The past few days I had the opportunity to represent PartnerShip at the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. As was the case in past years (see 2013 and 2012), the conference provided a great forum for networking and education with the top marketing and sales professionals in the transportation industry.
This year's theme, Driving Results Together, focused on the alignment between sales and marketing business strategies. There were a number of educational tracks that provided insights and tools to help transportation companies overcome shared obstacles and increase their bottom lines. Three particular highlights for me included:
- Opening keynote on the State of the Transportation and Logistics Industry by Adrian Gonzalez, President of Adelante SCM. Mr. Gonzalez posed the question "What Business Are You In?" and made the case for a broader perspective of the market, the competitive landscape, and a company's value proposition.
- Eight Content Marketing Habits for 2014 presented by Nate Riggs, President of NR Media Group. Mr. Riggs did an excellent job presenting a framework to help industry marketers cut through the clutter and win more attention from customers by bridging the gap between the art and science of content marketing.
- Closing keynote on Creating Strategic Impact - Making Great Ideas Reality by Mike Brown, Founder of Brainzooming Group. Mike, a former colleague of mine, used his trademark approach of creativity and humor to persuade the audience to embrace creativity within their own organizations, and how to make a meaningful impact on business strategy at all levels of an organization.
The biggest conference highlight for me, however, was when PartnerShip was presented with an Award of Excellence in the TMSA Compass Awards program. PartnerShip received its award in the prestigious —Integrated Campaign' category for our integrated brand-building efforts that past couple years, and we joined a short list of 33 other transportation companies that were recognized with awards of merit or excellence in this year's contest.
The Compass Awards program represents the hallmark of achievement offering TMSA members the opportunity to showcase their work, receive recognition, and benchmark work against others. All entries are evaluated by a judging team of industry peers, and then audited by the TMSA using a points-based scaling system. Fifty percent of the total score is based on the —Work Blueprint,' and the other fifty percent is based on the —Work Sample.'
As part of the awards program, each winning company was asked to submit a 1-2 minute video highlighting the entry and the team that worked on the project. Here is the video that we produced and submitted on behalf of PartnerShip:
Along with the Award of Excellence, TMSA provided the following comments that came from the judges who reviewed the PartnerShip entry: "Very well written. Really liked how your results and metrics matched up with your goals and objectives and that these numbers were included in that section. We really thought the timeline you provided was great as it helped keep track of all the moving elements. We also enjoyed the tie in with the internal aspect of re-launching a brand and that is to get employees on the same page."
On a personal and professional level, it is so cool to have PartnerShip recognized among some of the most well-respected transportation companies in the world (some of which are important partners with us), including FedEx, Pilot Freight Services, Pitt Ohio, C.H. Robinson, and many others. To view the PartnerShip winning award submission and to learn more about the TMSA Compass Awards, visit www.tmsatoday.org/recognition/compass-awards.
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