Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marshall Matheson on February 26, 2009 at 10:48am

Hi Diane!

Liked the blog and concept. One item is I have mixed feelings on the lined paper look- but outside that, like the idea of your voice- identity on the posts, but you start each post that it is coming from you, versus just having an author field. I think this maybe due to blogger platform is more geared around individual than company with potentially several authors. I personally like WordPress for that functionality- seems to better handle a site with multiple authors. Would be great for readers and you I think, if I could see your profile along with the JW Winco info on the blog. For now it seems readers get more engaged when they can relate to the personality behind the company- ala Twitter lessons. Great to have you on the EX and keep blogging- great stuff!

best
MM

Permalink Reply by Diane Lau on February 26, 2009 at 11:18am

Thanks for taking the time to check it out, Marshall! Your feedback is much appreciated. I completely agree with you that readers are engaged by personality, which is why I took the "voice" in this direction, and ideally I think a blog should have one voice. The challenge in our situation is the company mandated having our whole team contribute, but alas, I'm the only one who seems to have time. (Not a new story there I'm sure!) But I will see if we can do anything about photos/profiles of the people involved.

Thanks for the tip re WordPress--it has advantages and disadvanges over Blogger but in the end the latter seemed to have a bit more upside. I like especially that, being affiliated with Google, the posts get great placement in the Google search engine.

I find the most challenging aspect of doing the blog is the fact that I'm not an engineer. Therefore it means a lot that you didn't comment negatively on the content! LOL Usually the expertise comes first, then the blogging, but in this case it is very much the reverse. I'm hoping my involvement here on the EX will give me good ideas and source material.

Permalink Reply by Marshall Matheson on February 26, 2009 at 4:32pm

I thought the content on first scan was good, and so now I'm wondering (& this must be tough with what looks like commodity products), how do you really differentiate? What makes someone buy say your T-handle knob over another supplier? If that message was really clear, (customer service, easy to work with, quality, selection??) it would go a long way.

best
MM

Permalink Reply by Diane Lau on March 3, 2009 at 12:58pm

Hi Marshall,

You are right, we are trying to set ourselves apart from typical commodity distributors. In our efforts to accomplish that, one thing we are doing is having a blog at all! :-) And in the various posts, I continually strive to communicate the message of the many ways we do more for our customers than supply parts. While trying not to turn the whole thing into a commercial, I also make sure at least once a week to demonstrate ways in which we partner with engineers to help them solve design problems. The "voice" our blog conveys is designed to show potential customers that in us they will have a knowledgeable, creative, proactive partner.

Permalink Reply by Simon Barrell on July 22, 2009 at 2:25pm

Diane that's good work, you have kept up the postings which must get harder to do. I especially like the fact that you vary images, sketches, video, products and even catalog shots to illustrate the textual content. I am aiming to do the same with our nascent company blog: http://intechpower.wordpress.com/

I am curious if you have registered feedback / leads as a result of your efforts? I also write a consumer facing blog (wedding cake business!) and have just started to see after 3 months that leads are ocurring as a result of the postings there.

Did you encourage/convince your customer facing team to add a link to the blog in their email signature line?

Regards
Simon