By John King, Business Development Manager for Umbrella Managed Systems
Umbrella has been blogging for one year now, and we have four pages of blogs on our website. When I first read Umbrella’s stories, we were doing the “should-I-work-for-them-should-they-hire-me?” dance. I really enjoyed the blogs. It gave the company a personality. It showed they were not just another faceless conglomerate with a vague business description. We’ve all read the “About Us” section on random business websites and weren’t sure about what we had just read.
Umbrella is exactly the opposite.
When I came on board, they asked (told) me I would be on the blogging team. I wasn’t sure if I could blog… or if I even wanted to blog. What I know now is that I enjoy blogging. This is as creative as I get. It makes me think about the bigger picture of what we’re doing. And what we mean to our clients. Plus, I think it gives me something to talk about with current clients and prospects.
Every month we get together as a team and discuss what’s happening. Sometimes it’s about us individually, and sometimes what we’re doing as a company. We keep it casual and work with the goal of getting a peek under the hood of Umbrella. As you may have read previously, we like to have a little fun and maybe some shenanigans, but we also do some serious work.
Growing a culture can’t be forced, and it’s got to happen organically. The same can be said about creating and sharing a story. Umbrella is a team of individuals coming together to create and support great IT. The same can be said about my writing. I don’t have a story to tell without our teams, our personality, and our individuals. Technology is a soulless object needing a little magic to make it sing. And I know we create that magic at Umbrella.
Are you blogging at your company?
Does your company blog? If not, have you been talking about it? I encourage you to get started. It’s a pure form of authentic marketing that will help you sell. People like doing business with people they like, and what better way to develop relationships than storytelling? And surprisingly, it helps your culture and becomes a hiring tool. It’s one of the best ways to show your clients and prospects that you’re active and doing good work!
