https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Telephony/UC/Collaboration


The Pitch: Marketing Success Takes Common Sense

  • Written by Channel
  • June 30, 2000

Posted: 07/2000

Marketing Success Takes Common Sense
By Maureen Rhemann

Marketing does not come naturally to everyone. In many ways, it is an acquired skill rather than an innate ability. The whole idea behind marketing is the ability to use a collection of techniques to entice a customer to buy a product. Many companies make the mistake of cutting back on marketing dollars when times get tough, but hard times are exactly the moment when companies should focus on marketing in much the same way a farmer plants seeds and manages his crop for the next harvest.

Forget B-School; Use Basics

Timing is everything. It’s as important as getting the product and promoting it the right way. The new breed of post-deregulation telecommunications companies has been incredibly dependent upon venture capital and financing by the public market. With investment dollars pouring into the tech sector and speculative investors becoming less cautious, competitive baby telecom service providers truly have been born with silver spoons in their mouths. But as the euphoria wears off and the industry shakes out, the reality is setting in. It’s time to get back to basics.

* Love the Customer. Unique products are invented by people and companies trying to solve a legitimate problem. Of course, profit potential is always a big motivator for solving the problem quickly. Designing the product and putting the customer’s needs first or figuring out the customer’s decision process for buying the product requires being close to the customer. They both require thoughtfulness and caring–basically putting others first. (Remember Alexander Graham Bell’s invention? The telecom industry really got its funding and its start by using signal processing as a means of helping the deaf.)

Customers are fabulous folks; they will give you every clue you need to sell to them. Developing a good marketing strategy means getting into the customer’s head. Become the customer. Learn to think like a customer. Practice putting others first in all situations, because unless you do this in everyday life, you can’t do it in business.

* Know Your Competitor. When it comes to really evaluating how the telecommunications and technologies markets are shaping up competitively, you don’t have to look far for market clues. In just a few short years, market infants have become the granddaddies of the industry. The rules of the game no longer apply. Little companies, armed to the teeth with tons of market capitalization, can go on a shopping spree and buy rivals that may be 10 times their size.

The competitive landscape is changing daily. Just look at the sponsors for the National Football League from year to year–Ericsson
(www.ericsson.com), PSINet Inc. (www.psi.net) and E*Trade
(www.e-trade.com). Recent startups are now players in the big game.

A market zooming along at full speed brings with it new players and a host of new teams. These teams are armed with a myriad of new products and innovative strategies. Following the status quo is just not an option. Success in the telecommunications industry is usually short-lived. It doesn’t take long for another company to copy a
successful product or service. Here are a few tips for knowing your competitor:

* Know the strengths and weaknesses of the players on the other team;

* Learn to think like the other team;

* Analyze the other team’s offense and defense carefully; and

* Make intelligence gathering a marketing priority.

No Rules

Strategy is a game that requires being several steps ahead of your opponent and knowing your opposition better than
yourself. Check out the sci-fi thriller, The Matrix. In this futuristic story, machines have taken over the world and people lead their ordinary lives never knowing that they are living in virtual reality. The story’s hero realizes that the machines running this virtual reality work from rules based on logic; and to gain an advantage, one must break these rules by detouring from the logical path. He stops thinking like a human and dives headfirst into the machine’s mind, thus turning the tables and saving humanity.

Thinking outside the box takes practice. Firms that corral their people into cubicles force their thoughts into cubes as well. Remember when you were a kid and thought anything was possible? Tapping into those limitless thought processes is essential to marketing strategy. Try bringing Play-Doh and big fat crayons into strategic planning sessions to get people to think in terms of “no rules/no limits.”

As organizations become larger, marketing organizations are exposed to ever-increasing limitations and become less creative. Add some tough times and cost reduction to that equation, and your marketing organization is burnt toast.

How do you revive it? One step at a time. We are not talking about large cash infusions here. Sometimes the best things in life are free. Start by changing the work environment. Practice getting people out of the office or out of the cubicle. When a new idea emerges, don’t point out why it can’t be done–figure out how it can.

People First

People are a strategic asset. In fact, they are your strongest asset. In this tumultuous, topsy-turvy world where the equation can change at any time, you need one factor you can count on. Your competitor can copy your product, copy your marketing strategy and try to hire your people. The one thing you can do is keep your people happy so they, in turn, keep the customer happy, stay with your company and safeguard your strategy.

We can look at scholars such as Frederick Herzberg who have evaluated how people are motivated. Money is not usually the motivating factor unless someone is without a job. People like job satisfaction; they like comfy work environments where they are respected and well cared for. Good people hire and refer other good people. Strong customer relationships can outlast onslaughts by market competitors. Some suggestions are:

* Hire good people with high standards and good values who know how to put others first;

* Always hire people whom you believe are brighter than you are;

* Recognize and reward people who contribute to the organization in a sincere and timely manner; and

* Keep looking for new and innovative ways to keep your people happy because low turnover in your marketing and sales team can be your strategic advantage.

At the end of the game, the winner declares victory by having a good strategy that comes from within.

Maureen Rhemann is managing partner for Telecommunications & Business Strategies Group
(www.telecomstrategies.com), a marketing consulting firm. She can be reached at
[email protected]

Tags: Agents Telephony/UC/Collaboration

Most Recent


  • Microsoft Teams on laptop
    Microsoft Targeting Partners to Sell Teams, Windows 365 to SMBs, More
    Microsoft still sees a big opportunity for Teams among SMBs. Windows 365 is also growing in this market.
  • Market research
    Twilio, CM.com, Infobip Rank High in CCaaS, New Study Reveals
    By 2027, industry revenue will reach $15.6 billion.
  • Making Waves
    7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Microsoft, Rackspace, RingCentral, Avaya
    Hackers targeted one UCaaS firm by impersonating the company's IT department.
  • Mergers acquisitions m&a goldfish crackers
    Latest M&A: IBM, Vonage, Nokia, GoTo, Nitel, Ensono, Huntress, More
    One cybersecurity company's $22 million July acquisition was its largest to date.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Cloud Phone
    AT&T to Offer Up to 1 Million Customers Cisco Webex Calling
  • Sign a Contract
    Unisys Adds Managed UCaaS with $153 Million Unify Square Acquisition
  • Fortune 500 2021 logo
    AT&T, Microsoft, Verizon, More Tech, Telco Companies Make Latest Fortune 500
  • Telephone poles and lines
    Granite Buys Epik: Score One for Legacy Telecom

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

Lumen Channel Leaders Talk Program Evolution, C-Suite Sponsorship, TSD Consolidation

August 15, 2022

Kaseya’s Auto-Renewal Changes Bring Glimmer of Hope to Partners Amid Turmoil

August 15, 2022

Analysts React to Rackspace Earnings with Downgrades

August 15, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

How to Take Shared Responsibility for Securing Cloud

August 11, 2022

Seize the Application Modernization Opportunity

August 2, 2022

A Growth Mindset: Your Organization’s Strategic Differentiator

August 1, 2022

Webinars

View all

Outsmarting RaaS: Implementation Strategies To Help Your Clients Before, During, and After a Ransomware Attack

August 23, 2022

Why it is Important to Upgrade Aging Servers and How to use Live Optics to Upgrade Efficiently

August 25, 2022

Executives at Home are Not Alright: An Intro to Digital Executive Protection

September 8, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

ThreatLocker Preaches Zero Trust, Addresses Industry Competition

Microsoft Targeting Partners to Sell Teams, Windows 365 to SMBs, More

August 15, 2022

ScienceLogic Debuts New Partner Portal

August 9, 2022

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

June 27, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

.@LumenCPP partner leaders say private equity investment in the advisory channel is validating the space to Lumen l… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@KaseyaCorp's auto-renewal changes bring glimmer of hope to partners amidst turmoil. Some of our #MSP501 and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@AuCyble research shows #criticalinfrastructure at risk from exposed VNC endpoints. dlvr.it/SWhGhJ https://t.co/oMhiYxCT9L

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

Investment analysts are responding to @Rackspace’s Q2 earnings with downgrades, new price objectives.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

In a new @juniperresearch study, @twilio ranked No. 1 for its flexible CCaaS product offering. Which companies plac… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

A few more booths left! Join an industry-leading lineup of 100+ suppliers at THE channel event of the fall. Partner… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@splunk vet Bill Hustad named @Okta's new #channelchief. dlvr.it/SWXmws https://t.co/ILQesul0Cz

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

The Gately Report: #BHUSA edition with @Hacker0x01, @Cisco, @SaltSecurity, @CISAgov, @ExtraHop, @IBMSecurity, more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X