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5 Ways Conversational Marketing Can Improve your Sales

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5 Ways Conversational Marketing Can Improve your Sales

Conversational marketing focuses on growing a business’s sales funnel over personalized real-time conversations with customers. Conversations, in this approach, make or break a customer-business relationship. 

With the increasing use of affordable AI and ML based technologies, conversational marketing becomes accessible to businesses of any size which are looking to grow their sales funnel without an astronomical budget. In other words, what sets conversational marketing apart from other sales-oriented marketing strategies is its focus on resourcefulness in finding the right customers and delivering a personalized experience to them. 

So, how does it work?

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The strategy basically has two elements:

  1. Customers determine the logistics

Consumers are impatient, HubSpot research says. Customers and prospects must be able to reach out to you and get a timely response whenever it’s convenient for them. Because 82% of them say it’s important to get an immediate response regarding a sales or marketing question. Immediate means ‘’within 10 minutes’’, for 62%. This means you have to offer 24/7 live support, with the help of a combination of conversational marketing tools such as conversational AI, chatbots, live chat and more.

It’s also important that they can get in touch with you via messenger apps and social channels. Make sure your social accounts are active and accessible to everyone in your target market, regardless of their location or device type. 

A good example of this is how Learnsyt, an online course platform, uses a simple WhatsApp click-to-chat button in their blog. Once you click on the icon, you’re connected to their Whatsapp account and could start a conversation with them. 

5 Ways Conversational Marketing Can Improve your Sales

If tracking every interaction seems too hard, using a customer success tool like Intercom or Zendesk would help in monitoring every interaction and touchpoint from across channels. These tools have features that’ll help you seamlessly deliver personalized messages to your customers and prospects, and drive them through the sales funnel.

  1. Conversations should drive results

Regardless of how well a conversation is held, the important thing is that it leads to somewhere. It holds true for both you, and your customers or prospects. “If a customer or lead comes to you with a question or problem, the conversation must lead you to the right answer or solution. You have to extract data, analyze the issue, and come up with a response, either in the form of knowledge, or action,” says Boris Jabes, CEO and Co-Founder of Census. That’s how it comes to a result.

If the conversation is initiated by you, it must lead your target to take action. The action can be visiting your resource center to learn more about your products, making a demo request, or buying a product. When this is the case, you have to look at customer data to understand their preferences, interests, and awareness stage. It’s the only way to tailor your message to customers at different stages of the buying journey.

5 ways conversational marketing can help you boost sales

1- Shopping assistants increase engagement

47% of consumers say they’re comfortable buying an item directly from a chatbot. So if you’re worried that conversational AI might come across as creepy or unnatural to customers, we’re in a different age now. 91% of consumers say that they’re more likely to buy from brands that remember their preferences and offer relevant deals and recommendations. In other words, they’re expecting a personalized experience, and brands must deliver it.

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Source: https://martech.zone/ecommerce-virtual-shopping-assistant/

Take Sephora’s virtual shopping assistant, for instance. It welcomes the visitor, which is something that resembles an in-store shopping experience. Then it asks a question, to identify visitors that need help from a customer service representative—which saves time for the customer service agents. 

Finally, it encourages the customer to try on looks, which’ll increase their likelihood of making a purchase. Use a recommendation engine, internal or as a service, to offer personalized recommendations based on customers’ historical data and real-time responses. 

Building an internal engine can be difficult. You need to use an app, pluggin, or use several tools, such as NLP datasets, together to get the same result.

2- Loyalty programs work much better with conversational marketing

Loyalty programs have been around for a long time. However, the consumer is changing. Recent McKinsey study found that discount-based loyalty programs are not enough to keep customers today. Customers expect different experiences and to feel connected with the brand⁠—value beyond transaction.

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Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/preparing-for-loyaltys-next-frontier-ecosystems

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So instead of siloed discount-based loyalty programs that offer nothing but monetary benefits, McKinsey suggests that businesses should create their own loyalty ecosystem, providing customers complementary product and service offerings, from which they can choose the best that fits their needs.

Check out Citibank’s loyalty program, for instance.

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The company allows its customers to use their points the way they want, rather than forcing them to use it for a single predetermined purpose. Use conversational marketing tools such as live chat, chatbot, and messenger apps to learn what customers are actually interested in receiving in return for their loyalty, and offer reward options that they can choose from.

3- Chatbots automate processes 

Both B2B and B2C businesses now create content that helps their brand resonate with their audience. However, not all businesses are able to effectively turn that attention into sales. Chatbots could be used to automate some of your business processes such as lead generation and customer service. 

Insert chatbots in your homepage, blog posts, knowledge base, report pages and more. “When a visitor lands on those pages, these tools automatically start conversations that’ll drive them to make a purchase,” says Ben Rollins, Co-Founder of Axon Optics. Combining chatbots with email marketing could be fruitful as well. Barbora Jassova explains how this match could be useful in her email marketing vs. chatbots article. 

Say you have a web form that has seen some results but needs optimizing. You could replace it with a chatbot, which has been set up with a series of qualifying questions, based on the fields of your web form . . . . On the front end, the user is having a seemingly innocuous chat with a support agent/bot. In the background, the system is sorting their information based on preferences, requests and needs. . . . With the data collected, you can then use these to create segmented lists, which allow for an extra layer of personalized content – guaranteed to increase conversion rates.

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Chatbots for customer service are pretty popular these days, and have features such as artificial intelligence, visual flow builders, omnichannel messaging support, live chat handover, detailed analytics,etc.

Say for instance, you’re selling outdoor sports equipment. On your blog, you just published an article that talks about the importance of using a headlamp when trekking, for safety reasons. A visitor, who’s a newbie in outdoor sports, just found out its importance.

You can add a CTA to the blog, and ask the readers if they have questions about LED Torch and headlamp equipment. If they click on it, the chatbot can pop up and offer information about the product with a link that goes to a product page. This way, you’ll be able to have a conversation with someone who didn’t have an intention to do so, and streamline their buying journey.

4- Conversational display ads drive results

A problem with generic display ads that account for the majority of the ads we see everyday is that they’re not the best at keeping our attention, even if they manage to capture it at first. Conversational display ads overcome that problem. Auto giant Ford tested conversational display ads’ effectiveness by running them using AdLingo—a Google platform—and saw a 38% relative increase in purchase intent with a 40% reduction in cost per micro-conversion vs. the company benchmark.

Run conversational display ads to lead prospects into visiting your product pages. Ask them a few questions to understand their intentions, but keep it simple. Try for instance, to capture what drives them to make a purchase. If what they’re looking for is affordability, direct them to more affordable products. If they value sustainability over affordability, make sure to recommend products that stand out with their robustness, durability, and sustainable production processes.

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5- Social conversations build trust

Back in the days of mom-and-pop stores, shop owners would have to be present in their shops, to make sure the customer is well taken care of, and is happy with the experience. At the same time, they were socializing with their customers. Customers would trust the store owner’s capability to answer questions around and resolve issues in their area of expertise. In return, the store owner would benefit from that trust and communication, which are two pillars of a strong customer-business relationship.

Today, that level of intimacy between customers and shop owners is mainly transferred to social media. The connection is not exactly physical anymore, but it is still needed. That’s why 70% of consumers say they feel more connected to a brand whose CEO is active on social media. If you want customers to feel connected to you, regardless of how physically far they are, you’ll have to show them there are real people behind the brand.

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Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/social-media-connection/

The important thing to remember is, you have to be genuine. Your brand’s tone of voice must reflect its values, and must be coherent across channels or your community software. Find your brand’s unique tone of voice, get inspiration from what you think differentiates you from all the other brands that race for the same attention. Take these two fashion brands for example:

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Notice that their target markets separate from each other on so many levels, and these brands’ purpose is to appeal to their audience. This will not come to you overnight. You’ll start from somewhere, and consistency will be the key to building your own audience. With time, and using the right tools such as IG tools, you’ll get closer to your customers, better understand their agenda, and become their go-to address in matters related to your business. 

Finally: 

Customers are more at ease to express their concerns through engaging conversations with brands. So apart from the benefits listed above, conversational marketing channels such as messenger apps, social media conversations, sms, live chat and chatbots are all cheap but effective ways to gain customer intelligence. 

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Brands typically consider these channels ideal for running their voice of customer (VoC) programs. Conversations could be started to elicit your customers’ feedback on particular issues such as their opinions about your new feature. The data could be organized and even visualized using visual reporting tools to give you a clearer idea of how you should optimize your customer journey. So make sure to use your conversational marketing channels to get to know your customers as well.  

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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