Masi Bicycles, Tim Jackson

posted: October 28, 2006 10:11 PM

1.1.12 Company: Masi Bicycles

Blogger: Tim Jackson
Student Interviewer: Kennie Swanson
Blog: http://masiguy.blogspot.com

Tim Jackson works for Haro Bicycle Corp., however he is the sole member of the marketing team for the Masi cycles division of Haro bicycle Corp. Tim is the sole blogger on the Masi blog.  

Tim is the only full time employee at Haro Bicycle Corp. who works on the Masi brand. His blog has had a big impact because it makes his company seem bigger than it is.

Tim read a report by a cycle industry company that many biking enthusiasts were blogging, but no company in the industry was blogging.  This gave him the idea of starting a blog for the Masi brand.  Tim said, "I had to do something to come up with some creative guerilla marketing; something where I could get the name out and get people to once again connect with the brand and to connect to me by extension so that I could build on the brand’s history and its future. And to me, blogging represented the easiest way of doing that."

The bicycle industry has an important trade paper called Bicycle Retailer and Industry News or BRAIN.  Tim has achieved three feature articles in the trade paper since starting his blog.

Tim told us that one of the most important aspects of the blog has been the ability to ask for feedback from the readers.  Tim said that the effort has helped to "shape the products that are coming out."  It also gives pride of ownership with customers and retailers who read the blog in a way that's much more of a personal connection with the Masi brand.

The business has grown so much that Tim has not had as much time to spend on the blog. Recently Tim visited Australia and he was surprised to find so many retailers who already knew about his blog.

According to Tim, the transparency on the blog about what's happening with the Masi Company has helped him reach more customers, even if the blog has raised the occasional eyebrow with Haro Management when he blogs about future plans for bikes.

Tim explained, "Every year the bike industry has a huge trade show in Las Vegas- it’s called Interbike. And that’s where all the manufacturers and all the retailers who can attend get together, and you know, basically we sell to retailers. And, I have retailers frequently walk into my booth and say, that they read the blog on a regular basis. Even guys who don’t carry my bikes and aren’t going to carry my bikes, they read it because they find it entertaining.  They agree with or connect with one way or another. I consider that a big success."

One of Tim’s retailers told him that their retail store has computers with access to the web set to the Masi blog.  The Masi retailer told Tim he set the computer browser to the Masi Guy blog so that customers can learn about the brand and get connected with Masi after the customer leaves the store.

According to Tim, the blog has made it easier to get in touch with retailers. Tim does not have a big advertising budget, and now the blog has reduced the need for a large budget to advertise to retailers because so many of the retailers are aware of the blog.

Tim believes that "a key ingredient to being successful with a blog personally is to network with other bloggers and to do the right thing and post comments and add links and do things like that because you build your strength and credibility within the community and you’re not just another, you know, soulless marketer with a blog site."

Tim thinks it is important to receive comments from bloggers on his blog, and especially important to receive comments from important bloggers in his industry.  That’s why Tim thinks it’s important to seek out important blogs in his industry and "leave comments there to invite that back and forth dialogue."  Posts about the latest products generate the most comments on Tim's blog.

Tim told us about his experiences blogging about the Tour De France.  He wrote on his blog about the race in France from his office in San Diego, but his take on the race and review of existing news reports gave such good information about the events there that he received a lot of traffic.

Tim said that over time he learned what content to develop for specific segments of his audience.  That insight has given him the ability to write content that will attract more attention.

Tim believes companies could gain a lot from blogging by giving them a window on their marketplace.

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