Brian Erickson:
Thanks for joining the Cardwell Beach Marketing Podcast. My name is Brian Erickson, Chief Strategy Officer and partner at Cardwell Beach. In this series, we’re interviewing senior marketers across industries to develop perspective on what marketing will look like in a post-COVID-19 world.
Brian Erickson:
Today’s guest is Bita Milanian, senior vice president of global marketing at Ribbon Communications, a cloud-based communications provider that serves companies in nearly 30 countries worldwide. Bita is also a member of the Forbes Communication Council, an invite-only group for senior marketers and marketing professionals.
Bita, thanks so much for joining us today.
Bita Milanian:
Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate this opportunity.
Brian Erickson:
Great. Well, let’s talk about weathering the storm. I like to talk about the pandemic time warp effect, where certain industries have accelerated rapidly, and certain trends have accelerated rapidly, and other trends have come to a complete halt. I would say that the telecommunications industry has become one that has accelerated pretty rapidly, and I’m sure you’ve felt the impact of COVID-19 deeply as more clients turn to cloud-based infrastructure for their workflows.
Would you talk to us a little bit about how this has changed your marketing and outreach strategy, as I imagine, you just are in a race to keep up with demand?
Bita Milanian:
What a great question to kick off this dialogue. But, before I get to how we’ve adapted our marketing programs, I’ll touch on what Ribbon, our company, has been doing to help our clients during the pandemic.
We immediately created and rolled out offerings, including some free services, to help businesses and organizations stay connected through the internet and cloud, with reliable and secure communications, including many government agencies that we support. While we were, ourselves, adapting to these important stay at home orders, every person in our company across 140 countries where we have presence, was also rising up to meet new demands during this chaotic and stressful time. And I’m very proud of how Ribbon rallied, and made sure every one of our clients were taken care of. I’m also proud of how the Ribbon team used our own collaboration tools to work efficiently from home, as we continued to do so, and how truly kind and compassionate our culture has even continued to be during this process.
On the marketing front, with these types of inspiring stories that we’ve had, it was not difficult, really, to pivot to telling these stories. Not just promoting the power of our offerings, but genuinely solving hard problems with our mix of great technology and connected systems, and of course, our talented and super-committed crew that we have, that I am super proud of.
And of course, like every other marketing team inside large enterprises like ours, we had to immediately adapt. For example, in-person events and trade shows were all canceled, we had to pivot to virtual events, which have been extremely popular, yet I have to say, they’re quite challenging. Somehow it’s more challenging to produce these virtual events than it is the in-person trade shows, the legacy trade shows that we all used to go to. So it’s a different process, so we’re all adapting to that quickly. We’ve participated in these types of events, or also hosting some of our own, by providing expert speakers. And also have had great success with our own webinars, as I mentioned. Given this new challenge, webinars and virtual meetings have been growing rapidly, and our clients and partners are also challenged to figure out new ways to meet and work at the same time.
What has also been remarkable is that we’ve done all this while also supporting our very robust growing business. We couldn’t stop the growth process, so with M&A activities and partnerships, integration of large companies we acquired at the beginning of the pandemic, and so much more. In short, we’ve not slowed down, we’ve actually sped up. It’s really a great feeling to be able to challenge yourself, and even though it’s super tiresome, it’s really exhilarating at the same time.
Brian Erickson:
That’s pretty awesome, and it’s always fantastic to hear when a company and a brand has been able to really provide support to the community, and do some good throughout this process. That’s really great to hear that you’ve been able to do that.
You just mentioned something interesting there, and I’m going to take a little bit of a detour before we get to our next question, about virtual events and the challenges surrounding those. I was just having a conversation with a colleague, and actually also with my brother about this, of you have all these passes to these week-long conferences and things like that, and then they’re switching to virtual. They just don’t feel as compelling, or you just have other things going on. Or, when you’re in front of your computer, you have your email up and it’s not the same as sitting in front of panel, or speakers, or whatnot. So how have you adapted to that in your event strategy? And, what have you found works, and what maybe doesn’t work as well?
Bita Milanian:
I think with all these virtual events and trade shows, I think the technology element and the production element is the key factor how it brings everybody together. At the same time, like you said, the engagement throughout the session, whether it’s a day-long, multiple track event, or if it’s a 90-minute virtual summit, it’s really important to keep the momentum and the content flowing quickly, having some fun elements incorporated into it as well.
I think people don’t want to hear just people talking, I think visual elements are so important. We’re about to launch our 5G strategy and service offerings on a global scale on September 14th that we’re producing right now, and we’re making sure that we’re producing video content to fill in between each speaker to keep it exciting. I think it’s very important, more than ever before, to have engaging content at these particular trade shows, these virtual events that we’re hosting.
Brian Erickson:
Yeah, I think that’s definitely a great point, that you do need to spend some time before the event creating. There’s going to be downtime and there’s going to be space, and you’ve got to keep that interesting and engaging. It can just be somebody talking at you for 90 minutes, or a week, or whatever the length of the event is. That’s definitely very interesting, to see that shift in how people are really adapting to the new medium.
Ribbon, obviously, has adapted quickly to the pandemic, and it includes adjusting your networks to accommodate higher usage, and making sure your employees can safely work from home. What has been the biggest adjustment for your team, on a personal level, in terms of marketing, especially when communicating with clients around the world in a completely virtual environment?
Bita Milanian:
My team has been really awesome. They’re super positive with their attitude, even though we’re all in different parts of the world or country. Really, the productivity hasn’t gone down, super professional. It’s just been really good to see this, how everybody’s still challenging themselves to continue being productive. Again, it’s been challenging not being able to be together, but we love a good workshop and fun dinner, and drinks afterwards, really to celebrate the success of the work, but obviously we’ve not been able to do that. But we’ve remained close, like a family, for many years and we really are there for each other. If there’s somebody having a personal challenge, everybody jumps up and makes sure they’re there for them, picks up where the other person cannot deliver a specific project that they are owning. It’s been a really wonderful collaborative, more than ever before, environment.
When it comes to external communications with our partners and customers, we’ve been doing more of that, more than ever before. Supporting all of our sales and corporate initiatives, we’ve had very advanced marketing sales and technology platforms so the software has made it easier. Since we’ve been actively using these platforms for the last several years, we’ve really become really good at positioning all this content that we’re producing, and able to use it for distribution, and get the data that we also need on the engagement.
Honestly, I never thought when we began to build this digital platform when I joined Ribbon six years ago exactly, that I would be using it to navigate through the worse global health crisis imaginable, so I’m very grateful that we were in that position as it allowed us to keep calm and carry on. I think having an infrastructure within your marketing organization, especially on your communication tools, is so crucial. You can see in our scenario, it has come to rescue us, and push us through these difficult days.
Brian Erickson:
That’s definitely a trend that we’ve seen from folks who have fared well throughout this crisis, is having invested in infrastructure to allow for nimbleness and agility for an unknown entity, an unknown event, keeping your options open, and putting in process in infrastructure so that, as the situation changes, you can adapt to it rapidly. That’s really great to hear that you’ve been successful in doing that.
Bita Milanian:
Thank you.
Brian Erickson:
Looking forward, and looking at how the next three months, six months, two years are really going to shape up, obviously we want to take a forward lens to how can we continue to invest in infrastructure that’s going to allow us to deal with the potentially unknown event at some point in the future, something even beyond this. I read an article about when might the next pandemic be and the answer was, “During this pandemic. We could have a double pandemic.” We should prepare for things like that. You don’t want to drive yourself crazy with that sort of thinking, but I think it is important to go through some of the planning and disaster response exercises.
Within the telecommunications industry, what aspects do you anticipate might return to normal, or at least a new normal? Or, what is going to be forever changed, and what are we going to carry forward as lesson that we take on the marketing front?
Bita Milanian:
You know, the industry has definitely been changing fast, super fast, and we at Ribbon love being on the disruptive front. Therefore, we’re able to go with the flow. No industry, as we have seen, is immune from the impact of COVID-19, and no marketing team is either. So, we have a few marketing lessons we have learned that I can share with you.
We’ve stayed alert, haven’t “shut down” when things got tough. Marketing can be a heartbeat during these times, and I’m so proud to see that our senior leadership team and overall management teams, and different groups have really come to us to help with our communication and moving forward strategy. I’m, more than ever, proud to be in this position, to be able to help not just our customers and partners, but also internally, help our different teams continue moving forward and be effective.
We watch what’s happening in every region we serve, we need to do that, if you’re especially a global company. They’re all experiencing the pandemic differently, and it’s important to be aware, and communicate with exactly the right level of service and style within those different markets and different regions of the world. It’s more than ever important to personalize your communication and your execution of your marketing strategy, I believe.
It’s important to rest up. With extra long days and a ton of uncertainty, things can get very stressful, and people are tired. Things may get more stressful with what’s happening, so it’s important that we work in shifts. It’s summertime, it’s important to go out and take days off, and really enjoy days away from work and your laptop, and your computer. I’m very blessed with a very functional team who knows how to back each other up, so each member gets time off, and cover each other so that we don’t have those types of meltdowns, per se. I think it’s so important to keep our self-care in mind during these difficult times.
Those are some elements that I can share with you, on how we work getting back to the new normal.
Brian Erickson:
That’s awesome, and definitely want to echo the importance of self-care. One of the things that I think is important to recognize, both internally and externally, everybody is operating at a much higher default level of stress, let’s call it. Whether you’re focusing on your job, or if you have kids at home, or maybe family members that are an at-risk population for this, there’s a lot going on and it’s really important to be empathetic, and just assume that people are coming in at an eight out of 10 stress level, maybe more than their usual two or three. You don’t want to add to that.
Well, there will likely always be a need for communication services, or more than likely be a need for communication services. Have you seen your clients needs or approaches change since the beginning of the pandemic? And, do you expect your service mix changes to be long lasting, coming out of this?
Bita Milanian:
You know, our customers have truly been amazing, ready to adapt really quickly, which has helped speeding up rather than slowing down their digital transformation strategies. Since our offerings were built for, actually, simplicity and cost efficiency, we’re just seeing customers wanting to completely switch to our next-gen cloud solutions. So it’s really amazing to see how ready they have been.
We’ve also seen a huge demand for cybersecurity, of course, across all of our real-time communications offering, and for our 5G capabilities, which means working from home and working from anywhere can happen with super high-speed networking, which we also secure.
By speeding up, our customers are getting advantages that are sustainable and future-proof, so we don’t see any clients going backwards, rather only forward at this point. I’m really excited about that as well.
Brian Erickson:
How does that work its way down into your marketing mix, on a more tactical level? How have things, for you, maybe shifted from your original 2020 plan coming into the year, budget-wise, or a mix or channels-wise?
Bita Milanian:
We’re actually in the midst of all that planning, not just the remainder of 2020 because it had to be adjusted, but also the two, three-year plan coming.
Our investments have shifted to digital and virtual, of course, more than ever before. While we do hope to return to investing heavily in events and conferences, only when it’s, of course, safe, we’re planning to do a lot more webinars, and participate in more of these virtual industry events, as challenging as it may be at times, but I think it’s important to stay engaged. Actively promote through our PR, media relations, analyst relations, and thought leaderships, and our social media activities have also been increased more than ever before.
We’re also super committed to our work and giving back. While we have an annual day for employees to volunteer, we now see every day is a good day to do good. We love communities we work in, and we’re continuing investing in them because it’s the right thing to do, especially now more than ever before. I think that’s so important for all companies and businesses, to continue remembering the importance of giving back, being involved in the local communities, and how we can support them through our offering and services.
Brian Erickson:
Yes, super critical, and ultimately people are going to remember the groups, and individuals, and businesses that did right by them during a time of crisis, and that’s going to stick with them for a long, long time.
On the marketing mix side, have you seen the balance of, let’s call it, your top of funnel versus bottom of funnel marketing activities shift at all?
Bita Milanian:
Yeah. Obviously, with the shift in some of these things that we were typically doing that we’re no longer managing, events, in-person one-on-one meetings, and what have you, so we definitely are seeing a more shift of doing more digital initiatives. There’s definitely checks and balances have shifted on that front, for sure.
Brian Erickson:
You know, a number of folks that we’ve spoken with are putting maybe some of the brand marketing on hold, and really looking at tactics that are going to convert in the shorter term.
If you could give on piece of advice to mid-market and small business marketers in the telecom industry right now, what would you say is really important to keep focus on for the remainder of 2020?
Bita Milanian:
My advice probably would be the world needs us more than ever before. While so many things are being automated in this world, for a lot of good reasons, the one thing we’ll never be able to forget, and make sure that it exists, and we cannot really consider it a commodity, is creativity. It’s important to take some time to think what you really want to do, what you would be happy doing, then go out and find the perfect fit for yourself. With the free time that we have now, in some way, shape, or form, we need to work those types of social networks to continue expanding on our networks, and creating new environments and opportunities for ourselves.
For example, with LinkedIn, I think it’s a great tool with keeping in touch with people. I’ve connected with so many people over the past three, four months, and my network has grown. I’m learning from all these new connections. You can connect with your existing friends and really check in on them, you can build on new relationships, and you will find your way.
Also, spend time learning new skills you may not have. Maybe study new digital marketing platforms and trends, with social media ever evolving, find resources that can help you and educate you more. I certainly am doing that on my front.
And, I think more importantly, again going back to giving back to community, I think it’s so important to help local communities, whether it’s recognizing first responders, creating campaigns to help families in need, bringing food to hospital workers, sewing masks, we see so many people doing that. Whatever it is that your local community needs, not just as a business but also individually, I think it helps continue this positive energy that we really need more than ever before. And, not expecting to be rewarded for the work that we’re doing, because people appreciate it no matter, even if they may not verbalize it.
I think they’re some of the things that we can do, and I think doing good brings back even more goodness for you. It’s just the cycle that we need to nourish.
Brian Erickson:
Absolutely. A rising tide raises all boats, and you are best served to contribute to that rather than to fight it.
I guess, on an individual level as we near potentially record levels of unemployment, how would you take that advice that you would give to a marketer and a business, and maybe translate that to folks that might find themselves unemployed right now? How can someone best position themselves and their skillsets for this moment, where maybe giving back is really a focus in marketing? What skillsets are really important to highlight, if you are in the job market?
Bita Milanian:
You know, we’ve got to seize the day and we’ve got to find ways, big or small, to really … if we see people that are in need in our network, I think it helps to do it the other way around. If I have a job, if I’m doing well, I should take the time to reach out to my network and see whose out there looking, and be proactive in supporting them.
On their end, I think it’s more crucial than ever before, like I mentioned earlier, to tap into your network, and to polish your skillsets, and add to those skillsets to make yourself even more desirable for the jobs that you’re looking to do.
I think it’s a great opportunity, if for some reason you’ve lost your job, to revisit your priorities, your goals, your mission, your desires, and “what you want to be when you grow up” mode. It’s a great time to switch if you want to be in a different world, a different type of line of work, I think this is a great time to do that. As challenging as it is, as hard as it is, I think these are the times that we can truly make that change in our personal life.
I’m a firm believer in being the change, and I think we all need to be the change that we want to see in the world, as Gandhi has said. Success will follow from there.
Brian Erickson:
Absolutely. Everything is in flux, and there are certainly negatives to it, but there are positives to it as well. People are more open, and if you’ve had something you’ve been waiting for someday to come for, maybe today’s that day, right?
Bita Milanian:
I think people are more compassionate, more than ever before, and we should give them a chance to help us. When people want to help, everybody, that’s a human way of being, so I think we should not be shy asking for help, and really putting ourselves out there and just going for it.
Brian Erickson:
Absolutely. Well, that’s some really fantastic advice. Bita, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today, I really appreciate it.
Bita Milanian:
I appreciate you having me on, and stay healthy and happy.
Brian Erickson:
Great. Well, make sure to check out Bita on social media, she certainly practices what she preaches and puts out some great content, and is giving back to the community in many ways, including joining us today as a guest.
Brian Erickson:
Thanks again for joining, this is Brian Erickson with Cardwell Beach. Thank you for listening, please make sure to check back for more senior marketers sharing their perspectives on what marketing will look like in a post-COVID-19 world.
