Stage One: Defining Objectives and Scope
Core Business Objectives
Ricoh’s brand communications are driven by three core business objectives: awareness, sales, and advocacy. These objectives are paired with six tactical strategies: Attention, Evaluation, Recency, Proximity, Value Exchange, and Community. In the articles Rethinking Marketing Strategy and Rethinking the Customer Decision Journey, Satell (2017) presents an alternative to traditional campaign and customer engagement planning.
Satell’s model, combined with specific tactical strategies, provides a framework for building the customer engagement media plan. He emphasizes that “marketers must change their focus from grabbing attention to holding attention by focusing on three core business objectives” (Satell, 2017).
Tactical Approach
To remain competitive and become the most trusted global company, Ricoh is committed to excellence in improving quality of life and driving sustainability. The company’s growth strategy includes five major principles focused on volume expansion—Market Share Pursuit, Machines In the Field (MIF) Expansion, and Full Lineup of Products—and operational scale expansion through In-house Manufacturing and Direct Sales & Services. This strategic approach emphasizes profitability (Ricoh Group Integrated Report, 2018).
The new service brand for Level-C Customers encapsulates these principles through a tactical approach utilizing Satell’s objective model.
Satell’s Objectives Model
Objective #1: Grow Awareness of New Business Solutions for Level-C Customer Services
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- Attention: Offer Managed Business Services/Solutions to executive-level customers to enhance their digital workplaces, focusing on areas that increase value to B2B clients and promoting current solutions to generate interest.
- Evaluation: Assess key features and services that empower digital workplaces. Evaluate how Ricoh’s offerings compare to competitors and identify areas for improvement.
Objective #2: Promote Sales of Level-C Customer Services
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- Recency: Host virtual tours of the digital office powered by Ricoh’s Level-C Customer Business Solution Center, integrating information from key contacts to enhance the virtual experience.
- Proximity: Ensure accessibility through a customized online solution that is secure, automated, and tailored to customer needs.
Objective #3: Foster Advocacy for Level-C Customer Services
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- Value Exchange: Use experiences and virtual tours to demonstrate how Level-C Customer services benefit businesses by increasing productivity and reducing costs.
- Community: Create social media buzz targeting executive-level officers, promoting the digital workplace experience and sharing relevant research.
The first step in building a customer engagement framework is to translate the above objectives into the context of Level-C B2B customer products and services, aligning with Ricoh’s mission of “Empowering Digital Workplaces.”
Stage Two: Identifying Customer Touchpoints
The key challenge is to determine the motives behind customer contact with the brand. Communication with Level-C Customers should focus on the organizational and operational performance of managed/business services, intertwined with internal and external communications, including Ricoh’s customers.
According to Unily (n.d.), a Digital Workplace strategy unifies business operations and communications through a common digital platform of tools and services, enhancing staff engagement and operational efficiency. This interconnectivity is essential for today’s business organizations.
Schultz (2017) identifies three types of audience engagement: the nature of the product, the level of message creativity, and the media channel. Each medium has its own level of engagement. A targeted message for specialty magazines, professional social networks, and specialized blogs increases engagement, while a Brand Contact Audit Form can help assess customer-brand communication impact.
Brand Contact Audit Form for Level-C Customer Possible Points of Contact
| Contact Point | Expectations at Contact | Experience at Contact | Brand Message | Positive or Negative | Importance of Contact to Brand | Target to Reinforce or Improve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saw an ad about a line of products | Expect the product to perform as well or better than competitors | Learned the product had a variety of innovative features | Empowering Digital Workspaces | Positive | High | Reinforce brand message, ensuring optimal product performance |
| Read an article about a service for B2B customers | How can this service improve my business? | Discovered a feature not currently communicated to the client | Empowering Digital Workspaces | Negative | High | Improve communication through diverse digital channels |
| Discovered a need for a product or service | Resolve the issue of expanding services nationwide | Key account contacts direct call/email | Imagine. Change. | Positive | High | Justify brand message, highlighting quality of life improvements |
These touchpoints motivate Ricoh’s B2B customers to engage with the brand, emphasizing the value of audience attention as an opportunity to connect with executive-level decision-makers.
Stage Three: Strategic Media Engagement Plan
Empowering digital workplaces through Ricoh’s innovative technologies enables individuals to work smarter (Empowering Digital Workplaces, n.d.). Current initiatives target diverse sectors, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, real estate, travel, tourism, and engineering.
Ricoh embraces social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram to promote its services, fostering community engagement and product awareness. Facebook and Twitter serve to disseminate in-depth blog articles on products and services, while the YouTube channel showcases offerings and provides support and training. Although Instagram is utilized, its potential marketing practices remain underexplored.
Ricoh’s website serves as a comprehensive digital marketing hub, offering extensive information on its products and services. However, there is a significant opportunity for improvement in social media engagement, indicating a need for a more proactive approach in digital marketing channels.
Three touchpoints for focus include product ads, white papers, and service campaigns. Existing media, such as virtual tours and product explanations, must communicate enthusiastically, practically, and utilitarian, generating social media buzz and targeting Level-C Customers globally. Further efforts should be made to promote products under the umbrella of “Empowering Digital Workplaces,” incorporating keywords such as transitional, new, smart, and sustainable.
Conclusion: Customer Engagement Plan
This Strategic Media Engagement Plan provides a framework to focus on the customer through digital media channels. The objectives of Awareness, Sales, and Advocacy, along with their respective strategies, aim to communicate the concept of Empowering Digital Workplaces to Ricoh’s new audience—Level-C Customers.
This aim aligns with the value proposition of Empowering Digital Workplaces, which is anchored in Ricoh’s corporate philosophy and commitment to customers and communities. By fostering advocacy through digital channels, Ricoh reinforces its brand and drives growth.
Long-Term Relationship Building Value Proposition
For over 80 years, Ricoh has offered B2B customers a wide range of initiatives that promote workplace innovation and societal betterment. The value proposition for Level-C Customers should evolve through the company’s well-defined corporate philosophy.
Ricoh New Zealand exemplifies the core ideas that must be amplified in communication with target audiences. When asking, “Why choose Ricoh services?” several key points illustrate why national clients should utilize its products:
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- Proven track record with true multi-platform support
- Global outlook and extensive office technology
- Comprehensive business solutions
In a December 2018 video message, Joji Tokunaga, President and CEO of Ricoh Americas, emphasized the need to expand business with enterprise accounts, stating that “digital workplace solutions are much more profitable” and indicating a focus on exploring new contacts in uncharted departments. Thus, the Level-C Customer approach defined in this project targets the executive leadership of existing enterprise accounts.
Ricoh’s mission is to provide excellence in improving quality of life and driving sustainability. This long-term proposition, viewed through its mission, vision, and values, shapes its transformational value for customers. Ricoh’s promise to empower digital workplaces focuses on connecting digital technology, analytics, AI, robotics, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things to redefine work. This new value proposition represents a synergy of ideas and technologies that enhances Ricoh’s Level-C Customer Service, fostering competitiveness among B2B customers.
References
Biography.com Editors. (2018, September 14). Jeff Bezos biography. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/jeff-bezos-9542209
Brand Magazine. (2017, November 23). Ricoh Philippines stands out in the country’s biggest trade shows. Retrieved from https://brandmagazineph.com/tag/ricoh/
Fred Meyer. (2018). Meet our executive team. Retrieved from https://www.fredmeyer.com/topic/meet-our-executive-team
Ricoh Co., Ltd. (2018). Ricoh Group integrated report 2018. Retrieved from https://www.ricoh.com/sustainability/report/download/pdf2018/all_E.pdf
Schultz, D. E. (2017). Building customer-brand relationships. Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
Starbucks. (2018). Leadership – Kevin Johnson. Retrieved from https://news.starbucks.com/contact/leadership/kevin-johnson
Mikhail Oparin 
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