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How Disruptive Messaging Upset Trucking Industry's Accepted Norms for the Better

The United States is headed toward a national supply chain crisis that will adversely affect critical facets of society--from the availability of gasoline and food to when you might receive the important packages you ordered online. Karla Jo Helms, CEO of JOTO PR Disruptors, discusses how the severe shortage of truck drivers needs aggressive and disruptive messaging to be able to create real change in the trucking industry.


News provided by

JOTO PR Disruptors

Jun 21, 2021, 09:50 ET

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The trucking industry has been facing some difficulties that are hampering efforts to boost the ranks of drivers.
The trucking industry has been facing some difficulties that are hampering efforts to boost the ranks of drivers.

TAMPA BAY, Fla., June 21, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already serious and ongoing shortage of professional truck drivers. As of late October 2020, the U.S. needed about 65,700 to make up for the deficit, lower than at the same point the previous year. Further complicating the problem is the growing number of current drivers who are beginning to retire. If these issues continue throughout 2021, this will be the first time the trucking industry will see a year-over-year shortfall.(1) Just as big as the driver deficit, the other side of the coin is a market gluttoned with "drivers wanted" advertising— social media, SEO, PPC, digital driver boards and aggregator sites... so why the shortfall? "A disrupted economy needs a disruptive message delivered at lightning speed to change conditions", Karla Jo Helms, Chief Evangelist, and CEO of JoTo PR Disruptors explains.

"Relying on the same methods everyone else is doing is ignoring the biggest shift in marketing and PR over the last decade. Decades-old [communication] methods aren't nearly adequate for the task to help a suffering nation," Helms adds.

A disrupted economy needs a disruptive message delivered at lightning speed to change conditions. Relying on the same methods everyone else is doing is ignoring the biggest shift in marketing and PR over the last decade.

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What Helms is referring to is a series of colossal developments that have been going on for years and are changing the way people consume news media and information. Markets and even the media are partitioned into super-segmented categories of publishers, influencers, and content creators today, reaching super-targeted audiences in a massive way like never before.

The trucking industry has been facing some difficulties that are hampering efforts to boost the ranks of drivers. Among them is the false perception many people have of truck drivers as being middle-aged white males, a stigma that discourages younger generations, including women and minorities. However, the reality is that the industry is becoming increasingly more diverse, and one with no pay gap tied to race or gender. According to a recent American Trucking Association study, more than 40% of U.S. truckers are now minorities.(2) However, to help ensure success in rebuilding its ranks, the industry is still falling short—only about 7% of professional drivers are women.(3)

As trucking endured its shortfall, the pandemic was taking its toll on the national economy. In April 2020, the national economy unemployment rate was at 14.8%, the highest on record since data collection began in 1948.(4) Numerous businesses haven't survived the pandemic, contributing to record-high unemployment rates in states including Mississippi (7,000 jobs lost in January)(5), Texas (more than 140,000 people in Bexar County alone have filed for unemployment since mid-March 2020),(6) and Ohio (unemployment rose to 17.6% in April 2020).(7) These industry stigmas and economic disruptions require radical solutions if they are to be overcome.

Companies such as driver-training provider Roadmaster Drivers School and driving simulator company Advanced Training Systems (ATS) were creating new and disruptive news that directly addressed the driver shortage and the false barriers to entry. Through aggressive messaging to a multitude of local news stations, network information platforms and mainstream media, Roadmaster was able to get the word to metropolitan areas with high rates of unemployment among women and minorities that their training was a less costly, faster path to new careers—four weeks of CDL training classes (no degree needed to qualify); plus, after completion, introductions to potential employers.

ATS, on the other hand, promoted their virtual reality simulators—in conjunction with the Women in Trucking Association's (WIT) Driver Ambassador Program, which was touring the nation in a specialized vehicle—to show women how trucking was not only a viable career choice(8) but that training via simulator was a cost-effective method that created drivers who were safer than those who trained via traditional methods.(9) This presented a solution for employers as well as helping the supply chain's desperate need to hire newly qualified drivers.

"You just can't rely on your name and product or service advertising alone to make the industry changes that are needed," Helms explains. "Businesses need to communicate a message that cuts to the very heart of the issues that are hampering our supply chain, the loss of millions of jobs, and the hurdles for training drivers to make up for the shortfall—those are the things that people care about."

Roadmaster and ATS are great examples of how to surmount the industry's problems and our nation's suffering with thought leadership communications that was more disruptive than their own industry stigmas and economic interruptions in order to get noticed.

About JOTO PR Disruptors(TM):
After doing marketing research on a cross-section majority of 5,000 CEOs of fast-growth trajectory companies and finding out exactly how they used PR, how they measure it, and how they wanted the PR industry to be different, PR veteran and innovator Karla Jo Helms created JoTo PR(TM) and established its entire business model on those research findings. Astute in recognizing industry changes since its launch in 2009, JoTo PR's team utilizes newly established patterns to create timely Anti-PR(TM) campaigns comprising both traditional and the latest proven media methods. This unique skill enables them to continue to increase the market share and improve return on investment (ROI) for their clients, year after year—beating usual industry standards. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, JoTo PR is an established international public relations agency. Today, all processes of JoTo are streamlined Anti-PR services that have become the hallmark of the JoTo PR name. For more information, visit JoTo PR online at http://www.jotopr.com.

1. Cassidy, William B., "Outlook 2021: Latest US driver shortage requires long-term solutions." JOC.com, 20 Jan. 2021, joc.com/trucking-logistics/labor/outlook-2021-latest-us-driver-shortage-requires-long-term-solutions_20210120.html.
2. Murphy, Byron. "How Diverse Is the Trucking Industry?" Convoy, 28 Jan. 2021, convoy.com/blog/diversity-in-trucking/#:
3. TrüNorth Global. "Why women are critical to the future of trucking." Charlotte Business Journal, 1 March 2020, bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/03/01/why-women-are-critical-to-the-future-of-trucking.html.
4. Falk, Gene, et al. "Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic." Congressional Research Service updated 20 May 2021, fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R46554.pdf.
5. DiNatale, Sara. "Mississippi Lost 7,000 Jobs Last Month. But Economist Says Outlook Still Positive." Mississippi Today, 1 April 2021, mississippitoday.org/2021/03/31/mississippi-unemployment-job-losses/.
6. Rivard, Robert. "Week 16 in Review: Bexar County Job Losses Mount." The Rivard Report, 31 May 2020, therivardreport.com/week-16-in-review-bexar-county-job-losses-mount/.
7. "Ohio Economy at a Glance." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov/eag/eag.oh.htm.
8. "Women In Trucking Association Announces Driver Ambassador Program." Supply Post, 6 Feb. 2020, supplypost.com/news/2020/2/women-in-trucking-association-announces-driver-ambassador-program.
9. Hirsch, Pierre. "Evidence of Driver Training Simulator Benefits." Virage Simulation, July 2015, viragesimulation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015-Hirsch-Evidence-of-Driving-Simulator-Training-Benefits.pdf.

Media Contact

Karla Jo Helms, JOTO PR Disruptors(TM), 727-777-4621, [email protected]

Daniel Mutter, JOTO PR Disruptors(TM), 727-777-4621, [email protected]

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SOURCE JOTO PR Disruptors

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http://www.jotopr.com

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