Xero going into PR mode - in the UK
By Mauricio Freitas, in
Technology, posted: 23-Aug-2008 03:40
I see New Zealand company Xero is engaging traditional PR for its UK launch.They also try to appeal to the Apple fan base with this press release I found today:
Xero set to make Mac users passionate about online accounting software
Mac users are generally more likely to rave about their computers’ great graphical capability than the business software they can use, but a new online accounting package called Xero (http://www.xero.com/) is out to change all that.
Xero co-founder and UK MD Hamish Edwards says the business has committed Mac users on staff. So when it came to developing the software, making sure Xero worked on Safari was never going to be enough. Xero also had to deliver the intuitive, great looking experience Mac users are used to.
“We are big fans of the Mac experience so we realised there was huge scope to improve the experience small business owners were having inputting and analysing their financial information.”
Katie Lips, Mac-user and social media strategist and Director of Kisky Netmedia (http://www.xero.com/whosusingxero/kiskynetmedia.htm), says Xero has more than delivered.
“We’re always on the lookout for cool new web apps and I find it quite funny that I am so excited about one that does accounting – but I am!
“What I also like about Xero is that it looks good. Not something that you immediately think of as necessary when doing your accounts, but for me it’s so obvious the designers have thought about how people work and what they want to be able to look at. All the ‘headline’ data is there for me to see easily, which is quite often all I want to know.”
As well as presenting key financial data in dashboard format, Edwards says Xero is intuitive in other important ways. It’s as simple to use as a computer game, but also has enough sophistication to prepare a business’ end of year financials.
Says Lips “The best way I can think to describe how happy I am with Xero is I use it all the time. From not even looking at the accounts side of the business I am now using Xero all the time to run invoices, look at the bank statements and all sorts of accounting things I never wanted to know about before. And I am enjoying it.”
As well as running on Safari, Xero also runs on Internet Explorer and Firefox, making collaboration with people using PC-based systems hassle free.
Xero recently expanded its offerings to Apple users with the introduction of Xero for iPhone and iPod Touch. This enables customers to access their accounts information wherever and whenever they need to and it’s available free to all Xero users.
Xero provides small businesses and their advisers with one, up to date, easy to use, instantly accessible set of accounts and business information.
Learn more about how Xero can help you http://www.xero.com/overview/
Test drive Xero https://www.xero.com/signup/
Contact our media and marketing team ukpress@xero.com
While I haven't found this kind of press releases from Xero here in New Zealand, I understand the high profile of their executive team, plus the fact they are a New Zealand-based technology startup, and their proximity to the target user market made things easier - word of mouth spread quickly.
Starting something in another country is a different business though and the traditional PR machine still holds the keys to many doors.
But appealing to the Apple user base in its first reach? Is is a significant number of accountants and small companies using Apple products to run the business - in opposition to doing the business?
In any case, well done going there.
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Comment by Rod Drury, on 23-Aug-2008 20:15
Hi Mauricio, related to the subject what's happening here?
http://brainsoftworld.net/2008/08/22/xero-going-into-pr-mode-in-the-uk/
Are your posts just pulled into other sites?
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Comment by Maurice Winn, on 23-Aug-2008 08:09
When promoting a business, you take what opportunities make sense at the time. Apple is apparently a good place to start in the UK for Xero. Apple has a good brand and Xero aims to get that too.
Zenbu has been a Xero fan club member and customer for nearly a year and it's a very convenient time saver and cost saver. I recommend it, along with the Asus EeePC which is also great, unlike Vista. My Vista laptop is dead in the corner after about 9 months of poor performance which started with no performance. I have never owned Apple things.
Xero staff are Apple enthusiasts as Zenbu staff are EeePC Linux open source enthusiasts, so it's not at all surprising they'd push it. People push what they like. That's what word of mouth is about.
Me too: > Accounting/IRD are real pains and it's nice to have the pain eased so real business can be done.
Disclosures. 1....I considered buying Xero shares because it's so good, but haven't done, though it was tempting. 2....Nothing but price against Apple but I have never bought Apple stuff.
Go Xero!