I look forward to these posts each week.
Every Wednesday for the last few months we’ve been looking at business blogs out there and picking out mostly the wonderful things they’re doing. Sometimes there are some recommendations.
I really try to avoid negativity. I’m sure I fail on that account time to time, but I really like to focus on what businesses are doing well with their blogs because there is a lot of good.
Today we’re looking at an interesting company. I think they’re pretty different from others we’ve done. I think they have a unique product for a unique target client.
The company is KitOrder and their target client is an ecommerce brand, but the thing is they’re targeting specific ecommerce companies that have segments of customers that buy items, I think sports items, in bulk.
So if you have an ecommerce store that sells to teams, organizations and things like that then you have KitOrder there to offer an ecommerce software that makes those sales easy.
We’ll leave the intro at that and get into the blogging.
1. Blogspot
The first item you’ll notice about the KitOrder blog is that it’s a Blogger or Blogspot blog.
It’s an uncommon platform at least for businesses. In my experience, which is not the end all, has been that companies now typically use WordPress, which has kind of surpasses Blogger in a way. I don’t know why. I think Blogger was bought out by Google a long time ago and maybe it got lost in the shuffle.
But that’s okay.
The point I want to make is that there are a handful of ways you can create a business blog. Using Blogger or Tumblr or whatever are all viable options. If you’re blogging regularly you’re working to build an audience at the top-of-the-funnel of your sales process and that’s a good thing.
Yes, we can nitpick and say that hosting it on Blogspot takes away from the SEO perspective, but that can all be changed and tweaked for the long-term.
Even though KitOrder uses Blogger they still have been blogging, at least up until a year ago, and have been putting effort to build an asset for their business.
2. Company Events
I’m a fan of companies that post about company events. I think it’s a great way to show who you are as a company. When you share things like the last post on the KitOrder blog you’re giving a glimpse into the people behind the brand.
And that’s what B2B business is about. Even though you’re selling to a business you’re still selling to a person at that business. You’re still working with other people and you’re still getting to know each other on a business and personal level.
I get asked sometimes how companies can share their personality on a blog or on social media or in email newsletters. I think it’s possible to try too hard in that regard.
A great way to share your personality is to simply tell stories. Readers and listeners will find the details. Like in this post you know where KitOrder is located. You know an activity they are very passionate about. There are some great details in here and it all comes across in a story or in a recap of a company event.
That’s showing company personality online and it makes target clients more comfortable because they know more about the people behind the brand.
3. Interviews
We’ve talked about interviews before in our blog analysis series. I think they’re great.
KitOrder has a great interview on their blog.
It’s an interview with one of the athletes they sponsor.
If you have access to interesting people like the interviewee in this case then you can certainly do exclusive interviews and the blog is a great place to publish that interview.
If your customers would love to hear from people they look up to, and they do, then interviews from time to time can really make waves on your blog. If you’re looking for engagement then do an interview like this one and you’ll get comments. You’ll get interaction on social media and you can even ask for help with questions and suggestions for future interviewees.
4. Values, What Sets Them Apart
I’ve mentioned before in a few different places including posts on this site the importance of values for companies. Earlier I talked about the people behind the brand. Within the people behind any brand are values. Those values can be determined by the founders of the company, but ultimately every person at a company makes up the values.
That’s one reason that hiring is so important. If you start bringing in people that don’t share the original values then the values of the company will change.
When it comes to sharing values and letting your target audience get to know you I think you’ll find that this post is a great example. In the post there is a line that is bolded and underlined:
We are, and will continue to be, a company that invests in the future of competitive female sports.
Boom.
You know from that statement what KitOrder is about or at least partly about. That’s a big part of who they are and by sharing that in a blog post and in other places it’s something that separates the company and makes them connect with people that feel the same way.
5. Specific Studies For Target Readers
What we always talk about here at Ghost Blog Writers is helping your target readers with their lives. When you help people you’re providing the value that everyone always talks about vaguely with content marketing.
One way to do that is to answer questions.
Sometimes you’ll notice a question being asked. Other times you’ll have to identify the questions or issues your target readers are having that they don’t ask.
I think with KitOrder they recognized a question or issue when they did this post.
The question, whether asked or unasked, is: How do I train better?
Or something similar.
KitOrder went out and looked at a few studies that focused on how temperature affects training for cyclists. Anytime you’re looking at studies and providing answers to questions you’re going to have a really good blog post. And it’s very specific to the target reader.
I love it.
Conclusion
Like most of these posts we do there is a lot to like about what KitOrder has done on their business blog up to this point. They haven’t done a post in about 18 months or more, but what they have done is really good. They help target readers, which provides the value you’re always reading about. They share some personality with stories, photos and more. It all leads to a really good business blog with examples to hopefully inspire your own business blog.