Peter Radizeski is Founder and President of RAD-INFO INC. He is an accomplished blogalyst, speaker, author and consultant. He has helped many service providers with sales training, marketing, channel development and business strategy. He is a trusted source of knowledge about the telecom sector. His honest and direct approach make him a refreshing speaker.

Look for his innovative ideas and analysis of current technology on his blogs.

Meet him at one of the many conferences he attends and speaks at.

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Marketing Lesson from the Election

A couple of marketing lessons from the campaign. (Non-political).

If your Brand is broken, run a Branding campaign not a negative campaign.

When your brand is broken — maybe your uptime is three eights instead of nines or maybe your customer service is notoriously awful – the buyer doesn’t have trust in you. You need Trust for being to buy.

Look at how Ma and Pa Bell (Verizon and AT&T)have been re-branding away from telecom. Meanwhile, CenturyLink, Windstream and Frontier have been struggling to find their brand, their message, their future.

EarthLink had struggles growing beyond a dial-up ISP. They tried so much stuff: DSL, cable resell, MVNO, Muni wi-fi, VoIP, fiber, etc. – before finding their groove in Retail.

FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) will get you so far, but the best brands in the DNC ran on hope, change and issues. Take a lesson from people doing it better than you. Learn from your rivals what resonates with your buyers.

231Hsm.jpg

I look at the independent candidates who took 9% of the total vote. They remind me of the 1195 other Hosted VoIP/UCaaS providers in the US. You say you are in the running, but are you even campaigning? Are you doing ANY effective marketing, advertising, PR? Chances are: notsomuch.

To look at Broadsoft as a candidate that thought it should have won – and quite frankly has disappointed. Of the top UCaaS providers – RC, 8×8, thinkingphones/Fuze, Star2Star, West, Broadview, Mitel, Jive, CoreDial, Cisco and Microsoft – none of them are using Broadsoft. That has to be disheartening. To some extent that is like the Democratic candidates for House and Senate that lost. The party leader didn’t help them win; the big name, carrier grade softswitch didn’t help the 400+ UCaaS players win either. (You could argue that a few are doing well, like Vonage Business, Nextiva, Evolve IP and Comcast. Yet mainly the Top 25 are anything but BSFT. Isn’t that interesting?)

Doesn’t matter the technology or the pedigree, you have to market to win.

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Related tags: , , , , ,

Related Entries

  • What Pain Does UCaaS Solve? – Aug 22, 2016
  • 2 Reasons It is Hard to Sell UC – Mar 14, 2016
  • Is UCaaS Growing? – Oct 31, 2016
  • Why Do You Look at an iPhone That Way? – Apr 07, 2016
  • Uh Oh, Microsoft is Closing the Gaps – Jan 15, 2016
  • Is There Any Telecom Disruption? – Sep 22, 2015
  • What the Studies About UC Say – Aug 25, 2015
  • Vonage Picks Up Another One – Aug 20, 2015
  • Verizon Invites the Channel Once More – Mar 20, 2015
    vz-store.jpg
  • Vonage Buys Simple Signal – Mar 17, 2015

    • TrackBacks
    | Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Marketing Lesson from the Election


    Copyright On Rad’s Radar?

    Apex Technology Services
    Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

    November 9, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

    Marketing Lesson from the Election

    A couple of marketing lessons from the campaign. (Non-political).

    If your Brand is broken, run a Branding campaign not a negative campaign.

    When your brand is broken — maybe your uptime is three eights instead of nines or maybe your customer service is notoriously awful – the buyer doesn’t have trust in you. You need Trust for being to buy.

    Look at how Ma and Pa Bell (Verizon and AT&T)have been re-branding away from telecom. Meanwhile, CenturyLink, Windstream and Frontier have been struggling to find their brand, their message, their future.

    EarthLink had struggles growing beyond a dial-up ISP. They tried so much stuff: DSL, cable resell, MVNO, Muni wi-fi, VoIP, fiber, etc. – before finding their groove in Retail.

    FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) will get you so far, but the best brands in the DNC ran on hope, change and issues. Take a lesson from people doing it better than you. Learn from your rivals what resonates with your buyers.

    231Hsm.jpg

    I look at the independent candidates who took 9% of the total vote. They remind me of the 1195 other Hosted VoIP/UCaaS providers in the US. You say you are in the running, but are you even campaigning? Are you doing ANY effective marketing, advertising, PR? Chances are: notsomuch.

    To look at Broadsoft as a candidate that thought it should have won – and quite frankly has disappointed. Of the top UCaaS providers – RC, 8×8, thinkingphones/Fuze, Star2Star, West, Broadview, Mitel, Jive, CoreDial, Cisco and Microsoft – none of them are using Broadsoft. That has to be disheartening. To some extent that is like the Democratic candidates for House and Senate that lost. The party leader didn’t help them win; the big name, carrier grade softswitch didn’t help the 400+ UCaaS players win either. (You could argue that a few are doing well, like Vonage Business, Nextiva, Evolve IP and Comcast. Yet mainly the Top 25 are anything but BSFT. Isn’t that interesting?)

    Doesn’t matter the technology or the pedigree, you have to market to win.

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Related tags: , , , , ,

    Related Entries

  • What Pain Does UCaaS Solve? – Aug 22, 2016
  • 2 Reasons It is Hard to Sell UC – Mar 14, 2016
  • Is UCaaS Growing? – Oct 31, 2016
  • Why Do You Look at an iPhone That Way? – Apr 07, 2016
  • Uh Oh, Microsoft is Closing the Gaps – Jan 15, 2016
  • Is There Any Telecom Disruption? – Sep 22, 2015
  • What the Studies About UC Say – Aug 25, 2015
  • Vonage Picks Up Another One – Aug 20, 2015
  • Verizon Invites the Channel Once More – Mar 20, 2015
    vz-store.jpg
  • Vonage Buys Simple Signal – Mar 17, 2015

    • TrackBacks
    | Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Marketing Lesson from the Election


    Copyright On Rad’s Radar?

    Apex Technology Services
    Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

    November 9, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

    Channel Outlook in a Mega-Merger World

    With all of the deals going on being a telecom partner is a nervous business. Why do I say that? Uncertainty is never good. Less choice is never good. Less competition is unhealthy for an industry.

    AT&T with its DirecTV buy and its grab for TW is basically following Comcast’s playbook. Comcast bought NBCU, is becoming an MVNO (cellular reseller) and has a $6B Comcast Business division that is going to chase enterprise (much to the dismay of CenturyLink and Windstream).

    Verizon is busy selling off wireline assets and buying up as much spectrum as its AMEX card will allow in a heavy bet that 5G and IOT will solve all of their revenue and cable issues. In a move bizarre move, VZ bought up AOL and Yahoo! as content plays. This playbook is solely Lowell C. McAdam’s.

    Frontier, Fairpoint, CenturyLink and Windstream are RLECs looking to get out from under a heavy debt burden without cellular assets and without a content play. Each has its own playbook.

    Windstream buying EarthLink almost makes sense especially at a $1.1 Billion all stock deal. (This move doesn’t hurt the channel since both providers were pro-channel.)

    CenturyLink buying Level3 is not only surprising; it is disheartening. Level3 has its problems certainly. Yet its management understood the business it was in and what it took to win business. For a partner, that is a plus.

    To fuel that $34B deal (total value of stock, debt, etc), CenturyLink is selling its data center business (Qwest and Savvis) for $2.1B to a coalition of PE firms headed by the former CEO of Terremark. This coalition is also buying 4 cyber-security firms to build a global cyber security business. Partners are curious if they will still get paid on deals already sold. And what the future holds here.

    FPL getting acquired by Crown Castle also makes partners worry about commissions, since CC doesn’t have a channel and doesn’t retail its fiber.

    The CLEC industry is practically gone now. After nearly one trillion in investment money dating back to 1996 or so, most of the CLECs we have come to know and sell are pretty much gone.

    What does that leave the Channel? IOT, Cloud, UCaaS, SD-WAN, security – basically selling managed services. Network is going to be tough to sell and make a living on as prices continue to erode. SD-WAN for the win!!!

    Network is easy to sell and there is demand for it. You really can’t say that for any other product in the portfolio.

    Data center is still alive and well. Long live colocation!

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Related tags: , , , , ,

    Related Entries

  • Data Center Outlook for 2016 – Jan 06, 2016
    Dany-me-boston-2015-1667.jpg
  • Savvis Changes Comp Plan – Jan 10, 2012
    Qwest_business_partner.jpg
  • Conversations with Clients – Jun 03, 2016
    a-year-from-now.jpg
  • 4 Moves in January – Jan 09, 2014
    vXchange.png
  • Good News from CenturyLink Channel – Jul 10, 2012
    centurylink-savvis.jpg
  • Correction: Savvis Comp – Feb 03, 2012
  • End Caps – Jan 21, 2012
  • VZ Buys Terremark for $1.4B – Jan 28, 2011
    Thumbnail image for nap_of_the_americas.jpg
  • The Data Center Market is at a Peak – Oct 17, 2016
  • Tidbits #2439 – Oct 03, 2016

    • TrackBacks
    | Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Channel Outlook in a Mega-Merger World


    Copyright On Rad’s Radar?

    Apex Technology Services
    Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

    November 7, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

    Channel Outlook in a Mega-Merger World

    With all of the deals going on being a telecom partner is a nervous business. Why do I say that? Uncertainty is never good. Less choice is never good. Less competition is unhealthy for an industry.

    AT&T with its DirecTV buy and its grab for TW is basically following Comcast’s playbook. Comcast bought NBCU, is becoming an MVNO (cellular reseller) and has a $6B Comcast Business division that is going to chase enterprise (much to the dismay of CenturyLink and Windstream).

    Verizon is busy selling off wireline assets and buying up as much spectrum as its AMEX card will allow in a heavy bet that 5G and IOT will solve all of their revenue and cable issues. In a move bizarre move, VZ bought up AOL and Yahoo! as content plays. This playbook is solely Lowell C. McAdam’s.

    Frontier, Fairpoint, CenturyLink and Windstream are RLECs looking to get out from under a heavy debt burden without cellular assets and without a content play. Each has its own playbook.

    Windstream buying EarthLink almost makes sense especially at a $1.1 Billion all stock deal. (This move doesn’t hurt the channel since both providers were pro-channel.)

    CenturyLink buying Level3 is not only surprising; it is disheartening. Level3 has its problems certainly. Yet its management understood the business it was in and what it took to win business. For a partner, that is a plus.

    To fuel that $34B deal (total value of stock, debt, etc), CenturyLink is selling its data center business (Qwest and Savvis) for $2.1B to a coalition of PE firms headed by the former CEO of Terremark. This coalition is also buying 4 cyber-security firms to build a global cyber security business. Partners are curious if they will still get paid on deals already sold. And what the future holds here.

    FPL getting acquired by Crown Castle also makes partners worry about commissions, since CC doesn’t have a channel and doesn’t retail its fiber.

    The CLEC industry is practically gone now. After nearly one trillion in investment money dating back to 1996 or so, most of the CLECs we have come to know and sell are pretty much gone.

    What does that leave the Channel? IOT, Cloud, UCaaS, SD-WAN, security – basically selling managed services. Network is going to be tough to sell and make a living on as prices continue to erode. SD-WAN for the win!!!

    Network is easy to sell and there is demand for it. You really can’t say that for any other product in the portfolio.

    Data center is still alive and well. Long live colocation!

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Related tags: , , , , ,

    Related Entries

  • Data Center Outlook for 2016 – Jan 06, 2016
    Dany-me-boston-2015-1667.jpg
  • Savvis Changes Comp Plan – Jan 10, 2012
    Qwest_business_partner.jpg
  • Conversations with Clients – Jun 03, 2016
    a-year-from-now.jpg
  • 4 Moves in January – Jan 09, 2014
    vXchange.png
  • Good News from CenturyLink Channel – Jul 10, 2012
    centurylink-savvis.jpg
  • Correction: Savvis Comp – Feb 03, 2012
  • End Caps – Jan 21, 2012
  • VZ Buys Terremark for $1.4B – Jan 28, 2011
    Thumbnail image for nap_of_the_americas.jpg
  • The Data Center Market is at a Peak – Oct 17, 2016
  • Tidbits #2439 – Oct 03, 2016

    • TrackBacks
    | Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Channel Outlook in a Mega-Merger World


    Copyright On Rad’s Radar?

    Apex Technology Services
    Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

    November 7, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

    Big Stuff Happening

    Following the news of CenturyLink buying Level3 and C-Link dumping its data center business on a coalition of PE Firms. (There are also many other deals, read here.) The rumors once again prove true with Windstream doing an all-stock deal to acquire EarthLink (value $1.1B.) Nice graphic of the synergies. I guess WIND had to do something while its rival, C-Link, got bigger by eating Level3. And buying EarthLink was cheap. It gives them fiber – from old CLECs that ELNK bought: Deltacom, IFN, One Comm and Choice – as well as the New Edge Networks nationwide DSL network. It gives WIND a retail vertical that maybe they can focus on. It does not fill in gaps in the Western USA and does provide some overlap in the Eastern USA — if ELNK can provide accurate fiber maps (if not call me I have them!).

    One interesting deal is Oracle wanting to buy NetSuite. “Oracle said in a statement on Saturday that holders of 53 percent of unaffiliated NetSuite shares agreed to tender their shares by the deadline of Friday. The deal will be completed on Monday, Oracle said. Oracle offered to buy NetSuite in July for $109 a share in response to challenges from rival enterprise software companies like Workday and Salesforce that have popular cloud-based software products.”

    Oracle is mish-mash of acquisitions (Acme Packet?). No idea what the strategy is there other than to sell up and down the stack to every sector of business on the globe. You? We have something for you. And for you and you and you!

    How LinkedIn Drove a Wedge Between Microsoft and Salesforce. The value of the data on LinkedIn made for a bloody fight. Worth the read on NYT.

    Facebook reported $7.01 billion in revenue, up 56 percent year-over-year, and quarterly profit nearly tripled to $2.38 billion.
    The company saw $6.82 billion in ad revenue, roughly 84 percent of which stemmed from mobile. What’s next for FB? The telecom gear industry! “Facebook announced a piece of network equipment known as an optical switch, which it calls Voyager. In geek-speak, this is the first “white box” transponder and routing device for Open Packet DWDM optical networks.”

    ____ Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC. Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, channel sales enablement and overall company strategy. Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net
    November 7, 2016 , NSP Strategist
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