Conversational Marketing: What Is It And How To Utilize It?

Conversational marketing technologies have been discussed for at least two years now, but they took a huge leap forward in 2020, and we expect to see the trend continuing in 2021. 

Conversations with your target audience are becoming increasingly important for any successful business. That is nothing new, of course, but how you can have those conversations is changing rapidly. 

And all those conversations now also got a trendy name: conversational marketing. 

This article explains why conversational marketing is so popular now, which companies are successful with it, and how they use it through tools, social media, or good old personal contact.

We have already encountered the term ‘conversational’ in various combinations. Think conversational commerce, conversational sales, conversational human voice, conversational customer service, presenting, interfaces, and AI. 

Ultimately, it’s all about one thing: talking to your target groups to learn what they need and then responding to that.

Conversational marketing: a lesson in history

We must first look at history to put the conversational trend into perspective. 

From the 1950s, mass marketing grew in popularity, focusing not on the customer but on the product. 

Marketers focused on making great products and making grand generalizations about their customers. Companies developed the best products and set up emotional mass media campaigns to persuade and influence customers to buy them.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the switch was made to “relationship marketing.” 

Mobile phones entered our lives, and conversations with customers became relevant again. 

Marketers were able to get close to the customer and were less product-oriented. At the time, they were not yet so aware of the enormous technological change that awaited them.

From digital marketing to online conversations

It’s hard to define conversation marketing. With the rise of the Internet, smartphones, and social media, we entered the era of digital and inbound marketing, combined with a range of tools and technology. The possibilities of technology shifted the focus from honest conversations with real people to online interactions. 

Customer behavior suddenly became more visible than ever: what people did on your website and what they said about you on social media.

The exciting thing is that companies became voyeurs instead of participants in the conversation. They learned a lot about their customers but often remained silent. 

And even worse, social media, which promised two-way communication (and has undoubtedly been used by customer service teams), became a sort of broadcast channel for marketing.

It makes sense that this happened with the rise of inbound marketing when employees suddenly became editors of their publications. They were overloaded with social channels, while there was no budget to invest in people who could have full-time online conversations with customers. 

There are always exceptions, but social media tracking was symbolic for the masses.

Companies are still very good at ‘broadcasting’ on social media. Look at this example of an English retail company, which has a relatively large budget but usually does not engage in conversation with followers on social media.

Intelligent marketing

Today, we have entered the era of intelligent marketing. 

Chat apps, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technologies allow companies to get closer to their customers and better understand and predict behavioral patterns. 

The goal is to be 100% customer-oriented on a large scale.

Let’s explore a few examples. Chat apps such as WhatsApp Business and Facebook Messenger are increasingly used as customer service tools. Even air transport companies know how to use these well and help customers get to the airport as smoothly as possible, change flights, or change seats. 

This way of conversational customer service helps brands solve customer problems and quickly increases customer satisfaction.

AI models can assist affiliate marketers in optimizing various aspects, including content and ad campaigns. Using tools like a video ad maker, marketers can create personalized video content based on long-tail keywords, increasing engagement and improving conversion rates. This allows affiliates to target their audience more effectively with video ads tailored to specific search behaviors.

Drift is an excellent example of how marketing and sales are increasingly automated. They have developed a ‘Conversational Marketing Platform’ that allows visitors to have a real-time conversation with support, sales, or marketing teams. The idea is that a ‘bot’ uses AI technology to investigate which website visitors are serious leads. Then, it forwards only the best leads to the sales teams. 

This increases customer satisfaction and decreases conversion time.

This may sound too good to be true, so we must add an important note. Companies must be careful not to automate too much and forget to talk to customers. It remains essential to communicate with your target group appropriately, and that is not always easy. 

Offline conversations

Fortunately, we see that companies use technology and want to continue having personal conversations. They even put them in their seat when it comes to communication. 

BMW does this with its BMW Geniuses program. In this example, they have removed all the salespeople from the showrooms and replaced them with BMW Geniuses—product experts who can substantively converse with potential customers.

Why did BMW choose to do this? 

They saw that people only came to the showroom once instead of eight times. This happens because potential customers can look up all the information online before coming to the showroom. After all, they are unsure about something or want to check it out in person. 

Letting someone with a sales pitch sell the car no longer makes sense. Instead, BMW needs skilled people to remove any uncertainties or resistance. 

Someone who listens carefully to and understands the customer. A “BMW Genius” quickly realizes what information a potential customer is still missing, preventing them from purchasing.

Another example is Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi’s, who also believes that a personal conversation with your customers leads to success. For example, in Harvard Business Review, he talks about home visits, going through customers’ wardrobes, and asking them questions about their jeans. 

During one of those home visits, a customer said, “You wear other jeans, but you live in Levi’s.” This became their triumphant tagline in advertising campaigns. It indicates how valuable personal contact with your target group is and remains.

Give your audience more control.

For several years, we have also seen that (sales) presentations are increasingly turning into conversations. A 30-minute sales monologue, where people drop out (unless you are a brilliant speaker), is outdated. 

Only presenting what is relevant to the conversation at that time ensures that you fill in the gaps in your audience’s or potential customers’ knowledge. We also call this conversational presenting. Your listeners are in control, and you determine the topics for discussion. The presentation comes next.

Many people find it scary to let go of “being in charge” during their presentations. However, this approach generally works well because the presentation becomes a conversation with the audience.

Letting go of “controlling” and allowing your customer to speak also works well on social media. 

Look at the Wylder Goods brand, which uses ‘conversational storytelling’ on Instagram with a small budget (39.9K followers). They focus on connecting customers and letting fans tell their personal stories in their own way. 

In other words, Wylder does not influence the content but believes in the value of interactions with and between customers. 

And this makes the brand very credible.

Conversational marketing software has advanced tremendously over the past few years and has developed enormously compared to recent years. We can expect this trend to continue in 2021 and beyond.

Bots, tools, or human contact?

So, what is conversational marketing?

All the examples in this article reflect how we want to be approached and how we buy things. We want fast, clear, and hyper-relevant information presented on our terms. 

With conversational marketing, you can meet your target groups.

Tools and bots are indispensable, but a chatbot cannot provide strong communication skills like empathy, self-reflection, active listening, and collaboration. 

With the right technology, you can automate certain parts of your marketing, freeing up time for real conversations with your customers. 

In my opinion, that is the ideal form of conversational marketing. While a conversational marketing chatbot can be annoying when trying to get an answer, it is still a great tool to keep potential leads and customers engaged. With digital marketing increasingly conversational marketing techniques, conversational technology in marketing continues to advance.

Last Updated on September 24, 2024