Symmetricom, Inc. is the world’s leading provider of atomic clocks and precision timing devices and equipment.  They recently discovered that they could communicate more efficiently with their worldwide sales force using IMN’s DirectBlog tool.  Here’s how.

In our last issue, we asked our readers if they were currently using business blogs and here’s what they had to say:  over 9% of the readers who responded already have a business blog and it’s very active while close to 17% are in the processing of planning one.  But surprisingly, the majority of the readers (71.4%) are uncertain of the benefits that a blog could bring to their business.  Why was this surprising to us?  Perhaps because we see blogs as the perfect vehicle for communicating information to large groups of people in a way that is easier than any other tool that is currently available on the market.  For example, Symmetricon, an IMN customer, discovered that using a business blog improved communications to their workforce that is geographically dispersed around the world in a manner no other communication vehicle could.  

Symmetricom had recently purchased Datum, who manufactures rubidium clocks that are used in satellites and TrueTime, a timing, test, and measurement company.  The merger of these three companies resulted in a decentralized sales force with several hundred representatives and distributors scattered throughout the world. Because of this, it was initially difficult for the company to proactively reach each person with product changes, discontinuances, new pricing information, and new staffing announcements in a consistent and coherent matter. 

Jeanne Hopkins, Symmetricom’s Senior Manager for E-Marketing and Transactional Channel Sales Channels, recognized the sales force integration issues at hand and immediately went to work on finding a solution for the resulting information gap.  What she found was IMN’s DirectBlog.

DirectBlog to the Rescue

As an IMN customer and a publisher of seven different newsletters, Hopkins knows how IMN services communicate information to each of the company’s product audiences on a timely and efficient basis.  After each issue, she as the publisher is able to see what works in her programs because of IMN’s comprehensive content tracking and reporting capabilities.  So when Hopkins first heard of IMN’s DirectBlog service, she immediately saw the potential of this service as a way to help solve the company's information challenges.  Because blogs work like an online log or diary, Hopkins viewed DirectBlog as a convenient and easy way to keep Symmetricom’s sales force up-to-date with information on every aspect of the sales support that she and her staff provided.  In addition, she would be able to track the sales force’s interaction with the blog through IMN’s analytical tools in a very similar fashion to her newsletters. 

Symmblog Becomes Part of the Corporate Culture

Symmetricom’s blog, Symmblog, now keeps over 300 sales people, distributors, service representatives and corporate managers informed on a regular basis.  Symmblog is published once a week and contains information on everything from product updates to personnel changes to announcements of events such as sales meetings.  According to Hopkins, “Symmblog not only helps me manage information to and from the sales force, but it does it at a very low cost.  And it only takes an hour or two to import and publish the weekly content.”

One of the best features of Symmblog, however, is its readership statistics.   When it was first published in September of 2003, the initial open rate was 23%.  Four months later, it was in the 60% range and now it’s tracking at 75%.  The functionality of the blog is enhanced by embedded links to data sheets and web sites.  And readers have the capability of submitting comments and questions that are fielded by Hopkins and her team.   Shelf life of critical information is extended through DirectBlog’s archiving capabilities.   

In less than a year, Symmetricom employees worldwide have come to expect and rely on Symmblog.   In fact, according to Hopkins, it is now something they actually look forward to receiving.

For more information on how DirectBlog can help your company communicate better, sign up for a free 15-day trial or contact us at info@imninc.com.