How to Create a Cloud PBX Marketing Strategy: A Guide for Operators

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March 7, 2024 · 10 min to read

Cloud PBX significantly differs from an operator’s core products, so integrating the marketing of this service into existing processes may prove challenging. This guide will explain how to do everything correctly and avoid mistakes.

Step 1. Define Your Objectives

Start with your objectives, which will guide your team in the right direction when promoting the cloud PBX service, and determine a realistic budget. You must clearly understand how much funding you can allocate to promote the cloud PBX at this stage.

First, define a measurable global goal, for example, capturing 25% of the cloud PBX market within three years. Then, set short-term goals that will ensure the achievement of the global plan, such as attracting a minimum of 10 leads per month and selling additional options to at least five existing cloud PBX subscribers per month.

Become a partner

Digital Tide takes on the development of the marketing strategy. A telecommunications operator is only responsible for selling the service.

Step 2. Plan Your Positioning

Since the cloud PBX offers many features, there's no need to develop positioning for each option. It's sufficient to create three core value propositions, for example:

1

The ability to answer every call.
2

Control over employee communication with customers.
3

Automation of call handling.

To help end-users better understand these values, communicate them separately. For instance, create three different email copy variations and send them to different customers. The value proposition that garners the most opens and responses in the email campaign should also be used in other advertising channels.

Be sure to showcase screenshots of the cloud PBX interface — the product's visual quality will draw users closer to making a purchase. Since not all operators have a user-friendly service interface, you can easily differentiate yourself from competitors.

Step 3. Create a Quality Product Page

Prepare a product page showcasing the service, including screenshots of the cloud PBX interface, a link to documentation, and a feedback form.

Of course, don't forget the fundamental principles of a quality landing page:

Pleasing Design. Avoid overloading the landing page with content; it's better to keep it minimalist.
Clear Call to Action (CTA). After reading the CTA, the user should understand that they can expect a free trial of the cloud PBX, a demo, or a consultation with a specialist.
Responsiveness. Ensure that the landing page looks good on a computer and mobile device. Potential customers may learn about you using a smartphone; first impressions can’t be made twice.
Concise Descriptions. Avoid detailed descriptions of every function; leave that for the technical documentation. Your goal is to attract users with precise wording that succinctly demonstrates the value of the cloud PBX.

The advantage of a product page is that it helps customers find answers to their main questions. Even if an employee doesn't mention something important, the user can discover product details without assistance.

Step 4. Inform Existing Customers About the Service

Place a prominent banner on your company's main website and social media platforms. Send an email campaign and SMS messages to your existing customer base, and also distribute a press release about the launch of the cloud PBX. In general, do everything to ensure that your customers are aware of the introduction of your new service.

Step 5. Develop an SEO Strategy

Despite the long-term effect of SEO, your product still needs organic promotion. With such a strategy, customers can find you through valuable articles in search results. If you have a blog on your website, write articles not only about your core services but also about the cloud PBX. Customer case studies work best — for example, discuss how a particular company increased sales by monitoring every incoming call.

Step 6. Plan Paid Promotion

The practice has shown that contextual and targeted advertising for cloud PBX is most effective. The advantage of this type of promotion is that campaign results are easy to measure. Another benefit of digital advertising is its manageability: lead generation directly depends on how much money you invest.

Good results are also achieved through the following channels:

Promotion in business communities
Radio advertising
Business breakfasts and participation in conferences
Advertising on screens in the operator's telecom stores.

For offline events, it's challenging to measure conversion to sales; these activities are more focused on ensuring that your customers and partners are well-informed about your new product.

Step 7. Choose Metrics to Monitor the Effectiveness of Online Advertising

Here are the key performance indicators for online advertising:

1

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). Calculation: total expenses / number of new customers. This metric helps evaluate how expensive it is to bring each customer to make a purchase. An important point is that the CAC may be higher since customers use the cloud PBX for much longer than internet and phone services.
2

Return on Investment (ROI). Calculation: income from investments − investment amount / investment amount * 100%. The ROI is perhaps the most critical metric, indicating how well marketing activities justify themselves.
3

Conversion Rate (CR). Calculation: the number of users who completed the desired action / total number of users * 100%. This metric should be tracked at every stage of the sales funnel, showing what percentage of visitors provided their data and what percentage of users paid for the product.
4

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). Calculation: total revenue / number of users in a month. This metric is especially beneficial for revenue forecasting in the future.
5

Customer Churn Rate (CCR). Calculation: the number of customers who left / the number of customers at the beginning of the period * 100%. This metric helps identify weaknesses in the customer retention strategy and make timely corrections.
6

Lifetime Value (LTV). Calculation: ARPU * 12 / CR for the year.

Usually, cloud PBX advertising is very cost-effective, especially in countries where the market for additional business services is still developing. In this case, the right strategy is to spend as much money as possible on online advertising to increase revenue significantly.

Step 8. Create a Customer Retention Strategy

After a while, you will have a substantial subscriber base for the cloud PBX, and it will be essential to ensure your subscribers stay with you for as long as possible. Here's what you can pay attention to:

Personalized approach. Every company has specific needs, so sending everyone the same messages about additional options may not be very effective.
Reviews and feedback. Regularly ask users if they like your service and what they feel could be improved. If you already have quality managers, assign them to track feedback related to the cloud PBX.
Introduce new features. Tell your users about new features in your cloud PBX service as quickly as possible. For example, if you've added call monitoring and call whispering, inform your users on your website and social media and send updates to your customers. This process is similar to activities during the service launch.

Become a partner

Digital Tide will assist in preparing email campaigns for your existing subscriber base and will answer all your questions regarding customer retention.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let's discuss the mistakes that operators make when promoting cloud PBX services:

Relying on a small budget. The cost of acquiring cloud PBX customers will be higher than reaching subscribers for the operator's core services because the LTV of the former ones is significantly higher.
Presenting the product through unpopular features. For example, an IVR is a well-known feature, but in reality, it is used by no more than 25% of companies. The practice has shown that many customers are not thrilled about listening to a voice menu during calls, so don't prioritize this technology in your promotion.
Using visuals of contact centers. Sometimes, operators depict a person wearing a headset in advertising, but this should be avoided. Potential customers associate this with contact centers, which are costly and complex solutions that only suit a few companies.
Positioning as IP telephony. IP telephony and cloud PBX have different purposes. IP telephony makes cheap calls, while the cloud PBX is for call control. Using these terms interchangeably in advertisements is not recommended.

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Alexey Belyakov

CEO