5 Principles for Successfully Marketing a UCaaS Business

• February 5, 2020
• Author: Keith Young

Successfully marketing a UCaaS business requires a shift in perspective. Traditional marketing works for traditional business models. But the UCaaS industry is not traditional. Marketing for UCaaS needs to adapt to the recurring revenue model and the consumer shift from ownership to access.

These 5 principles will help you successfully market your UCaaS business: 

1. It’s a long-term relationship, not a one-time sale.

When a customer buys a single product, they only need to believe in the value of that one product. But when a customer signs up with UCaaS, their trust must be in your entire company. They are committing to a long-term relationship, and that’s a big decision. 

Shift your focus off “making the sale” to nurturing the relationship. Gaining and sustaining the trust of your customer will be the greatest determining factor in their decision to renew, refer, or upgrade your services. 

Your marketing will make promises, but your entire business (including sales and customer support) needs to fulfill those promises. It’s a joint effort. 

2. Prove your value to the customer. 

It’s easy to say “the customer comes first”. Putting action to those words takes a lot more effort. 

Consumers don’t actually want a subscription, points out Robert Skrob in his book Retention Point. People would prefer a permanent and complete solution to a problem rather than having to pay for the privilege of that solution every month. 

This places a demand on UCaaS businesses to continuously prove your value to your customers – even after the initial sign-up. Show your customers you want to keep them continuously happy. 

3. Forget traditional sales funnels for one-time transactions. 

The nature of the relationship between a UCaaS business and its customers is completely different from that of traditional businesses. A one-time sale is the end goal for traditional businesses, but the ideal for UCaaS is a forever customer. It’s ongoing and long-term. 

While lead generation and conversion are important, UCaaS marketing must take into account the continuous journey of the customer. The process doesn’t end at sign-up. Instead, it progresses through a series of nurturing, upgrades, referrals and renewals. 

For the UCaaS marketer, the most important work happens after the initial sale. Invest in empowering new customers to be completely successful with your product. Provide useful content that encourages them to stay with your service.  

4. Think retention, not acquisition.

Acquiring new customers is important. It also costs up to 7 times more than retaining existing customers. 

For traditional businesses, the goal is to get as many new customers in the door as possible. For UCaaS, retaining your existing customers will keep your business successful. As long as your customers are happy, they’ll keep paying for your product and even upgrading, resulting in increased revenue. 

5. Invest in the onboarding process.

Onboarding a new customer is the first step toward retaining that customer. Get a new customer set up quickly and using your product successfully. Throughout the onboarding process, remember that you’re nurturing a long-term relationship and remind them of the value of your product. 

It’s critical to closely monitor usage, especially at the early stages. When new customers get frustrated, they’re more likely to cancel and try one of your competitors than to ask for help and work through the struggles.

Effective Marketing for UCaaS Businesses

Business success in the UCaaS industry takes a unique approach to marketing. An effective marketing strategy for UCaaS businesses will focus on building long-term relationships with customers and emphasize customer retention.

At UnitedCloud, supporting our partners’ marketing efforts is a key part of what we do. We provide our cloud phone resellers with a full suite of integrated tools – including a comprehensive library of custom-branded print marketing assets – to help you run your entire hosted solution. Find out more about our White Label Program to boost your business.