Love is wonderful. Brand love, as accounting Software-as-a-Service company Xero proves, is powerful.

When Xero first burst onto the scene in 2006, it did the unimaginable. It took accounting software and made it simple and beautiful; it celebrated small business owners, bookkeepers and accountants, and made them feel respected and valued. It seeded love by giving love and, along the way, picked up three million subscribers across 180 countries and a two-time #1 ranking in Forbes World’s Most Innovative Growth Companies (2014 and 2015).  

Like in any healthy relationship, brand love takes effort to sustain. Today, much of this responsibility falls on the shoulders of James Kyd, Xero’s EGM Brand & Marketing, and his team. 

Marketing to human emotions

“I’ve always been fascinated by human emotions and how this plays out in people’s behaviours. I also have a geeky side that appreciates how technology can be used to shape lives and change the world, so technology marketing was a natural fit for me,” said James.

Having laid a firm professional foundation with technology giant IBM, where he worked his way up the ranks over 16 years, James served as Chief Marketing Officer for two professional services firms before joining Xero in 2017. 

“By the time I came onboard, Xero already had a fantastic brand foundation and a thriving community. Where I add value, and where the challenge really lies today, is in keeping things fresh; to ensure that Xero continues to be fun, relevant, and engaging while staying true to our core brand essence,” he shared. 

This starts with understanding that while Xero is known for its beautifully designed online accounting software, its success really comes from how the simple, seamless experience makes its users feel. 

Placing people before product, the company understands that it serves two distinct community segments — small business owners as well as bookkeepers and accountants — and adopts a differentiated approach in its value proposition, messaging, and engagement strategy. 

Giving a voice to small businesses

With small businesses representing over 90% of all businesses in OECD countries, the sector is large, diverse and, consequently, fragmented. This makes it difficult for it to project a unified voice. Xero turned this into a brand opportunity, positioning itself as a champion for small business owners everywhere. 

Xero’s support for the community was perhaps most pronounced in 2020. At a time when many small businesses were reeling from the impact of the global pandemic, Xero stood in solidarity with them, launching a ‘Behind Small Business’ initiative to support them through tough times.  

“We made a strategic decision to stop marketing to small businesses and start marketing for them instead. As part of ‘Behind Small Business’, we offered resources to help owners cope with the situation and better position themselves for recovery. We ran informative webinars, shared inspiring stories, and, in the UK, held a competition where small businesses could win up to £5,000 of free exposure from Xero-sponsored advertising campaigns,” shared James.

The empathy that Xero feels for the small business community also shines through in its Emotional Tax Return competition, where small business owners are invited to claim the emotional expense of running a business.  

Describing these as hidden costs that are invisible to others, the competition is informed by a Xero-commissioned survey which revealed that many small business owners in Australia were “under-romanced, under-holidayed, and under-slept.”

As their resident cheerleader, Xero put up $40,000 worth of prizes, ranging from stress-relieving holidays to dining experiences, pamper sessions and more, to offer a little respite to weary small business owners. 

“Across all our interactions with the small business community, we are conscious to never over inflate the role of our brand in their lives. Accounting is a necessity, but it is not their core business. It plays a supporting role, and so do we,” said James.  

Celebrating bookkeepers and accountants

When it comes to the bookkeeper and accountant community, however, Xero takes a much more proactive approach.

“In my opinion, one of the things that Xero did right from Day One was recognising the importance of bookkeepers and accountants in our community. They are a largely under-valued and under-loved group. We found that when we give them respect, celebrate their work, and equip them with the tools to work more efficiently, this love is returned to us twice as strong,” said James. 

It’s seen, most notably, in the thousands of attendees that throng Xerocon, the brand’s flagship conference. 

Billed as ‘Glastonbury for accountants’, Xerocon is equal parts work and play, offering attendees networking opportunities, presentations, fun, games, and immersive experiences — which are all key ingredients for community building. Response to Xerocon has been phenomenal, with the ticketed event regularly selling out months in advance. 

“Bookkeepers and accountants want to be at Xerocon because it’s a fun, contemporary event centred around them. It’s something that they never had before but clearly desire,” observed James. 

From giving them the spotlight at Xerocon to sending them love letters on Valentine’s Day, Xero works hard to keep the passion alive in this relationship. 

“For many bookkeepers and accountants, Xero is a big part of their daily work; there are even some whose entire business is built on Xero. This makes it appropriate for us to lean in more strongly, help them get maximum value from our solution, and uplift the profession as a whole,” he added.  

Connecting brand to business

Xero’s thriving community is a brand marketer’s dream, though James is quick to caution against over-engineering this. 

“Communities are people coming together and organising themselves around a shared interest. Even if that interest is your brand, you are not in control. This is a discomforting point for many marketers, but I truly believe that authentic, passionate communities form when brands take a step back and let their community decide their own destiny,” said James. 

To bring brand and community back to business impact, Xero uses a data scorecard acronymised as J.E.D.I. It stands for Journey, Experience, Data, and Insights, and essentially tracks and measure success across the entire customer journey.  

What is significant is that J.E.D.I is a whole-of-business concept; not a measurement framework that marketing uses in silo. This ensures that all 4,500 employees at Xero are fully aligned on what the customer journey looks like, speak the same language around it, and have a shared understanding of how their work impacts their customers. This carries through every single customer touchpoint, creating a uniquely Xero experience that is authentic and consistent. 

They say love comes from within. In Xero’s case, this couldn’t be more true.