Question about Trucking business and Trucker Behavior

Trucking, as you may already know, is one of the most cut throat industries in the US. The profit margins are very slim. This is due to the fact that whilst the physical aspects of the industry are tightly regulated by state and federal legislation, freight rates ARE NOT regulated. Brokers guarantee to a shipper that they can move the freight from point A to point B, for a certain rate, but they make their money by finding a carrier who'll actually transport the load for the cheapest rate per mile, and they profit by keeping the difference. The medium sized and bigger companies go straight to the bigger shippers and negotiate their own rates and sign contracts, offering guaranteed service and equipment, in order than massive amounts of freight can be moved efficiently, without having to broker out every single load, one by one. These companies are always in bidding wars with each other. They make money by "economies of scale" which, as you know, means they make smaller profits, per transaction, but transact a lot of business. These companies usually haul the commodities(i.e. food, gasoline/diesel). Business will always be there, because people have to eat.
One way to make more profits in trucking is to haul specialized freight. This is freight that has unique characteristics such as: it is extremely overweight, extremely wide, extremely long, extremely tall, or a combination of these descriptions and takes special type of equipment to load/unload and transport the item and often escorts. A lot of permits must be issued from state authorities and a lot of planning must take place. These loads fetch unfathomable amounts of money, BUT they are dependent on the state of the economy. When the big Fortune 500 companies decide to construct, these loads become available. You mentioned the oil boom in ND and TX. This is the same situation as described as above and their are companies like Halliburton that have the equipment waiting to serve the oil companies and thus get the big contracts.
Hauling medical supplies/prescription drugs is another profitable type of freight, because this stuff is extremely expensive, per unit of product, and thus great care must be taken to preserve the "chain of custody" if you will, and great liabilities follow if the product gets stolen or damaged.
The other segment of trucking that is profitable is "parcel freight," or "less than truckload" such as what Roadway and UPS do. They have many terminals, and freight must be loaded and unloaded many, many times, before it reaches its destination. They make a profit because they have the systems set in place to actually perform these maneuvers on a massive, global scale, AND many, many customers will pay a premium to have a single parcel moved a great distance, in a short time.
If you want to market something to truckers I don't see anything wrong with the low tech method of billboards. Truckers see the same ones everyday, and take notice of the ones that change often(Chick-fil-a corporation "cows", lottery). If you use the medium of radio, use satellite radio.
That's all I got. Hope it helps.

 

Progressive touts itself as the largest truck insurer, so i'm sure they have a capacity to quote online. Reality is I don't see truck owners flocking to that kind of convenience for something as multi-faceted and expensive as truck insurance. We have smartphones too, and probably use them more intensively than your average white-collar user. I check routes, look for stopping points, glance at traffic or live-feed road conditions, look at satellite views of customer locations so I have bearings and know if and where I can park on arrival. I shop from my phone, research from my phone, manage documents and expenses from my phone... Heck i'm posting this reply from my phone. However, I don't see it as a good way to advertise to me. AT ALL. Ads just take up my (already small) screen and waste my data. Good advertising for truckers is done on the highways and at truck stops. Satellite radio can be effective but it relies on your target being on that channel at that time to hear it. There is empty billboard space on virtually every major road in America. Problem is billboard companies want to design the ads for the customer, and for the most part they have all the creativity of your last dump. In other words, nobody wants to look at it. Also, how many white-sided trailers are rolling down the road? I'm sure some trucking businesses would be happy to sell rolling ad space. Ive seen some very creative efforts in that regard, but its usually in the form of the trucking company advertising for one of their major freight customers, ie. Oreo or Sargento.
Some areas of trucking are experiencing rapid growth right now, but they focus on very localized regions like the gas fields. The thing I think to remember here is these growth areas use the same lanes to transport their goods as the rest of trucking, so you have to analyze how much of what travels on each lane to determine your broadest audience and best exposure. You are advertising to every trucker on that road, not just the gas field trucker. It is wise to avoid being accidentally exclusional in your message.

 

Progressive caters to the trucking industry .they do give quotes over the phone too .thats the ins i have .i usually shop round every yr ,just to see changes being made in the prices ,so far progressive has treated me real good with the extras i have with them even.

cant hardly beat progressive ,with a good credit report and accident free.