Most of us know Xerox as a printer and photocopier selling organization and many have stereotyped it to an extent that whenever they have to get something photocopied, they ask it to be “Xerox-ed”. The latter part is indeed a proud moment for the company, because what else do you want when your brand name is synonymous with the service it provides.
But for Xerox, it was proving to be an identity crisis, as photocopy, printing machines, and other related products are not the only business they have.
Xerox also caters to a large B2B market through its business process services. With these services constituting a large part of their revenue, it was time for Xerox to change the perception of only being a B2C company, especially in the B2B market. They came out with a microsite which acted as a center piece of their content marketing efforts. The site’s editorial content targets business decision-makers with “sharp insight, bold thinking, practical solutions and new ideas”. The most captivating part about the site is a separate section for each industry domain. So if someone from manufacturing sector visits the site, they will find content about Xerox’s capabilities, experience and case studies stating why outsourcing non-core business processes to Xerox, could help them have more time and resources to make the best possible products.
Content played a big role for Xerox to tell its story. They addressed industry demand and how they could bridge the gap with their services. With a lot of rich content coming out, its business process services got a major boost and even Fortune, which puts out the world’s “most admired companies” list, placed it in the information technology services category.
“Content gives you that richer platform for telling a story.”
Barbara Basney, VP Global Advertising & Media, Xerox
We are living in an age where customers are smart thinkers and before buying something, they first like to be completely aware about the product, and then check for the reliability and trust factor in the company. An educated customer is keeping an organization on its feet to meet the requirement of imparting all the desired information. Content is now that richer platform to tell brand stories with, and such is the power of content that marketing campaigns are built around them. To communicate, an organization may have multiple platforms, but content is the only tool which drives each of these platforms.
One of the most cliched phrases used in marketing is “Customer is king”, and the same is said about content. Customer has always been the focus of an organization, and accordingly marketing activities are designed to engage them. It is just that the platform changes. With fierce competition, and every company coming out with more or less same features and benefits, the one that most effectively puts across its story connects with the customer.
“Customer needs education and information, but at their time and convenience.”
With access to mobile devices there has been an ease in dissemination of information.
Today, the customer chooses the time and platform to consume that information. Everyone knows how irritating it is to receive random calls from people trying to sell just about anything.
Irrespective of the fact where you are, and what you are doing, these cold pitches never stop. Now when you get irritated by such type of selling, then how can you expect your customer to listen to you? Customers will buy but out of their own choice. They need education and information, but at their time and convenience. It’s the responsibility of the organization to make the information available whenever, wherever it is required.
Adopting content driven marketing will make your customers life a lot easy. A customer needs success stories to rely upon, and blogs and case studies for awareness and education.
You just need to decide what, where and how much you need to roll out to stay connected to your customers.