Company Profile
For over 70 years, Rubbermaid® has been one of the foremost housewares brands in the world, making durable, innovative products that help to simplify people's lives. With over 30,000 employees worldwide and over $6 billion in annual sales, Rubbermaid has sustained its brand value by staying in touch with what people want and need.
Getting Organized Begins with a Plan
Towards the end of 2007, the marketing communications group within Rubbermaid realized that their website wasn't enabling them to create direct relationships with customers. Jim Deitzel, Manager of eMarketing and Brand Communications at Rubbermaid, recalls the epiphany: "Our website was entirely one way, with no ability for people to comment or participate. We wanted to change that."
They decided to launch a business blog: "We wanted a technology solution that would allow people to interact with us, and would allow us to create a two-way dialogue," he says.
Jim evaluated a number of different blog services before choosing TypePad: "I initially wanted to use Movable Type, but didn't want to go to the expense and time of setting it up," he recalls. "I also looked at Wordpress, but didn't feel like they offered adequate customer support. TypePad was affordable, hosted, and simple to set up."
Today, the Adventures in Organization blog is a key part of Rubbermaid's customer communications strategy. The Rubbermaid team posts 2-3 times a week, and the blog archives are packed with great content, from a spectacular 5-part "Garage Makeover" series to a great post on how to organize a craft room. Nine different Rubbermaid employees contribute to the blog; of these, 4-5 are regular contributors.
"Each of our authors has a unique living situation that different people can identify with," says Jim. One has a small, older home, which presents a particular set of storage issues; one blogger calls herself "OCD" and blogs about being hyper-organized; Jim blogs about being a family man, and trying to get his family's belongings under control.
"Our corporate blog has the "company" voice, but we wanted this blog to give our employees a voice," Jim says. "Having multiple authors allows us to reach out to our customers in a direct, personal way."
Cultivating the Influencers
When Rubbermaid launched the Adventures in Organization blog, they made the decision to find and cultivate influencers in the organization industry.
"Professional organizers are a very important group for us to reach," Jim says. "We want them to be our advocates; to talk about Rubbermaid products and use Rubbermaid in their work."
To cultivate those relationships, they reach out to groups like the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) for input and suggestions. Professional organizers were early adopters of social media, and are very well connected online, making them an excellent resource for Rubbermaid.
"We often present an organizational problem, and then ask for advice on how people would solve it," Jim reveals. Such a tactic not only encourages feedback and participation, it also allows the company to gain valuable insight into organizational challenges and solutions.
Once a week, they post a Q & A with a professional organizer, from Deb Lee in Maryland to Scott Rower from Washington, DC.
The Adventures in Organization blog is just one part of Rubbermaid's online communications strategy - the company also has a presence on other key social sites around the web. They have a Twitter feed (@rubbermaid), a Flickr account, and a YouTube page. They've added links to all of their sites on their TypePad blog so that readers can easily access their other online content.
Though the blog has only been live for a year, it has already begun to deliver other benefits: "Our blog posts come up in keyword SEO searches all the time," Jim reports. "We capture a lot of traffic in the long tail."
Advice for Other Business Bloggers
"Many businesses make the mistake of thinking that all you have to do is to create a blog and people will come to you," says Jim. Don't do that, he counsels: "You can't just post content and hope people find it."
Jim advocates a strategic, multi-layered approach that involves promoting the blog on the company website; using other social networking tools like Twitter; and attending events to meet key influencers in person.
"A blog is one piece of a successful marketing strategy," he says. "It's a key piece, but you can't expect it to work unless you put time and effort into doing it right."
