Every manager knows that client relationships are built on repeat interactions and mutual trust. In the past, organisations had opportunities to put a ‘face’ to a company through in-person meetings and events. In recent years, however, most branding and marketing efforts have moved online – where customers engage with an organisation through a website and its social channels. The more comfortable, welcomed, and at-home customers feel with a brand’s online persona, the more likely they will do business with you.
One of the best ways to initiate a connection with your audience is to be relevant, original, and interesting. It’s the reason why most businesses work hard on finding the perfect tone of voice in their blogs and social media platforms. They know that opting for a relaxed and conversational style of marketing can drive engagement, improve customer experience, and increase revenues.
What is conversational marketing?
While chatbots, live chat functions, and voice assistants are some of the first things that come to mind when you hear “conversational marketing,” there’s a lot more to it. For starters, no organisation can deliver real-time, dialogue-driven conversations without knowing who they are addressing. You need to know your customers intimately and be well-informed about their likes and dislikes.
Most businesses take multiple initiatives to learn about their client’s wants and needs. They try and stay up to date on trends through the channels customers prefer. This means curating all your information with a specific audience in mind—everything on your website, social media platforms, blogs, and all the information on WhatsApp messages and SMS. By taking this marketing approach, your clients see you as an invested party— someone who is interested in them and someone they can trust.
After you’ve determined who you’re talking to, you need to mobilise all your channels—social media platforms, website interactions, chatbots, and AI to deliver 24/7 availability to ensure that customers have access to your brand, and your business.
Defining a conversational marketing strategy
A well-defined conversational marketing strategy needs to be based on your organisation’s business goals and what you are trying to achieve through customer interactions.
- Choose your channels
Are you answering generic company-related questions, giving information on your products or services, promoting content, collecting information, or moving a customer toward a purchase? Depending on your purpose, you’ll need to define the channels through which you are engaging with your clients. The better you know your customer and where they are in their buyer’s journey, the more accurate an interaction you can curate.
- Personalisation is key
While it seems repetitive to keep stressing how important it is to know your customer, it can be the difference between running a successful conversational marketing campaign and a failed one.
All businesses need to personalise their marketing efforts for different buyer personas because customised and differentiated content has greater resonance. It is timely and more relevant to customers’ decision-making process. It’s the difference that drives authentic engagement and interactions.
- Feedback
And to get personalisation right, there must be feedback. Collecting client opinions can reveal areas of business weakness and improvement. Even with that, you will need to keep continuously optimising and retesting newer metrics. It’s a never-ending play, so get ready for the long haul.
If you’re still on the fence about investing in conversational marketing for your business, consider that 50.7% of US companies say it allows them to reply faster to customer inquiries. It makes them relatable, responsive, and personal – and it builds great customer experiences.
As a bonus, all chats and live bot conversations are a goldmine of client data that allows you to continuously raise the bar on your interactions. They help you understand your audience more deeply to customise language usage to further humanise your brand. Not only do you deliver a better customer experience, but you’ll also register improved lead generation and move buyers through your sales funnel faster.
Sounds like a win-win from where we’re sitting.
If you’re looking for a more relatable face and tone of voice for your company, get in touch with us to find out how we can help you develop a conversational marketing strategy that delivers ROI.