Client Overview
A regional, family-owned freight brokerage wanted to grow beyond referrals and inconsistent outbound sales. They needed predictable inbound shipper demand without wasting budget on low-quality freight inquiries.
312%
Increase in Leads
42%
Reduction in CPL
3–5
Daily Shipper Leads
The Challenge
Before partnering with Freight Labs, the brokerage struggled with several key inhibitors to growth that are common in the logistics space:
- Unpredictable monthly lead volume creating "feast or famine" cycles.
- Heavy reliance on referrals and grueling cold outbound outreach.
- Wasted ad spend on broad freight searches that attracted drivers, not shippers.
- Low conversion rates from generic landing pages that lacked lane-specific authority.
- Difficulty attracting profitable lane opportunities in specific geographic regions.
Our Strategy
We rebuilt their acquisition system around high-intent Google search traffic, focusing only on shippers actively moving freight in their core regions.
Lane-Specific Targeting
Instead of targeting generic, expensive searches like "freight broker," we targeted specific lanes such as:
- FTL shipping Texas to Illinois
- Chicago to Dallas freight service
- Midwest LTL freight shipping
Conversion-Focused Funnels
We built lane-focused landing pages designed to convert traffic into quote requests instantly. Each page emphasized regional lane expertise, carrier capacity reliability, and featured a simplified, high-converting form.
Aggressive Intent Filtering
Using advanced negative keyword lists and bid adjustments, we filtered out non-buyer searches (driver jobs, consumer quotes) to ensure budget was allocated only to profitable shippers.
Business Impact
The brokerage moved from unpredictable demand to a scalable inbound acquisition engine. This allowed them to:
- Expand carrier partnerships with confirmed volume confidence.
- Increase lane density and overall profit margins.
- Plan hiring and infrastructure growth based on predictable data.
- Significantly reduce the time sales reps spent on cold calling.
"In freight brokerage marketing, specific intent beats broad traffic every time. Shippers searching for exact lanes consistently convert better than generic freight traffic."