The more things change the more they stay the same. If science ever manages to get cryogenics right, you'll be able to freeze your body today and have them wake you up in 100 years. And when you wake up, there's at least one thing that will be as true then as it is today …
People like to do business with people they know like and trust. If you do any type of marketing, you know that this is the equivalent of saying that water is wet. It's just true and I'm pretty sure we can all agree that it's not going to change anytime soon.
What does change are the different ways businesses and marketers go about the business of getting on someone's know, like & trust short list.
Underneath all of the different techniques, know, like & trust depends on whether you can do two things: Be authentic and be helpful. Simply let your prospects see who you are, what you're about and how you want to help them.
Consider the following question. What's the best way to find out what your customers want to buy? The correct answer, of course, is to ask them.
Now, let's tweak that question a little. What's the best way to find out what your prospects want to buy?
The answer's the same. However, it's just that figuring out how to ask them is a bit more challenging. Enter Conversational Marketing.
Conversational Marketing Definition
Erik Devaney, Drift.com Blog
Conversational marketing or conversation marketing is a one-to-one approach to marketing that companies use to shorten their sales cycle, learn about their customers, and create a more human buying experience.
Unlike traditional marketing, conversational marketing uses targeted, real-time messaging and intelligent chatbots instead of lead capture forms — that way leads never have to wait for follow-ups, and can engage with your business when it’s convenient for them
I like to refer to conversational marketing as time delayed marketing, much the way people think of texting as time delayed conversation.
A text message is a generally a one to one conversation, however, it's not always very linear. When you send a text, the receiver may respond seconds later or just as likely hours later.
With conversational marketing we apply that friendly chat style of communicating to our marketing message. We know what conversation we want to have, we know who we want to have it with. We just don't know when they'll show up.
We get around that little dilema with a tool called the chatbot. Here at Conversion Matters, our preferred platform for chatbots is Facebook Messenger. With 1.3 billion users, it easily meets our “stand where they're looking” mantra. With the recent announcement that Facebook plans to let Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp users message each other, it's an even more attractive platform for helping our clients promote their products and services.
I'll end this with a quote from Lexi Ward at Impactbnd.com:
The way we communicate online is constantly changing.
In today’s on-demand world, users have come to expect a more personal experience; One that can’t be provided using forms and traditional follow-up, days later. Conversational marketing is a strategy that gives customers the personalized value they are looking for, and allows businesses to scale while saving time and resources.
The smaller your business, the more you should investigate adding Conversational Marketing to the mix. Click here for the presentation we give to clients who are interested.
