From Freight Brokerage to Tech Startup: The Art of Authentic Freight Tech Marketing
Freight tech marketing is changing fast — and few people have lived that evolution as deeply as Jennie Ruiz, Head of Marketing at Transfix. Over nine years, she’s seen firsthand how authenticity, adaptability, and strategy can transform a traditional freight brokerage into a cutting-edge logistics technology brand. Her story offers a clear playbook for modern marketers: how to build trust, stay human, and grow through volatility.
The Great Transformation: Reinventing a Freight Brand
In 2023, Transfix made a radical move — selling its freight brokerage operations to NFI and pivoting entirely to the tech solutions it had built internally. Overnight, one of the top three U.S. freight brokers became a freight tech startup.
“You couldn’t hear Uber Freight, Convoy, or JB Hunt without Transfix,” Ruiz recalls. “And then now we are telling a new story — in our livelihood.”
For Ruiz, this wasn’t just a rebrand; it was a complete reset. Everything — brand recognition, customer relationships, messaging — had to be rebuilt. The lesson for freight marketers? Brand equity means nothing without adaptability.
This transformation wasn’t just a business pivot—it was a complete reinvention of everything Ruiz had built as a marketer. Brand recognition, customer relationships, market positioning, even the fundamental value proposition had to be reconstructed from the ground up.
Authentic Advantage: Technology Tested by Reality
Unlike many startups selling prototypes, Transfix had an edge: every product it offered had been proven in the field. Their pricing and automation tools were built to solve the real frustrations of freight operations.
“All those tedious processes — RFPs, spreadsheets, reformatting — we said, ‘How can we automate this?’” Ruiz explains.
That foundation of authentic problem-solving is what gives freight tech marketing credibility. Buyers in logistics are skeptical — they don’t want promises, they want proof. Real use cases beat clever taglines every time.
Cutting Through the Noise: Freight Fluencers and Market Saturation
The logistics space is overflowing with “experts” — what Ruiz calls freight fluencers. LinkedIn feeds are filled with market predictions and advice, often from people with little real-world experience.
“When you see it so frequently, you wonder — who are these people? Where are they coming from? And how can I trust what they’re saying?”
For freight tech brands, that means differentiation comes from authority and authenticity — not volume. Real stories, real customers, and transparent insights build the kind of trust no ad spend can replicate.
Embracing Volatility: Marketing in the New Normal
Freight professionals have spent years waiting for stability. Ruiz’s take? Stop waiting. “We’ve been talking about the ‘new normal’ for five years,” she says. “This is your normal now.”
In freight tech marketing, volatility is an opportunity. Agile brands can test, iterate, and find creative openings while slower competitors hesitate.
“You have to get risky in times like this,” Ruiz advises. “If you get a glimmer of hope that this is the right path, run in that direction.”
For freight tech startups, that’s the difference between reactive marketing and strategic experimentation.
The One-Person Marketing Playbook
As Transfix downsized, Ruiz became a one-person marketing team — a familiar story for many B2B tech leaders. Her success came from strategic focus and authentic connection.
“I’m a one-man team,” she says. “Kudos to anyone running the one-man show — because I don’t know how you do it.”
Instead of chasing every tactic, she doubled down on what worked: relationship-driven content, authentic storytelling, and a podcast that built credibility across the industry.
Learning the Language: Authenticity as Education
Coming from finance, Ruiz faced an early credibility gap. Her solution was brilliant — learn publicly.
Through the Transfix podcast The Transfix Take, she co-hosted with an expert and later built Supply Chain Decoded, which now attracts thousands of listeners.
She admits the early episodes were “reverse engineered” — recorded around her co-host’s insights to sound organic. But that honesty built trust. Over time, she became fluent in logistics by leading with curiosity.
That’s the essence of authentic freight tech marketing: sharing the learning journey instead of pretending you already know it all.
Collaboration Over Silos: Aligning Sales, Product, and Marketing
With a smaller team, collaboration became survival. “We bring everyone to the table — sales, the CEO, product,” Ruiz says.
This integration creates what most freight tech companies lack: marketing that truly understands the product and customer pain points. It’s the foundation of messaging that converts, not just informs.
At Virago, we call this marketing that moves the needle — aligning strategy, storytelling, and sales to accelerate growth.
AI in Marketing: Partner, Not Replacement
Ruiz uses AI tools for brainstorming, not shortcuts. “It’s a good partner,” she says, “but it can’t replace your brain.”
Her balanced approach echoes what forward-thinking freight tech marketers are learning: AI should amplify human creativity, not automate authenticity.
Redefining Marketing Success
Metrics still matter, but Ruiz measures impact differently. “I want people to walk away from a show feeling they got value,” she says.
In a world obsessed with impressions and downloads, engagement quality is the new ROI. It’s not about reach; it’s about resonance — conversations, relationships, and long-term credibility.
The Authenticity Imperative
Ruiz’s final advice captures the future of freight tech marketing:
“You have to be authentic to who you are. If you’re dorky, own it. If you’re a geek, own it. If you have a trucker’s mouth, own that.”
In a market saturated with automation and AI, human honesty becomes your differentiator. Authentic brands win because they sound real — not rehearsed.
Closing Thought
Jennie Ruiz’s story mirrors the transformation happening across logistics: authenticity, adaptability, and alignment now drive growth more than budget or scale ever did.
For brands navigating freight tech marketing, her journey offers the clearest lesson: success comes not from the perfect message, but from the courage to tell the truth — consistently.
Explore more insights on logistics marketing and leadership at Virago Marketing’s Blog.
FR8 Marketing Gurus
A podcast where freight, logistics, and supply chain leaders come to talk real marketing.
