Business blog example 3: It doesn't have to be hard

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Dave J.

My last business-blog example before heading off to BMA Conference in Chicago this week.

A likely excuse for not blogging about your business may be ‘my product is too boring. Who wants to read a blog about it?’

Actually I probably fall into that camp. And it’s probably a poor excuse.

Well, in the rather boring-sounding market of material handling (conveyors, warehouse racks), QC Industries has been blogging along rather well. With a mix of product info, company news, and application discussions, their blog strikes a good balance of readability for the folks who are interested.

I think what makes it work is that you get a sense that there is a human, and company insider, posting on the blog—Chris Thompson and Chris Round are the guys. And his activity commenting on blogs like mine, and posting regularly at Twitter (@QCIndustries) gets that vibe across, as well.

Here’s a sample post talking about an upcoming show, ATX East – NY “Excited and nervous”:

“I asked Albert Sabbah, Group Sales Manager for Canon Communications, for his thoughts. “Excited and nervous” were his two quick words of choice. “Since the show is wide spread through many industries from medical to automation to green, really many of the companies are having good years.” Albert was quick to show the numbers as well and they are up and down, depending on the show. I quickly summarized and noticed medical (MD&M), packaging (EastPack), and automation (ATX) are good; plastics industry, questionable.”

The net result is a sense of scope, direction, and activity at QC Industries. And that this is a brand with an authentic voice.

While I don’t expect their blog has a ton of followers, I do think that prospects involved in considering their QC can look at their blog, and get a sense of the brand. While many smaller B2B companies struggle to communicate their brand at all, or just throw money at ads and PR hoping it helps, I think a blog like this shows an alternate way of building a brand efficiently and effectively.

It doesn’t have to be hard, just a willingness to communicate.

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  • Chris Thompson

    Dave,Thanks for featuring our humble little blog! It's really had great results for us over the past three years and like you said, the upkeep is pretty simple. You're exactly right on the reasons we blog: we hope to present a human face to those potential buyers.I'd like to point out that I'm not the only one blogging for QC Industries. In fact, the post you quoted was written by my partner in crime, Chris Round.

  • Chris Thompson

    Dave,

    Thanks for featuring our humble little blog! It's really had great results for us over the past three years and like you said, the upkeep is pretty simple. You're exactly right on the reasons we blog: we hope to present a human face to those potential buyers.

    I'd like to point out that I'm not the only one blogging for QC Industries. In fact, the post you quoted was written by my partner in crime, Chris Round.

  • Scott Stone

    As a fellow material handling industry blogger, I've followed Chris's work for a while now and have yet to comment. We're on the distributor side of the fence, but have some of the same challenges. It is one of the best, most frequently updated blogs in our business.Dave's blog is on my Google feeds, since I'm very interested in B2B marketing. I think we can write good material and be useful to our customers in this business, but I don't know how passionate, ultimately how interested they are in what we have to say. A little. Probably not as much as we'd like them to be. It's probably more of a challenge for Chris than it is for me, since I've got a very broad range of products to cover. Putting that human face on your business, displaying expertise and providing a helpful resource to customers is the bottom line of it, and I'm convinced anyone can do that with enough commitment.

  • Scott Stone

    As a fellow material handling industry blogger, I've followed Chris's work for a while now and have yet to comment. We're on the distributor side of the fence, but have some of the same challenges. It is one of the best, most frequently updated blogs in our business.

    Dave's blog is on my Google feeds, since I'm very interested in B2B marketing. I think we can write good material and be useful to our customers in this business, but I don't know how passionate, ultimately how interested they are in what we have to say. A little. Probably not as much as we'd like them to be.

    It's probably more of a challenge for Chris than it is for me, since I've got a very broad range of products to cover. Putting that human face on your business, displaying expertise and providing a helpful resource to customers is the bottom line of it, and I'm convinced anyone can do that with enough commitment.

  • Mahmut

    Great post Dave. Thanks.It's great to learn about QC Industries blog too. They are doing a very good job.

  • Mahmut

    Great post Dave. Thanks.

    It's great to learn about QC Industries blog too. They are doing a very good job.