, like a lot of the software in the trucking industry, this system was a bit behind the times. The user interface was designed to be purely functional, and was creating a discordant, confusing user experience for DTS’ customers. We developed a custom WordPress plugin to integrate calls to this system behind the scenes, and to format the results consistent with the overall design of the new DTS website.
Also, as importantly as anything, DTS needed help building out their workforce. They employ about 250 truck drivers, warehouse workers, and office staff across their three locations. We also put together a job posting facility that would allow candidates to apply online for jobs with DTS.
This facility has the added feature of publishing job listings in a manner that includes schema metadata that is picked up by Google for the inclusion of the job listings in their local search results. Now, when someone searches for ‘jobs in Billings, MT,’ for instance, DTS jobs are featured fully formatted in line with the Google search results.
The Result
We worked with DTS to fill all of their pallet spaces. Within six months of opening, their new 110,000-square-foot Aurora, Colorado facility was full nearly to the rafters. Their routes were loaded, and their driver recruiting efforts had paid off to the point that they had new trucks on order. Their website had gone from about 250 users a month to over 4,000 during the busy months, driven by a combination of search engine optimization, paid search, and social media marketing.
DTS was and is a satisfied customer, and ThatsNinja is proud to be a part of the DTS Family!