This article was most recently updated in Nov. 2024
Around the world, the fuel industry is faced with turbulent factors such as shifting production capabilities, volatile global markets, and increasing environmental standards. They must successfully navigate these issues to meet demand in their segment of the market.
Further, fuel and oil distributors must provide high-quality, reliable service to ensure the public has access to this liquid gold. As fuel and oil distributors, a portion of your success is linked to your fuel website design and marketing tactics. These two elements, if created and implemented with precision and creativity, can position your company as a leader in the fuel industry.
Before diving into ways to out-perform your competition from a marketing standpoint, let’s address the fuel industry in America as a whole. These statistics from the Energy Information Administration prove the strength of the fuel industry in America:
- In 2023, America produced roughly 12.9 million barrels of oil per day, retaining the number one position among oil-producing nations.
- The United States produces almost 16% of the world’s crude oil.
- In 2022, the US used about 20 million barrels of oil per day, claiming the top position for that metric, as well.
- Average wages for oil and gas industry employees ($27/hour) are considerably higher than the national average ($19/hour).
Those statistics say a couple things you can’t ignore:
- Although green energy and renewable resources are popular, oil will continue to be in high demand for some time to come.
- The fuel industry contributes greatly to the success of the American workforce.
Oil and fuel are not going anywhere anytime soon. This fact means that your company has ample opportunities to reach your target audience and secure your position as their chosen fuel distributor. We cannot stress it enough: your marketing tactics have a direct impact on whether your potential clients will choose you over your competition.
Here are several marketing tips for the fuel industry you should implement:
Fuel and Oil Distributor Marketing Tip: Host an Effective Fuel Website Design
Choosing a fuel and oil distributor is a major decision for business owners, and in making these buying decisions, customers are looking for:
- A range of high-quality fuel, oil, and lubricant products that meet their needs
- Convenient purchasing options
- A simple buying process for any size purchase
- Exceptional customer service
Part of meeting those expectations is ensuring that your website is delivering useful, accurate information in an efficient, easy-to-navigate way. When a customer lands on your site, they should be able to quickly determine:
- What specific fuel and oil services your company provides
- Where you serve customers
- Which products you carry and where they are available
- How to go about making a purchase or setting up an account
But above all, the thing they need to see on every page is what makes your fuel and oil distribution company unique. What other services do you provide that your competitors don’t? What value-adds can you bring to the table that nobody else can?
Remember, your website will be one of the first things a potential client sees when they start interacting with your company – make sure it’s a great experience.
Fuel and Oil Distributor Marketing Tip: Ensure Complete and Accurate Business Listings
Your business’s listings in places like Google Business and Yelp provide potential clients with detailed information about your business in a consistent and familiar format. At the minimum, your business listings should contain:
- Contact information, including phone numbers
- The address(es) of your physical location(s)
- Hours of operation
- Link to your website
- Customer reviews
Any additional information you can include in your listings will help you attract more customers, particularly if you have a well-defined service area. Most businesses that need a fuel distributor will need one located nearby, so your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy – the collection of tactics to use to ensure your site shows up in search engine results – should focus on ensuring that your company shows up in searches performed in your area (aka, Local SEO).
Your business listings serve your local audience in a couple of different ways. First, they provide an easy way for potential clients to find out how to get in touch with you. Secondly, your business listings play a huge role in making sure that users in your area who search for “fuel distributors near me” will see your name at or near the top of the results.
While Google Business is the undisputed champion of business listings platforms, there are 60+ major listings services that your company can use to increase your visibility.
By ensuring that every listing platform you use has accurate, reliable, and consistent information, you’re helping both your potential clients and search engines find and consider your company. The more platforms you can manage, the better!
If listings management requires more bandwidth than your team has, you can turn to a trusted marketing partner to manage all of your listings and ensure they remain accurate and consistent.
Fuel and Oil Distributor Marketing Tip: Be Active on Social Media
Social media might not seem like a priority for a fuel and oil distribution company. After all, isn’t that the place where folks hang out to share silly cat videos and shop for novelty t-shirts? It really isn’t – and hasn’t been for some time now. Social media is a major driver for business, and increasing your company’s visibility with active, engaging social media presences is an almost necessary part of your overall marketing mix.
Your social media accounts:
- Put your content in front of your audience around the clock, keeping you front-of-mind for your potential clients
- Give you a place to show the more human side of your company, making valuable personal connections easier
- Allow you to easily track your marketing efforts’ engagement and effectiveness, helping you make better marketing decisions going forward
For your retail operations, posting on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are a great way to build an audience of engaged followers and build brand awareness. For your commercial fuel and oil distribution services, using a professional social network, like LinkedIn, is by far the easiest way to build connections with other businesses that need the valuable fuel and oil your company sells.
Not sure what to post? You can publish both informal and formal posts such as:
- Around the office
- Fuel facts
- Locations
- Meet the team
- Products
- Project spotlights
- Service spotlights
Use social media to tell people what your company is up to and how you are the solution to their oil and fuel problems.
Fuel and Oil Distributor Marketing Tip: Budget for Digital Ads
Search engine marketing, video marketing, social media ads, and other digital marketing tools have completely changed the landscape for marketers in the past 20 years. Now, instead of paying thousands of dollars to place ads in newspapers and magazines and on radio and television—in the hopes that a few of the people who see it will need your product—you can target your audience with laser precision.
Advertising with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and dozens of other platforms provides countless advantages that can help you get more impact from every penny you spend on marketing:
Save money: Digital ads use effective targeting algorithms to only appear to users who might have a need for your product. Most are billed on a pay-per-click or pay-per-impression model, so you only pay for exposures that drive a lead to move further down your sales funnel.
Increase reach: Digital ads, especially options like display network ads, can show up in literally millions of places online, dramatically expanding your reach and putting your brand in front of a wide spectrum of potential customers.
Incredible analytics: Digital ads provide you with remarkably robust and actionable performance analytics. You’ll never need to guess or perform costly additional research to find out if your digital ads are working – your analytics dashboard will spell out your effectiveness with crystal clarity.
Integrate your marketing: No matter which platforms – traditional or digital – you choose, marketing efforts are always at their most effective when several platforms are working together. Digital ads easily integrate with other digital marketing tools – websites, landing pages, social media accounts, and more – to ensure you’re getting maximum synergy out of your efforts.
Digital advertising can also improve your site’s SEO. Via Google Ads, you can ensure that your company is one of the top search engine results, providing a quick and straightforward answer to your customer’s inquiry.
Last but certainly not least, when an emergency or natural disaster arises, your potential customer needs to find an oil and fuel distributor quickly. With Google Ads, your company can literally be the first solution listed in search results.
Want to get more information on how digital ads can work for you?
Get the in-depth picture with our Definitive Guides series:
- A Definitive Guide to Business Listings Management
- A Definitive Guide to Geofencing & Location-Based Marketing
- A Definitive Guide to Search Engine Marketing
M&R’S PORTFOLIO FOR FUEL and OIL DISTRIBUTOR WEBSITE DESIGN
M&R Marketing creates stunning, professional, and user-friendly fuel website designs that serve customers well. Through a deep understanding of our clients and their needs, we have brought their website visions to life. Our fuel distributor clients frequently request elements on their websites that benefit both the business and customer, such as:
Company Information
- About Us
- History
- Meet the Team
- Careers
- Community Outreach
- Blog
Product Information
- Branded Fuels
- Bulk Fuels
- Lubricants
- Other Products
Service Information
- Fuel Delivery
- Commercial Fueling/Fleet Card Programs
- Retail Stores
- Asset Reliability/Lubrication Support Programs
Social Proof and Customer Interaction
- Submit an Order/Request a Quote
- Product/Service Reviews
- Testimonials
- Contact Us
Take a look at two fuel distributor clients we have helped find success by implementing strategic marketing tactics:
Walthall Oil needed an up-to-date site that provided information on their retail and wholesale services. M&R created a custom designed, mobile-friendly website for Walthall Oil. The site includes a map of their existing retail locations, a blog with the latest company and industry news, and in-depth information on all their wholesale services. Walthall’s website allows their current and prospective customers to find helpful information easily on this user-friendly website.
When Walthall’s business expanded to include a dedicated asset reliability service team (Walthall Asset Reliability Services, or WARS) and a number of cardlock commercial fueling stations (Fuel Pro by Walthall), M&R developed secondary subsites for each of the company’s new brands that help promote their unique value props while still reflecting the overall Walthall brand voice and look.
Additionally, we implemented Google Ads and social management to increase their online presence. By employing Google Ads, Walthall Oil is now a top choice in Google’s search engine result pages. By actively posting and managing their social presence, they encourage their potential and current customers to stay updated on company news.
Lard Oil had an outdated website that was not mobile friendly and did not serve their customers well. They needed a fuel website design that was easy to navigate and an accessible locations page. M&R completely revamped their website to be mobile-friendly, simple to navigate, and feature all their important information.
Additionally, we focused our efforts on their online presence, including listings management and Google Ads. With listings management, we reviewed their current listings for accuracy and made appropriate updates across 60+ platforms. We continue to manage their listings to ensure accuracy. Via Google Ads, we targeted fuel related keywords so Lard Oil will be among Google’s top search engine results.
Partner With M&R Marketing
Your marketing strategy needs to be created and implemented with a success in mind. From creating your fuel website design to managing your social media account, our team can do it all. Give us a call today with your questions: 478-621-4491.
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