I believe an effective blog should speak to the heart and level of its intended audience — and its message should support the business objectives of the company publishing the blog. These two qualities may seem obvious at first sight, but it can be a challenge to produce compelling content that doesn’t sound like a clich?d sales pitch, and yet still encourages readers to form a favourable impression of your business, and then send that critical email or make the call that starts the relationship.
Ledgerwood Associates, Inc. achieves these standards in its blog. It focuses on construction software, rationally because it distributes Sage software — and it focuses its message on the business leaders and accounting/estimating and project management specialists who work with the software tools.
Consider this post:? Helping marketing and IT work together, where Ledgerwood senior marketing director Joanie Hollabaugh tackles the issue of relationships between two divisions in larger construction companies that are essential to operations, yet distant from the core design, civil engineering and building functions conventionally associated with construction businesses. In Helping marketing and IT to work together, she writes:
Let?s make a broad assumption that many construction executives have never worked in marketing or IT services. Yet, the leadership team needs to hire to both roles. Based on my experience in construction, technology, and software industries (and on executive teams), I will caution ?hirer beware!?
At the most basic level, you are co-mingling left- and right-brained skill sets. Which works fine in the human brain, but can be an opportunity for success or failure within your organization.
Good point!
Hollabaugh rightfully suggests that it makes sense to figure out a strategy to bring the two teams together to build relationships, solve a common problem, and discover the value of each other to their tasks and the overall organization.
Plan an offsite coffee, beer, or pizza event
Call an informal meeting away from the office distractions, and let your teams bond over lunch or Happy Hour. Taking people out of their assigned roles goes a long way for debunking presumptions and uniting opposing sides. Assign a notetaker, of bring a whiteboard for each department to create a wishlist from each side, and see what germinates.
Assign actionable items, timelines, and an incentive to reach a goal. You all may be pleasantly surprised!
It’s certainly good advice — and an indication that Ledgerwood’s blog is a worthy entry in the 2019 Best Construction Blog competition.
Voting closes on March 31. You can cast one ballot for each email address — and vote for as many blogs as you wish in your ballot.
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