N&W’s ‘unofficial’ blog, ‘Managing In Vending’, has passed the milestone of fifty posts.
The company uses the medium to disseminate all kinds of information, both to customers and to the wider vending community. As you’d expect, there’s ‘hot off the press’ information about new products and up-grades. However, the blog also offers case history articles dealing with customers’ experiences of sales and service; appointments, spare part information and ‘house-keeping’ need-to-knows.
It’s a formula that’s proved popular with N&W’s customers and curiously the most widely read feature of the online publication is Managing Director Dave Ward’s ‘column’. Apparently referred to in-house as ‘Dave’s Rant’, the column provides a revealing insight into the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a senior vending figure (who is currently the Chair of the AVA). Dave uses the platform to present his opinions on some of the standout issues in contemporary vending, from the impact of refurbished machines on Research and Development through to inspiring developments in technology. The more mundane issues are covered too; such as deciding which exhibitions to attend in a year choc-a-bloc with events, and trying to get a much-loved car fixed midst a hectic business schedule.
Launched in September 2012, ‘Managing In Vending’ is part of N&W’s integrated on-line marketing strategy, which embraces Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to draw attention to breaking news and information as it is posted.
‘We had to think out of the box regarding how we communicated with the vending trade’, Dave said. ‘There’s been a huge expansion in the use of smart-phone technology and the availability of broadband in the last few years. It means that we can pass on information as soon as we get it, including new product videos. We could never do that when print was the only medium available to us and I’m sure that our relationship with the trade is now much more immediate and more intimate.’
‘Managing In Vending’ can be reached by clicking here.
