Xerox Prints New Vision With Marketing

Here’s what to learn from how Bertrand and team did it. They needed a way to open people’s minds to think of the MFP as a workplace assistant, supporting productive, cost-effective, and streamlined business. Here’s an overview of the content program’s construction and measurement: Spend time on strategy first The strategy of the communications team was to build a global, audience-centered story to tell through targeted channels including: On-site experiences Press, analyst, and influencer content Social engagement Xerox-owned properties The idea behind this approach was to saturate the most important business, IT, channel, small- and medium-size business (SMB), and vertical audiences with an experiential, media, and content blitz. Interviews focused on the company’s strategy of changing how people define the modern workplace. Make it easy to duplicate Xerox channel partners around the globe recreated the Future of Work Global Tours by using marketing kits developed by Bertrand’s team. The partner-run events helped generate awareness in local markets and created demand for Xerox’s broader technology portfolio, as well as the partners’ complementary services, custom apps, and deep expertise. Influencer outreach kept ConnectKey top of mind throughout the year with SMB, workplace, and technology influencers creating and amplifying product reviews, unboxing videos and other shareable content. Steve Strauss, an expert in the SMB market, wrote about the company’s history of innovation and touted ConnectKey as a “smart workplace assistant.” Bertrand’s team repurposed Steve’s piece on various Xerox social channels, segmenting messaging to customers and channel partners. And Bertrand’s team earned praise for its practical approach, which included a sales-enablement strategy from the start. “Attendees got it.” To find out live who is named the 2018 Content Marketer of the Year (and lots of things to help your content marketing program), register today for Content Marketing World Sept. 4-7 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Author: Carla Johnson / Source: Content Marketing Institute

Editor’s note: Bertrand Cerisier is a finalist for 2018 Content Marketer of the Year. We’ll share insight from CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World in September.

When you imagine the future of work, what comes to mind? Does your futuristic workspace include printers? Does it even use paper?

If not, you’ve got a good idea of the messaging challenges the global marketing team at Xerox faced. How do you convince the changing workforce that a company known for its printers should be part of that future? And that those very printers can do more than churn out paper?

The answer: a multi-pronged marketing campaign that includes content adaptable for digital and in-person engagements. The thoughtful strategy, careful coordination, and smart repurposing behind this work earned Bertrand Cerisier, who led the initiative, a Content Marketer of the Year nomination.

Here’s what to learn from how Bertrand and team did it.

Build on existing foundations

Xerox has transformed from a printer company to a technology company. Though many remember the “speeds-and-feeds” approach it once took to marketing, in recent years, the company has moved more toward helping people rethink how they perform their everyday work on the job.

Consider the difference between the 1977 Brother Dominic Super Bowl commercial and its 2017 counterpart. The 1977 version is decidedly product-centric:

Forty years later, a new twist on the ad shows people, instead of technology, receiving digital copies of the same hand-lettered document in their own languages all over the world.

For the company’s largest product launch – including nearly 30 multi-function printers (MFPs) with security, cloud connectivity, and productivity features and apps – Bertrand faced the challenge of influencing the perception of printers, moving them from peripherals to the heart of the office.

To achieve this, Bertrand and team needed to demonstrate the benefits of automating document-heavy processes. They needed a way to open people’s minds to think of the MFP as a workplace assistant, supporting productive, cost-effective, and streamlined business. They created The Future of Work Global Tour as the platform to achieve this.

It takes a village, so recruit one

As vice president of global marketing for the Xerox Workplace Solutions Business Group, Bertrand oversees marketing activities for Xerox Office products and solutions. These include everything from strategic messaging, market intelligence, and life-cycle management to pricing strategy and sales enablement.

That broad responsibility, coupled with his 30 years of experience in a variety of marketing, sales, and strategy roles, positioned him well to create a cross-functional team to dig into the global challenge.

For the Future of Work program to be successful, Bertrand knew he’d need the cross-functional capabilities of Xerox’s corporate communications team. Support came from the company’s marketing, product marketing, public and analyst relations, social media, web marketing, paid search, brand, advertising, and global experiential marketing (events) teams around the company.

While in total this particular group is not specifically charged with content marketing, content was developed by this group based on expertise within these various functions.

Here’s an overview of the content program’s construction and measurement: