Trailer Transit is the nation’s largest power-only trucking company, exclusively partnering with owner-operators—independent truck drivers who own their rigs. The client hired The Barbauld Agency to increase their recruiting leads. This market is tiny, with the U.S. Department of Transportation reporting in 2022 that independent owner-operators account for only 11% of all truck drivers.
The market also faces two significant challenges that have impacted recruiting. In 2023, the American Transportation Research Institute reported that driver shortage and retention were among the top ten issues in the trucking industry. There is increasing competition from traditional carriers and digital disruptors like Uber Freight.
Trailer Transit offers many benefits to attract owner-operators, such as better dispatcher support, all-power only, year-round stability, consistent freight, and home time as needed.
Trailer Transit needed to elevate its brand awareness to ensure a steady stream of experienced owner-operator applicants. Our primary objectives for 2024 were:
With a national digital advertising budget of just $4,300 per month, our challenge was to execute a highly efficient, data-driven campaign that maximized impact while overcoming targeting limitations on major ad platforms.
Strategic Approach
Since traditional audience targeting options for owner-operators were limited on the ad platforms, we relied on iterative A/B testing and strategic placement to maximize engagement. Each key digital advertising channel played a distinct role in our funnel.
Creative Testing & Optimization
Our initial creative featured truck imagery and benefit-driven taglines like “100% Power Only,” “Drive Your Way” and “100% Drop & Hook.” Through continuous A/B testing, we experimented with messaging, background color, and images. We confirmed that dark backgrounds, simple truck imagery, and focused messages performed the best on Facebook. In Q4, we experimented with outdoor background imagery and lifestyle-focused messages like “Better Work-Life Balance” and “See the U.S.,” but these underperformed. Recognizing the drop in engagement, we quickly reverted to our original high-performing creative, ensuring continued success.
Social Media Advertising
Despite the inability to target this niche audience specifically, we prioritized 43% of the monthly budget for Facebook ads due to its large audience reach and cost-effective lead generation. While demographic targeting was broad (U.S., ages 18+), our ad optimizations ensured we reached qualified owner-operators. Wordstream data in 2024 for Facebook ads reported the following averages: CTR of 2.53%, CPC of $1.88, CPL of $21.98. Trailer Transit had the following metrics for 2024, which significantly surpassed Wordstream benchmarks:
Google Search Campaign
To capture high-intent prospects actively searching for trucking opportunities, we spent 47% of the budget to structure a campaign with four ad groups: Power-Only Trucking, OTR (over the road) Trucking Jobs, Owner-Operator Jobs, and Dynamic Ad Targets. To improve efficiency, we eliminated underperforming ad groups. We created a negative keyword list with terms such as local routes and Amazon owner-operator jobs, which our client does not provide.
For Google Ads in 2024, Wordstream reported the following averages: CTR of 6.42%, CPC of $4.66, conversion rate of 6.96%, and CPL of $66.69. Our metrics were significantly better than the industry average.
Programmatic Display Advertising
We directed 10% of the budget to display ads. Although we could not directly target owner-operators, we allocated a portion of this budget to geofence truck dealerships—locations they visit. This method served ads directly to our ideal audience, driving recruitment form fills. Industry publications typically benchmark the CTR for these ads at 0.08%-0.10%. Our client’s ads achieved a CTR of 0.11%.
Challenges Overcome
The campaign successfully met and exceeded its objectives, driving strong brand awareness, engagement, and conversions.
Recruited driver testimonials on Trailer Transit’s YouTube channel reflect the opportunities and benefits of the organization:
You’re not a number. When you call, they know by your name. It’s easy, it’s fun, and you’ll love your job."--Kevin
It’s really surprising how much work they really have and how busy they keep you."--Dan
By combining creative optimization, A/B testing, and multi-channel execution, our digital strategy positioned Trailer Transit as the go-to power-only carrier for owner-operators, ensuring sustained recruitment momentum in a challenging hiring landscape.
