What I've Learnt From Marketing B2B Tech Products For Over A Decade
Communication tools, or more specifically, business communication tools, such as those that offer video conferencing, instant chat, SMS and, even contact centre software, have become an integral part of our daily lives.
From connecting to stakeholders over a conference call to sending newsletters to our customers, reminding them to stay connected, or using business chats to collaborate with our teammates — B2B tech products are the minds and hearts of nearly all organisations today.
In such an era, we have so many platforms to choose from and can connect seamlessly with anyone across the globe. Zoom, Join, Zoho, Microsoft or Ping; pick one, and you'll be connected instantly!
But in that wake and race towards technological advancements, Nisha Parikh, VP of Marketing and HR at Telebu Communication, believes it might just be time to slow down.
She emphasises that we need to rethink business communications. We need to humanise it and forge long-term relationships with our customers, ultimately leading to never-ending business.
Marketing B2B tech products goes beyond doing better than your competitors or being the first one to launch a new product or feature.
And so here's a tête-à-tête with Ms. Parikh, a marketing thought leader who shares her tips on marketing B2B tech products and converting better in 2022.
Perspectives of a woman leader in tech
"When people ask me what I do at Telebu, my automatic response is we develop communication products. However, the next question is always intriguing. How and why was a woman chosen for the position of VP in a tech company?!" exclaims Nisha.
As a graduate in Psychology, Ms. Parikh had and still has a vision of creating a significant impact in the world.
For her, living through the dot com era has been the most influential inspiration she's ever had. She says, "I decided to work with an organisation that would change the way people communicate and share experiences."
According to her, Nisha's background in Psychology helps her empathise with the employees while also understanding the modern-day demands of B2B markets.
She explains, "At Telebu, our focus lies on forging relationships with our customers. That is why we think of not only increasing brand awareness but engaging with our customers, educating them about our products, and striving to make their communication problems ours."
Marketing in a competitive business era
Telebu kicked off its business communications journey some 19 years ago, primarily as a bulk SMS solutions provider, which explains its first brand name, SMS Country.
The company later reinvented itself with a long-term vision due to the trust and relationships built with its clientele in nearly 20 countries.
Three years ago, before the pandemic occurred, the company launched a business communication suite soon to be moulded into an omnichannel tool to integrate internal and external communications on a single platform.
Such a platform would feature telephony, instant messaging, video, voice, collaboration, voicemail, file sharing, shared inbox, and mobility capabilities.
That is the true definition of Unified Communications.
As a concept, UC combines multiple enterprise communications channels into one. But in reality, UC can manifest as equipment, a piece of software, or even as a service.
Unified Communication and collaboration (UC&C), on the other hand, comes as a package deal and is not limited to the description of what we connect as a digital workforce but also includes the how — that is, the collaboration framework or systems that help drive and scale businesses to new heights.
UC&C helps businesses overcome the inefficiencies and challenges of siloed and fragmented communication — focusing on making organisations more connected, efficient, and productive.
But let's focus on UC when it manifests as a service — best known as UCaaS.
Considering the rise of UCaaS in this competitive era, Ms. Parikh says,
"We are true believers in communication and delighting not just to our customers but also our employees. Our communication products revolve around creating satisfying experiences and cultures among teams. We are keen to focus on weaving such experiences together through strong communication and collaboration products."
She explains that when there are several recognised UCaaS providers in the market, and you've just started as an entrepreneur, your company needs to make the best decision — and the affordable one too. It also requires a solid foundation to keep it going.
Accordion to Ms. Parikh, "Empathy, Transparency, Trust and, Giving are strong pillars driving everything we do here at Telebu. We strive to be extremely loyal to our customers and employees, and these values have always paid off in the long run, no matter where we stand in the business race."
Humanising communications in the UCaaS industry
In the era of virtual communications, be it attending an online meet-up, an online school, a telehealth consultation, a business conference call, or a customer care chat — most companies want to offer the best technical experience possible.
And in a world where CaaS & UCaaS service providers are busily expanding and thinking of AI to advance their offerings, Ms. Parikh shares,
"At Telebu, we aim to humanise business communications by taking care of every business need. We want to add more human elements to technical products."
For Instance, TelebuJoin, a video conferencing product, allows users to adjust their bandwidth quality depending on their internet speed. Few other video conferencing platforms allow that, and often, communication goes haywire and affects the overall productivity of the call due to internet fluctuations.
Discussing this feature, Ms. Parikh says,
"We thought deeply of this and wanted to introduce a way of connecting over a video call without defeating any communication goals whatsoever. We want to tackle simple and often overlooked problems. But like every tech provider out there, we are working on a lot of AI and ML programs to build products that will ultimately become the nucleus of our customers' business successes."
She adds, "Constant communication and feedback from customers, understanding how their businesses are evolving and how we can add those elements to our product(s) is something that helps us stay future-ready as well."
Managing global experts toward one business goal
As an international company, Telebu hires talent worldwide.
Most of its experts work from the comfort of their homes or cafes and offer their wide-ranging expertise to this tech communication giant in the making.
Nisha explains, "Although working remotely is challenging, as humans, it's in our nature to adapt and learn to thrive in any situation. Our work culture is transparent and inclusive, and when we make the team part of the decision-making process, we can all achieve our goals faster, one after another."
Today, many tech companies have a global footprint, whether startups or well-established businesses. So Ms. Parikh adds, "It requires a lot of energy to drive a global culture across the organisation; hence it is important to build a solid team that shares a strong bond and works with a common thought process."
UCaaS and Telebu in the next decade
With startups on the rise, Ms. Parikh says, "We want to help small and micro businesses, especially those that thrive on communication, to achieve their business goals."
Thanks to unified communications, companies are overcoming challenges by eliminating unproductive tools and switching to innovative business platforms.
They are also saving a lot of time and money!
According to data by Digium, a company with 100 employees can save 115 minutes per day per employee & 191 hours a day company-wide, which translates into savings of about $920,000 per year! Now do your math.
While the competition for tech products will continue to remain stiff, social listening, digital marketing, and customer feedback will continue to be some key strategies to focus on.
And according to Forbes, companies will also need to invest in humanising digital engagements, doing conversational marketing, and offering customised solutions for a diverse clientele.
With that in mind, what's next for UCaaS and Telebu?
Well, Ms. Parikh believes that despite it being challenging, companies have to remain persistent in their goals related to delivering better customer experiences. And UCaas can and will become a huge catalyst for this.
She adds, "It's always a joy to see a smile on a customer's face when we keep our communication authentic and, at the same time, understand their business needs — be it on live chat or during a video conference. It'll be great to see how we can continue meeting the expectations of 2000+ customers, even when most of our operations are managed remotely."
Curious to learn about UcaaS or unified communications in general? Want to know about or test one of Telebu's products?
Then visit Telebu's website HERE for solutions to help you scale your business, regardless of size, by humanising your communication!
