In today’s fiercely competitive market, delivering personalized experiences is crucial for customer engagement and loyalty. However, marketers who fail to adapt to the transition from decision-tree to trigger-based engagement strategies risk falling behind and missing out on the opportunity to captivate customers at every touchpoint with hyper-personalized experiences. 

In this workshop, discover how to seamlessly collaborate with your data team to unlock the full potential of your first-party data and create personalized experiences that captivate your customers at every touchpoint. 

Register and attend “How To Power Next Best Action with First-Party Customer Data,” presented by Snowplow.

Click here to view more MarTech webinars.

The post Power next-best action with first-party data appeared first on MarTech.

Since it’s not as fresh as some peers, marketers may wonder whether LinkedIn can still bring a worthwhile ROI. However, like other marketing tools, what you get from the site greatly depends on what you put into it.

Consider the following questions to determine whether you’re taking full advantage of how LinkedIn content can boost your B2B marketing.

Key takeaways:

• Though LinkedIn is business-focused, your content on the medium needs to have personality and help you build a community.
• LinkedIn is ideal for establishing credibility and linking to your content and website.
• Remember to appeal visually with scroll-stopping images and attention-grabbing videos.
• You can also use LinkedIn to test and refine your ideas and gain audience feedback.

Dig deeper: SEO guide to optimizing your LinkedIn profile for more connections, better leads

Are you focusing on community?

Though the site is for professionals, your LinkedIn page shouldn’t be all business. Like your other marketing efforts, infuse your personal and company pages with personality. 

No one wants to partner with a faceless, bland company. As one marketing expert said, you should create “high-five content.” 

Ask yourself before you post a comment, article or video: Will this put a smile on someone’s face or get an emphatic head nod? 

Concern for community and social responsibility is at the forefront of purchasing, partnering and investing decisions. Don’t be afraid to warm hearts or show where you stand on social issues. 

Above all, people are looking to solve problems. Discuss them in a way that shows you empathize with your core audience’s challenges. 

Even a simple meme or GIF can communicate, “Hey, I know what you’re going through.” When your target audience starts thinking about who can help them solve that problem, you’ll be one of the first names that come to mind.

Is your content consistent and visual?

You’re not the only one out there trying to capture attention on LinkedIn. Our own research on how often you should post shows that consistent effort is necessary to attract eyes and ears.

Use scroll-stopping visuals that make readers pause an extra second on your posts. A picture is still worth a thousand words, so embrace visualizations and infographics. 

You can also start to build a connection with ideal prospects by making your company come to life with images and videos of your team. Show what they do for similar clients in your target market. 

Testimonials and brief case studies are other power tools. These endorsements make your company feel like a teammate that others want in their corner, too.

Most importantly, use tech tools to maintain a consistent schedule for posting. Sporadic messaging does little to establish your professionalism, while regular posts position you as an authority and an active organization that gets things done.

Are you targeting the right audience?

Other social media platforms may have a more extensive reach overall, but LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to help you tailor your message to better-qualified leads. 

Master using the Campaign Manager to understand how your content performs with different groups. You may learn that you’re focusing on the wrong audience or lack a genuine focus on the right groups.

As you study your results, determine why you’re getting your current level of engagement and how to concentrate on high-quality leads.

Are you establishing credibility with thought leadership?

Content marketing has better long-term results than straight advertising because it builds credibility. As companies look for more suitable ways of solving challenges, valuable content makes you a name they trust and a thought leader.

Those likes and comments on LinkedIn offer an easy way to show that other people approve of you. Such responses are public social proof that’s harder to demonstrate on your own website. 

Design information that teaches your prospects and motivates engagement, whether a like, comment or click. Of course, you want to get people to your site, so always link back to the content on your web pages to boost your SEO.

You become even more trustworthy when your team members post valuable articles and make insightful comments. Your ideal prospects will see you as an organization of skilled professionals that they can trust.

Are you experimenting with and improving your content?

Remember, your goal shouldn’t be to go viral. You should laser-focus on your niche to build an engaged fanbase.

When you experiment, expect to make a few missteps. Social media provides the optimal method for testing smaller posts and ideas to finding out what hits.

The key point is to be active on the platform. Set specific goals, create an actionable plan, implement your ideas, measure the ROI, refine your strategy and repeat.

Are you taking steps to use Linkedin as a catalyst for your B2B marketing?

LinkedIn shouldn’t be the only aspect of your B2B marketing, but you shouldn’t neglect it either. As you devise or refine your LinkedIn marketing strategy, determine how you can incorporate these suggestions into your plan of attack.

The post 6 tips for optimizing LinkedIn content for B2B marketing appeared first on MarTech.

Attracting interest in a tool or product may be the easy and fun part of building a business, but converting inquiries to purchasers is when it gets hard. So many brands today continue to struggle with acquiring, converting, retaining and creating loyal customers for life. Yet leading companies across the globe seem to be accomplishing all of that and then some.

Want to know how? Register and attend “Harnessing the Power of Customer Data to Stay Ahead of the Competition,” presented by Tealium.

Click here to view more MarTech webinars.

The post Harness the power of customer data to stay ahead of the competition appeared first on MarTech.

In this article, we will explore the significance of marketing and sales alignment for business success, discuss the benefits of alignment, such as increased revenue, enhanced customer experience, and efficient operations, and provide actionable strategies to ensure your organization operates cohesively.

Building a collaborative environment

Establishing a collaborative environment is fundamental for marketing and sales alignment. A shared sense of purpose and mutual respect can bridge the gaps between these departments. A workplace where both teams feel valued and supported fosters trust and boosts overall performance.

Developing a service level agreement (SLA) is one way to stimulate collaboration. An SLA clarifies expectations, outlines roles and responsibilities, and sets key performance indicators (KPIs) that both teams can strive towards. This promotes accountability and simplifies expectation management.

Frequent check-ins enable both teams to communicate openly, exchange insights and data, address challenges, and realign goals and strategies. This continuous dialogue facilitates improvement and fortifies the relationship between marketing and sales.

Aligning on the buyer’s and workforce’s Journey

Synchronizing marketing and sales efforts around the buyer’s and workforce’s journeys is crucial for delivering outstanding customer experiences. This shared understanding allows for identifying key touchpoints where marketing and sales teams can collaborate, providing a consistent experience for prospects and customers while addressing the needs and concerns of the employees serving them. Considering both aspects, you can craft a seamless experience for prospects, customers, and your internal team, resulting in higher conversion rates and a more unified organization.

Developing detailed buyer and workforce personas is an effective way to understand and target the right audience and shape your internal culture. Marketing and sales teams can pinpoint their ideal customers’ common characteristics, pain points, and motivations, crafting personalized and relevant messaging that resonates with prospects. Simultaneously, comprehending your workforce’s personas enables you to cultivate an environment that promotes employee growth, engagement, and satisfaction.

Streamlining processes and leveraging technology

Optimizing processes and employing technology can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing and sales teams. Adopting the appropriate tools and implementing well-defined processes empower both teams to collaborate more seamlessly, ultimately driving exceptional customer experiences.

Defining the lead qualification and scoring process is a critical area to address. Establishing the criteria for qualifying leads enables marketing teams to pass high-quality prospects to sales, saving time and increasing the chances of closing deals. Sales teams can then prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert, ensuring their efforts are focused on the most promising prospects.

Implementing CRM and marketing automation tools is essential for keeping both teams organized, sharing information effectively, and maintaining alignment on their goals and strategies. Integrating these tools into workflows streamlines processes enhances communication, and fosters collaboration.

Measuring and analyzing shared key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of the strategies in place. Regularly tracking these metrics allows both teams to identify areas for improvement, adjust their tactics accordingly, and ensure their efforts are aligned and focused on delivering the best possible customer experiences.

Crafting consistent messaging and content

A consistent and coherent brand story is vital for building trust and resonating with your target audience. Sales and marketing teams play a crucial role in shaping this narrative by aligning their messaging and collaborating on content creation.

Both teams should collaborate to ensure their messaging is consistent across all channels, including emails, social media, website content, and other touchpoints where prospects and customers interact with the brand. Maintaining a cohesive and compelling brand story can create a solid and memorable impression that sets you apart from the competition.

Sales and marketing teams should also join forces in content creation. Collaborating on developing relevant and engaging content enables both groups to leverage their unique insights and expertise better to address their target audience’s needs and pain points. This not only helps to nurture leads but also aids in closing sales and fostering long-term relationships with customers.

Lastly, it’s essential to encourage a culture of feedback and continuous improvement. By maintaining an open line of communication, marketing and sales teams can learn from each other’s experiences, adapt to new challenges, and continually refine their approach to deliver the most remarkable customer experiences possible. Regularly reviewing and updating strategies ensures that both departments remain aligned and focused on achieving their shared goals.

The key to marketing and sales alignment

Marketing and sales alignment drive business success and create remarkable customer experiences. By fostering a collaborative environment, aligning efforts around the buyer’s journey, streamlining processes through technology, and maintaining consistent messaging and content, mid-market and enterprise sales and marketing leaders in B2B companies can achieve better results and drive growth. Implementing the strategies outlined in this article will equip your teams to face the challenges of today’s competitive landscape and deliver an exceptional customer experience.

The post How to align B2B sales and marketing teams appeared first on MarTech.

What are you hoping to get out of your marketing technology? Do you need help getting there?

At the heart of marketing technology, customer data platforms offer marketers and advertisers a powerhouse of capabilities to drive relevant, personalized customer experiences. And at the heart of the CDP lies the data that fuels customer insights. 

Learn more by registering and attending “Get to the Heart of Customer Experience With Data that Delivers,” presented by Salesforce and Acxiom.

Click here to view more MarTech webinars.

The post Drive better customer intelligence for a better customer experience appeared first on MarTech.

Researching identity resolution vendors

Once you determine an enterprise identity resolution platform makes sense for your business, spend time researching individual vendors and their capabilities by doing the following: 

• Create and prioritize a list of identity resolution use cases, from essential to not necessary. 
• Use that list as a basis for your research — many of the vendors profiled in this report also provide blogs, ebooks and interactive tools that can help. 
• Make a list of the vendors meeting your criteria, reach out to them and set a deadline for replies. 
• Decide whether or not you need to engage in a formal RFI/RFP process.

Identity resolution is not only critical to marketing success but is essential for compliance with consumer privacy laws such as CCPA and GDPR. Explore the platforms essential to identity resolution in the latest edition of this MarTech Intelligence Report.

Click here to download!

RFI/RFP process

The RFI/RFP process is an individual preference, however be sure to give the same criteria to each vendor to facilitate comparison. The most effective RFPs only request relevant information and provide ample information about your brand and its identity resolution needs. It should reflect high-level strategic goals and KPIs. For example, mention your company’s most important KPIs and how you will evaluate the success of your efforts. Include details about timelines and the platforms in your existing martech stack. 

When written properly, an RFP will facilitate the sales process and ensure everyone involved comes to a shared understanding of the purpose, requirements, scope and structure of the intended purchase. From the RFP responses, you should be able to narrow your list down to three or four platforms to demo.

Demo the platforms

Schedule demos as close together as possible for the best comparisons. Make sure all potential users are on the demo call and pay attention to the following: 

• How easy is it to use? 
• Does the vendor understand our business and marketing needs? 
• Are they showing us our “must-have” features?

Questions for vendors

Here are some questions to ask vendors that touch on important considerations in your identity resolution search:

Data onboarding and privacy 

• Does the platform support first-party data onboarding? 
• Can we incorporate any of our private customer IDs into the platform? 
• Do you use probabilistic, deterministic or a hybrid approach to matching? 
• How do you validate the accuracy of your deterministic matches? 
• What match rate can we expect, given our vertical market and database size? 
• How do you comply with privacy regulations and consumer choice? 

Identity graph 

• Do you own or license your referential identity data? 
• What are your identity data sources? 
• How do you validate the quality of your identity graph? 
• How much of your data is addressable? 
• How is your identity graph linked to offline PII? 
• Do your identity capabilities apply to non-U.S. markets? 

Martech and adtech integration 

• How does the platform integrate with martech platforms (i.e., CRMs, DSPs, CDPs)? 
• Does the platform feature any built-in data activation capabilities (i.e., personalized email or ad campaign execution)? 
• Do you have APIs available for data import/export? 
• What reporting do you provide that will document the ROI from our identity efforts? 

Customer support 

The post 24 questions to ask identity resolution vendors during a demo appeared first on MarTech.

“Best of breed has jumped the shark. The concept that a CMO has to buy 250 different technologies and try to figure out which is actually giving them the intent signal that they need — that ship has sailed.”

Rob Tarkoff, Oracle EVP and general manager of CX, knew he was mixing his metaphors. The message was nonetheless clear. Marketers don’t need more standalone tools, they need a platform.

This is not a new message from Oracle. Back in 2015 the late Mark Hurd, then Oracle CEO, predicted that by 2027 two marketing suites would command 80% of the market. He clearly thought Oracle was one of them.

Since then, however, we’ve been through several phases, including the proliferation of “Frankenstacks,” — poorly integrated custom stacks patched together from multiple sources — as well as the model of a central marketing solution with countless partner apps available to plug in and play.

For Tarkoff, none of this works.

Dig deeper: Marketing attribution: What it is, and how it identifies vital customer touchpoints

One streamlined process

“What needs to happen today,” he said, “is that all of those [marketing] flows need to be unified into one streamlined process, one data model, one set of interactions, one clear end-to-end process to build a campaign that has multichannel touch.”

Oracle claims to have built precisely that through the development of Oracle Fusion Marketing, a solution that supports the execution of multiple campaigns across advertising, email and other channels. “We’ve built this system,” he explained, “to take out this crazy concept of continuing to add point applications.” Another breakthrough, Tarkoff said, was integrating the Oracle Unity CDP with the marketing orchestration, content and advertising platforms.

Although Oracle does indeed fuse CX and advertising, Tarkoff acknowledged that the work they’ve done serves primarily B2B marketers. “We’ve written a lot of code over the past few years,” he said.

Dig deeper: Oracle Fusion Marketing reduces the role of traditional CRMs

App marketplaces don’t solve the problem

Some obvious competitors like Salesforce and HubSpot seek the best of both worlds, offering extensive proprietary suites of solutions, but also running huge app marketplaces featuring best of breed solutions configured to integrate with their platforms. Tarkoff, however, thinks of this approach as less the best of both worlds than a way of hedging bets.

“I think that’s a way of hedging bets that doesn’t really solve the problem,” he told us. “Sure, we have partners — but just bringing a marketplace and saying it’s your job to orchestrate the marketplace, that’s not solving the problem. Make it simpler.”

Simplicity and efficiency are his watchwords. “I haven’t seen a model where having an app marketplace actually improves the effectiveness of marketers. It sounds good on paper. We want people to see the power of the unified suite. It doesn’t mean that we’re closed; it means we’re complete.”

Doesn’t it also mean that it forces an Oracle customer to become, in effect, an “Oracle shop,” locking them into the Oracle suite rather than allowing “composability”?

“Truthfully, in SaaS, we’re providing it as a service. We’re not deploying any software on premise, so you’re not locked in. As long as the service provides value for you, you’ll keep it; if it doesn’t, you’ll switch.”

Machine learning is baked in

Another differentiator between Oracle and prominent competitors like Adobe and Salesforce is that it doesn’t have a tag — Sensei or Einstein — for its AI capabilities. Nor has it made any splashy announcements about its adoption of generative AI; no equivalent to Einstein GPT or Sensei GenAI.

Tarkoff says there’s a reason for this. “Oracle has always taken the approach in development that AI and machine learning are built into all of our applications. It’s always been a deliberate difference in how we market AI — rather than having a Sensei or an Einstein or some extra layer of AI, we build machine learning into all the core flows.”

One example, he said, is in the “completely revamped” conversational UI called Redwood. “In that UI we have enabled a lot of machine learning flows to be captured in a conversational fashion.” I think the big difference with large language models is that you get a response in the form of a written statement or some narrative as opposed to a set of directions.”

This doesn’t mean Oracle isn’t paying attention to generative AI. “Like a lot of people, we are experimenting with what that means across marketing, sales and service concepts. How good is it at helping you to optimize the right kind of marketing message? How good is it at helping you figure out the right interaction for a chatbot? We’re doing all of the same experimentation. The difference with Oracle is that we just don’t believe in hyping things we don’t think are true innovation. It’s just a different orientation altogether.”

He also points out that, at an enterprise level especially, good governance is needed. He referred to the inadvertent leak by Samsung engineers. “Some of the engineers put their code into ChatGPT to try to debug it — and it was proprietary code.” Feeding proprietary customer information to a large language model would also be a significant problem.

“It’s in the hype phase,” he concluded. “It’s a new toy for everyone and it will have productivity enhancements but I think there’s a lot that has to get figured out.”

The post Marketers need a unified platform, not more standalone tools appeared first on MarTech.

That’s a whole bundle of opportunities stuck in your funnel, clogging your pipeline and baffling your stakeholders.  

But there are things B2B marketers can do to help sales teams and their prospects overcome purchase indecision and win more customers faster. For proper context, and crafting the right strategies and tactics, let’s frame the challenge and the opportunity based on why and how business professionals and their organizations buy. 

B2B buyers are dealing with FOMU, not FOMO

Authors Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna analyzed more than 2.5 million sales-customer engagements for their recently released book, “The JOLT Effect,” and discovered that:

• 56% of the customers who expressed the intent to purchase were lost due to customer indecision. 
• Only 44% were lost due to sticking with the status quo — what the prospect has been doing or using. 

Making the case to move off the status quo has been a popular sales and marketing strategy for several years. When a deal got stuck, status quo-busting was done primarily through “fear of missing out” (FOMO) tactics, including:

• Reconvincing the buying committee of the benefits of the solution by demonstrating ROI.
• Using fear, uncertainty and doubt tactics, emphasizing the cost of inaction.
• The xx% discount urgency play: “This deal is only good for this quarter.”

These tried-and-true sales and marketing tactics and all the tools and content created to bust the status quo are no longer working. Why? The authors emphasize that human beings — even successful business and technology leaders — are wired to avoid loss. 

The fear of messing up (FOMU) is a major barrier for B2B buyers to pull the trigger on a purchase, no matter how compelling. Inaction is guiltless and perceived as less harmful than acting and making a mistake. 

“The pandemic and volatile economy are certainly factors, but not the underlying cause of what’s stalling a large percentage of business-to-business purchases and deals companies were confident they had closed-won,” said Dixon. “Upon further discovery, we found what is holding companies and their decision makers back is the ‘fear of failure,’ something often missed by sales teams.”

Customers change in seconds, markets shift in minutes and business threats and opportunities appear daily. Betting on a technology, platform or service provider in a world where the pace of change is relentless has many organizations and their decision-makers stuck. 

Dig deeper: Scarcity marketing: Does it still work?

How marketing can help overcome customer FOMU in the sales + purchase process

The “JOLT” thinking outlined in Dixon and McKenna’s book provides a strong foundation for marketing to lock arms with sales, product, ops and customer success colleagues to overcome prospects’ FOMU. 

To do this, the GTM team must have a strategy and playbook on how to help their customers tackle the status quo (i.e., why change now) and then focus on customer indecision (i.e., how to change now). 

Let’s break down the framework and outline prescriptive strategies and tactics marketing teams can use to work alongside their colleagues. 

J: Judging the situation to create the right game plan for each customer

First, as marketers, we need to know the pipeline and the best opportunities as well as our sales colleagues. As equal owners of revenue generation, marketers should work closely with sales and other major account resources to qualify based not just on their ability to buy but their “ability to decide.”

This is where your 1-to-1 and 1-to-few account-based marketing (ABM) strategies can have a true impact. In your ABM efforts, marketing can create tools and forums to get customers to talk about their fear of failure. Think therapy and organizing and breaking down information in your communications, webinars, small roundtable or meet-up you organize in the field. 

Over time using data, you will find patterns in the types of customer indecision, so you can more rapidly anticipate and put strategies into practice at the point of the prospect. Starting with hands-on work to test and learn the best plays is the right move for now. Efficiency and automation can come later.

O: Offering recommendations to simplify options for overwhelmed customers 

The market is filled with noise. Many buyers and buying committees suffer from being overwhelmed by too many choices. Our natural reaction as marketers to convince somebody is to throw more options their way. 

For example, integrations and configurations can easily overwhelm the decision team. A smart approach is to help them choose a path and a solution. Marketing can work with product, sales and ops colleagues to build and simplify packages based on their use case(s). 

We can also increase our sales enablement effort to help structure and equip salespeople to guide the customer to proven, popular choices that have worked for other customers. Note that more case studies are not enough. 

Dig deeper: Buying group marketing: The next evolution of ABM

L: Limiting exploration addresses customer information overload

The best sellers and marketers know that the more information the prospect consumes, the lower the probability they will find the answers they seek. We found that when teams continue to indulge the customer’s requests for additional information throughout the sale, win rates are only in the 16% range. 

This is our natural tendency: create and send more content, shoot over more emails, etc. Stop! This may work early on in initial engagement but rarely works later as they move toward a decision.

Today, we have the data and tools to identify and take action when a prospect or customer is putting off a decision and why. One strategy is to limit the information by, for example, curating a recommended reading list or compiling a simple tool kit. This limits the overwhelming amount of info and demonstrates you get their needs and that you are a valued partner who will be there through the relationship lifecycle. 

T: Taking risks off the table by instilling buyer confidence and creating a safety net 

De-risking versus simply discounting price is another smart strategy to combat customer indecision. For example, marketing can work with sales,  customer success and finance to:

• Craft a mutual value map, identifying key areas of ownership and accountable milestones and metrics.
• Co-create solutions and implementation roadmaps for the organization to bolster confidence with defined steps. 
• Adapt contracts that include services, incentives, and/or safety-net clauses to take FOMU points off the table. 

Marketing’s opportunity to shine by focusing on all stages of customer generation

Marketing can play a significant role in the full customer lifecycle by infusing customer indecision-busting strategies into their demand-to-revenue approach. The focus on defeating customer indecision also pushes us marketers to stop obsessing about generating mounds of new leads and trying to score and qualify only for sales to ignore them. 

The most successful marketing teams don’t stay in their swim lane. Instead, as part of GTM and account-based strategies, marketers can capitalize on this revenue generation need to impact all stages of creating and expanding customer relationships and revenue. 

Congratulations to Dixon and McKenna for their eye-opening research and instructive book for B2B sales, marketing and revenue professionals. 

The post How B2B marketers can help sales overcome customer indecision appeared first on MarTech.

“I think we’re entering a very disruptive phase for creativity for designers, illustrators, video producers and writers,” said Paul Roetzer, CEO of Marketing AI Institute, at the recent MarTech Conference. “I think AI came for knowledge work and creative work way faster than we were prepared for as an industry, and I think that 2023 is going to be a very hard year for a lot of people to grasp what is really possible now and what that means to organizations and writers and content teams.” 

Why we care. Advances in generative AI will likely affect content creation across the marketing profession, at brands and agencies alike. This means smaller organizations can in-house tasks they might have previously depended on agencies to execute. However, new generative AI technology will also be helpful to agencies, making content production more efficient and allowing them to better serve their clients.

Creative work at agencies. “In-house and on the agency side, marketers are already leveraging AI to help them do what they’re good at,” said Stephen Marcinuk, co-founder and head of operations for Intelligent Relations, a low-cost tool that uses AI to help companies craft news pitches and carry out other public relations functions.

“For creative content — ads, blocks of text on a website, sales emails, things of that nature — AI is good at getting from zero to something 80-to-90 percent there,” said Marcinuk. “A real pain point for creative marketers is to stare at a blank piece of paper.”

Generative AI chatbots can produce a number of creative options in short order that humans can then choose from, edit and finalize. For instance, it could provide five different versions of copy for a specific ad, or a number of potential headlines for a blog post.

Upskilling. “Some people say AI will just help get rid of the tedium and so creatives can do interesting work,” said Marcinuk. “I think that’s naïve, personally. Some real jobs will be lost in the next two-to-three years. There will need to be upskilling across the marketing industry to learn how to use this technology and do jobs better.”

At agencies, this means having more marketers focused on strategic thinking and client relations management, as well as brand positioning, testing and analytics.

Augmented intelligence. Adding AI to graphics and other creative tools, as Adobe has done with its new Firefly offering, helps people complete work with tools they weren’t trained to use.

“The tool itself has the intelligence to help you,” said Marcinuk. “That’s what you’re seeing with Firefly and different ad tools. You don’t know how to write great ad copy? Well, what do you want to say? It will help you say it in the right way.”

Generative AI models connect users with outside data sets that can bring a higher level of competence to writing and other creative tasks. This way, agencies can pitch new clients quicker without having to research an entirely new industry.

The AI can also improve language proficiency for non-native speakers. Therefore, it can be a leveler for non-native English speakers who want to break into English-language advertising, Marcinuk said.

In-housing. As generative AI tools evolve, smaller organizations might be able to manage tasks they’d traditionally outsource to agencies.

The Intelligent Relations platform does this by using AI models that generate appropriate news pitches while also finding news organizations and reporters likely to be interested in the pitch. And it offers these tools as a subscription, starting at $95 per month.

Managing your AI. Organizations of all sizes will be forced to take another look at their budget and staffing. While AI capabilities improve, it will be important for marketers at all levels to manage their AI tool much like employees.

“It will still be important to have humans in the loop for approval [of content],” said Marcinuk. “It’s the same as managing a person — communicate the standard and help employees hit the standard. Same with ChatGPT. You’ll have to say ‘no that’s not good enough, make it less verbose.’ You’ll still have to manage your AI for the foreseeable future.”

Dig deeper: New AI-powered product releases

The post Why ChatGPT may be a blessing and a curse for agencies appeared first on MarTech.

If your B2B go-to-market strategy doesn’t prioritize delivering a personalized and engaging experience for your audience, you could be missing out on potential customers and growth opportunities. Fortunately, conversational marketing can help you create the kind of experience that modern buyers expect. 

This article is a guide to conversational marketing and why it should be a key component of your B2B go-to-market strategy.

Key takeaways:

• Conversational marketing improves engagement and conversion rates in B2B.
• A conversational marketing growth strategy creates a more personalized and engaging experience, improves conversion rates and builds stronger customer relationships.
• To build your strategy, identify your audience, select tools, create a messaging framework, train your team and measure results.

Defining conversational marketing

At its core, conversational marketing is a personalized and real-time approach to engaging with potential customers. It involves leveraging conversational tools like chatbots, messaging apps and live chat to interact with prospects and customers. 

By using these channels, businesses can create a more natural, human-like experience that fosters engagement and builds relationships with their audience. Instead of one-way communication, conversational marketing creates an ongoing dialogue between the business and the customer. 

Who is conversational marketing for?

Conversational marketing offers a more effective way for all types of businesses — ecommerce, real estate, online coaching, brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants and more — to build and manage relationships that drive success.

For B2B companies, conversational marketing provides a unique opportunity to engage with potential customers in a personalized and real-time manner, helping to establish a stronger connection and build trust. 

More than half of demand and account-based marketers use conversation automation technologies, according to Forrester’s State of Demand and ABM Tactic Survey. And it’s not just a passing trend, as 43% of these marketers plan to increase their budget for an online chat as a conversational delivery channel. 

By leveraging conversational tools like chatbots and messaging apps, B2B businesses can create a more natural and seamless experience for prospects, guiding them through the sales funnel and answering any objections or questions they may have. This ultimately leads to higher conversion rates and stronger customer relationships.

Here’s an example:

As a SaaS company selling project management tools to enterprise-level businesses, you implement a conversational marketing strategy to engage busy executives looking to streamline their team’s workflows and increase productivity.

You create a chatbot with a messaging framework that includes responses to common objections, personalized product recommendations and solutions to common pain points based on the user’s needs.

When a potential customer visits your website, the chatbot engages them in a conversation, asking questions about their business and providing real-time answers and solutions based on their responses.

The potential customer is connected to a live chat representative for more personalized assistance if the chatbot can’t answer a specific question. This approach makes customers feel heard, valued and supported, increasing the likelihood of conversion into paying customers.

Dig deeper: Let’s chat about this product

Benefits of conversational marketing in your B2B sales efforts

When it comes to B2B sales, the journey from prospect to customer can be a bumpy ride. Traditional sales cycles can be long, complicated and full of obstacles that make it tough for buyers to get the information they need to decide. That’s where conversational marketing comes in to help smooth things out.

With conversational marketing, buyers can engage with your business more naturally and personally. They can ask questions and get answers in real time without having to wade through a maze of phone menus or fill out endless web forms.

Conversational marketing empowers buyers to take control of their own journey while still providing the guidance and support they need to make informed decisions.

Up to 80% of B2B sales interactions between buyers and sellers will be happening in digital channels by 2025, according to Gartner. This emphasizes incorporating digital strategies like conversational marketing into your overall B2B GTM strategy.

By meeting buyers where they are and providing personalized experiences, conversational marketing helps remove the roadblocks that can slow down the B2B sales cycle. 

And the best part? You can measure the impact of your conversational marketing efforts with metrics like engagement rates, conversion rates and customer satisfaction scores. So you can continuously optimize your strategy and keep improving to deliver an even better experience for your customers.

Some other benefits include:

• Boost your website’s conversion rates.
• Create genuine connections with your buyers.
• Speed up your sales process.
• Save your sales team’s valuable time by handling repetitive inquiries.
• Appeal to the communication style of your target audience.
• Be available 24/7 with asynchronous conversations.

Personalization’s role in conversational marketing

Almost 7 out of 10 customers expect a consistent and personalized experience across all channels, whether online or offline? It’s no secret that customers crave personalized attention, but it’s surprising how many companies still struggle to deliver on this expectation.

For B2B businesses, personalization is even more critical as buyers seek customized experiences with the brands they interact with. Using these personalization tactics, you can improve the overall customer experience and create a sense of trust and credibility with your audience.

Personalization can take many forms in conversational marketing, including:

• Addressing customers by name and customizing the conversation based on their previous interactions with your brand.
• Offering personalized product or service recommendations based on the customer’s needs and preferences.
• Using data to provide targeted messaging and offers to specific segments of your audience.
• Allowing customers to choose their preferred communication channels and tailoring your messaging accordingly.

Dig deeper: What is personalized marketing and how is it used today?

Creating a conversational marketing GTM strategy

Are you ready to take your B2B marketing strategy to the next level? Creating a conversational marketing GTM strategy is a powerful way to engage with your customers, build authentic relationships and drive sales. To get started, it’s important to follow these key steps.

Step 1: Identify your audience

When identifying your audience, you should consider their unique characteristics, pain points and preferences. Take the time to research your target market and create buyer personas that represent your ideal customers. This will help you understand what motivates them, what challenges they face and what kind of messaging will resonate with them.

Once you know who you’re trying to reach, it’s time to choose the right channels and tools for your conversational marketing. For example, consider using Facebook Messenger or Twitter direct messages if your audience is mainly on social media. However, a chatbot might be more effective if they prefer email or your website.

It’s also important to consider the stage of the buyer’s journey that your audience is in. For instance, if you’re targeting customers still in the awareness stage, you may want to focus on educational content and answering frequently asked questions. On the other hand, if you’re targeting customers in the decision stage, you may want to provide more personalized recommendations and offers to encourage them to purchase.

Step 2: Select the right tools

Selecting the right tools is critical to any conversational growth strategy. There are numerous chatbot and conversational marketing platforms available in the market.

Before selecting one, identify what features are important to you, such as ease of use, integration with your existing tech stack, customer support and pricing. Some popular chatbot tools include:

• ManyChat: A popular platform for building chatbots on Facebook Messenger and other messaging apps.
• Drift: A conversational marketing platform for B2B businesses that lets you personalize conversations and connect with potential leads.
• Intercom: A messaging platform that allows you to chat with customers in real time across your website, app and social media.

Ultimately, the right tool will depend on your business needs and budget. Consider the features essential to your conversational growth strategy and select a tool that fits those needs.

Step 3: Create a messaging framework

You need a clear and effective messaging framework to achieve your conversational marketing goals. Define your value proposition and develop key messages that support it, focusing on benefits rather than just features. Don’t forget to consider your audience’s pain points and tailor your language accordingly.

Create guidelines for tone and voice to maintain consistency in all communications, whether through a chatbot, email or phone conversation. This will make it easier to train your team and measure the effectiveness of your conversational marketing efforts. A messaging framework lets you track how well your messages resonate with your audience and adjust as needed.

Step 4: Train your team

To implement an effective conversational marketing strategy, it’s crucial to train your team. Here are some steps to consider:

• Review your messaging framework and chatbot scenarios, ensuring your team is comfortable handling any questions or objections. 
• Establish guidelines for when to escalate a customer to a human representative and provide thorough training on the necessary tools and technology. 
• Regularly analyze chatbot conversations for areas of improvement and provide ongoing feedback to your team.

Step 5: Measure results

Measuring the success of your conversational marketing strategy is essential for making improvements and demonstrating value to stakeholders. But with so many metrics to track, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

First, determine what goals you want to achieve with your strategy. Is it to increase engagement, drive more leads or boost sales? Once you have identified your goals, you can select the metrics to help you measure progress toward achieving them.

• Engagement: Includes metrics such as open rates, click-through rates and time spent in conversation. These metrics can help you understand your audience’s engagement with your content and if they find it valuable.
• Conversion rates: This measures how many people took the desired action after engaging with your chatbot, such as filling out a lead form or making a purchase.
• Customer satisfaction: This can be measured through customer feedback surveys, ratings and reviews. By understanding how satisfied your customers are with your chatbot experience, you can improve and continue to provide value to your audience.
• ROI: This involves measuring the cost of implementing your strategy and comparing it to the revenue generated from your chatbot. By demonstrating a positive ROI, you can show the value of your strategy to stakeholders and secure resources for future growth.

Boost B2B sales and customer satisfaction with conversational marketing

If you want to boost your B2B sales and keep your customers happy, consider adopting conversational marketing as part of your strategy. By engaging with customers in real-time, you can build stronger relationships, accelerate sales cycles and free up your sales team to focus on more important tasks. 

With a little effort and the right tools, you can increase website conversions and cater to the preferences of modern buyers. So why not start implementing conversational marketing in your B2B sales cycle today? By embracing the power of conversational marketing, you can stay ahead of the competition and deliver a superior customer experience that will keep your clients coming back for more. 

The post Conversational marketing: A guide to a key B2B GTM strategy appeared first on MarTech.