When drafting your marketing message, how much do you try to follow popular trends? If you decide to rewrap the packaging around your message, do you change your activities as well?
In the VAR guy’s blog post “Fonality Repositions: Goodbye to Open-Source, Hello Cloud,” he makes a pretty strong statement about Fonality’s move from one trend to another:
Fonality is jumping off one bandwagon and leaping onto another. The company previously positioned itself as an open source IP PBX phone system provider. But going forward, Fonality is pitching itself as a leading provider of cloud-based phone systems and unified communications for small business.
After reading the rest of the VAR guy’s blog post, and then the press release of Fonality’s new partnership with SugarCRM announced at SugarCon 2010, I tend to agree with the analysis of Fonality’s repositioning. Even the new partnership announcement with SugarCRM reads, “Fonality and SugarCRM Partner to Provide Contact Center Solution: Fonality’s Phone System and SugarCRM Connecters Deliver Robust, Open Cloud-Based Solutions for Sales and Support.” The emphasis on contact centers and the move to the cloud is clear (despite the adjective use of the word “open”).
Still, I hope that the terminology of jumping between bandwagons does not deter you from considering the potential impact of repositioning your PR biolerplate, especially if you back it up with a consistent message throughout your marketing and PR campaigns. I would imagine that for many marketing companies, or small to mid sized businesses, the concepts of “cloud telephony” and “unified communications” seem much less intimidating than “open-source IP PBX phone systems.” Even Fonality’s slogan “communicate openly” sounds simpler than “open-source phone systems.” As a potential customer not directly involved in the world of telephone systems, I would find the new message more inviting to continue reading.
Is Fonality’s change all about terminology, and is it beneficial in and of itself? Time will tell whether and to what degree the company actually repositions its activities.the full post on VAR guy and check out Fonality’s website to share your take. Even if you don’t feel passionate about repositioning from open-source to cloud-telephony, what are your general thoughts on repositioning? When does you feel like companies are going party hopping, and when do you believe that following trends demonstrates smart marketing?
Related posts:
- Ifbyphone Acquires Cloudvox, Changes the Game of Cloud Telephony
- Analogies of the Clouds – Cloud Telephony: Cloud Computing
- New Screencasts Teach the Basics of Cloud Telephony
- End of the Year Thoughts about Cloud Computing… and Cloud Telephony
- Three New Trends of Cloud Contact Centers
