SmallBusiness.co.uk looks at why a company blog can be a useful sales and marketing tool. 

SmallBusiness.co.uk looks at why a company blog can be a useful sales and marketing tool. 

Jane Robinson, co-founder of laser engraving business Cutting Technologies introduced a company blog in February with the intention of communicating a light-hearted dimension to the business.

‘It’s very image-led and quite topical,' she says. 'On Shrove Tuesday we were laser engraving some pancakes to see what would happen, and put the pictures in the blog. Sometimes differentiating yourself from competitors is about showing a bit of personality, and blogs can give you that.’

Robinson says that she isn’t convinced of the value of social media such as Facebook for a business-to-business company such as hers, but a blog can offer more. ‘As any sales guru will tell you, people buy from people and something like this gives you a human side.’

Brewing company Brewdog uses its blogs as more of a news feed. CEO James Watt says, ‘It's also good to be able to talk casually about our plans and opinions on the beer industry. The blog is not just a place for us to post details on the company and our news, but also a hub for people to comment and discuss the posts that we write. This freedom of speech and discussion is healthy and creates a strong community for beer fans.’

Guest bloggers

Nick Green, founder of print solutions company Printed.com regularly features guest bloggers on his site who write content useful to customers. The subject of entries has ranged from social media to stories about customer experiences. The company is also set to launch an apprenticeship scheme and interns will write about what they’re learning in effectively their first job.

Green says, ‘Blogs shouldn’t be entirely self-serving. If you’re going to start something you have to have the time to follow it through. You don’t want to launch something with three articles one week then not do anything for a month; you have to give the reader fresh content and reasons to come back.’

Sometimes benefits arise from writing blogs that feature elsewhere. Green contributes about twice a month to a print industry magazine (PrintWeek). He says, ‘Print can sometimes end up a bit negative, with all the talk of advertising moving online. I think print is a great medium and an industry magazine is a good place to share some views and spread some positive energy in our sector.’

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