Conversational Marketing

Conversational marketing is getting more popular every day, especially for B2B marketing teams. Why is this type of marketing becoming so popular? The answer is simple — because it works. Rather than forcing leads to jump through countless hoops before they ever engage directly with someone from your company, conversational marketing creates a connection right away.

Conversational marketing statistics indicate that the conversational marketing future is bright. This tactic has high adoption rates, and it will continue to be embraced by more and more marketing teams due to its effectiveness.

If you want to learn more about the state of conversational marketing, look into some conversational marketing statistics 2021. In particular, check out Gartner conversational marketing for up-to-date stats and information.

What is conversational marketing — and what are its advantages? Conversational marketing may be known as live chat, chatbots, website chat, or anything similar. Whether AI-driven or human-driven, it’s the art of marketing through a text-based conversation. Conversation in digital marketing is one of the best and most effective ways to secure a sale — and it’s part of a modern account-based marketing strategy.

Today, the state of conversation marketing is incredibly optimistic. Conversational marketing trends and conversational marketing statistics show that conversational marketing is not only here to stay, but likely to become more popular and mainstream as the main marketing channel for B2B companies.

People like to converse, whether they’re conversing with their phone’s AI system or they’re conversing with a human remotely. Most people want to be able to ask a simple question, such as “What is this product’s warranty?” and have it answered. Many people will self-service with artificial intelligence over connecting with a person — and many people will self-service with a live chat agent over speaking over the phone.

For a business, conversational marketing fulfills a few purposes. First, it engages with the customer one-on-one, making them more likely to make a purchase. When AI is used, it automates part of the buyer’s journey, securing and scoring leads early on. When human chat is used, it makes it possible for chat personnel to handle multiple sales at once and streamlines the sales process. In both cases, the chat can collect information into a central repository such as a Customer Relationship Management platform.

Customers love conversational marketing because it makes their lives easier and their connections with companies more direct. Companies love conversational marketing because it can be thoroughly streamlined and automated, scoring leads better and securing leads better than other traditional marketing methods. But it does come at a price; companies need to invest in conversational software.

Modern conversational software is very robust. But there’s also a lot of it. For companies to truly leverage the value of conversational marketing, they need to be able to identify the right chat solutions for them, and they need to have the technical understanding to implement it well.

Conversational Marketing Companies

There are several conversational marketing companies, and they all focus on providing businesses with tools that facilitate conversational marketing. The Intercom system is a popular option for conversational marketing.

The Intercom API contains a range of tools that allow businesses to integrate chat bots on their websites. Intercom lead generation tools automatically greet customers with personalized messages when they reach your website, and the intercom app includes management tools that allow you to customize workflows.

Intercom marketing is successful because it lets you segment your marketing efforts based on rich customer data — you can read more about these features as well as Intercom pricing on the Intercom blog. When you opt for conversational marketing Intercom, you can also easily integrate the application with other apps for seamless out-of-the-box experiences.

What are some conversational marketing companies or conversational marketing tools? Terminus, Intercom, HubSpot, and Drift are all leading contenders within this space. HubSpot provides a comprehensive conversational marketing guide and operates as a conversational marketing specialist, while Intercom and Drift are both chat software solutions that can be integrated into other systems. Terminus is an all-in-one account-based marketing platform that also provides fully-featured conversational marketing functionality.

If you’re thinking about learning more about conversational marketing, HubSpot is a good first step. HubSpot has guides, tests, lessons, and quizzes, all meant to help individuals learn more about account-based marketing and how it can impact their business. HubSpot also does have conversational marketing tools which are on par with those by Intercom and Drift. You’ll find that the major differences in these solutions will be cost and support. Some conversational marketing solutions are free (for limited use) and others can cost thousands of dollars a month.

Terminus is one of the best options for conversational marketing because it offers many other account-based marketing features as well. With Terminus, you can get an all-in-one marketing solution, including customer relationship management features, analysis, and third-party integrations. But the services offered by both Intercom and Drift are also very popular, and it’s possible to test out demos of each solution to determine which is the best one.

Regardless, conversational marketing is here to stay, and it’s continuously becoming more in-depth and robust. Those who have any type of online presence at all need to consider adding chat into their repertoire.

Conversational Marketing Platform

As indicated above, many conversational marketing tools promise to work easily out of the box, but businesses that really want to optimize their conversational marketing benefits are now hiring conversational marketing managers.

Many of these professionals focus on a specific conversational marketing platform. For instance, they may apply to be a HubSpot conversational marketing manager or a manager that can guide a company through the ins and outs of using Intercom or a similar application.

As conversational advertising continues to rise in popularity, these jobs will also continue to rise in popularity. This is similar to how social media marketing used to be a fringe marketing activity, but now most big companies and many small businesses have social media managers. The same professionalization process is now happening with conversation media marketing.

What is a conversational marketing platform? Conversational marketing platforms can be as limited as simple conversational marketing bots and as complex as entire customer relationship suites. The brands above build entire platforms, not just simple chat tools; there’s a difference.

There are many live chat or AI chat add-ons that can be plugged directly into a website, such as WordPress plug-ins. But that’s not what conversational marketing 2020 trends are about. In 2020, the trend is more toward an entire platform, which will analyze performance, collect user data, and score and identify leads.

Terminus Chat, as an example, will connect to a multitude of other channels, points of engagement, and data, so teams can holistically see how a buyer or customer might be interacting with their brand. It’s that data that is truly critical for better marketing and understanding, as it tells the organization what is and isn’t working about its strategies, and it tells the organization which individuals they should best try to secure.

So, how do you choose a conversational marketing platform? The best conversational platforms will be able to integrate with the solutions that your organization already relies on, while also giving you a smooth chat experience and other account-based marketing features. It’s important to compare multiple marketing platforms to determine the one that will work best for you, while also considering any dependencies the platform might have.

There are many conversational marketing platforms out there. But there are only a few, like Terminus and HubSpot, that are truly popular. Looking up reviews and recommendations can help narrow your search further.

Drift Chatbot

One of the most popular conversational marketing tools right now is the Drift Chatbot. In fact, Drift actually started the conversational marketing category. This company was one of the first to launch a chatbot designed to help B2B marketers connect more effectively with consumers.

The conversational marketing Drift uses centers around a chatbot that can be used to screen leads, nurture leads, perform customer service tasks, answer questions, or direct people to a real person in the company. Ultimately, however, the role of this tool is to drive sales for companies.

There is even a Drift conversational marketing certification for individuals who want to learn how to optimize their use of this tool.

Drift is the main brand behind conversational marketing and the Drift chatbot is extremely advanced. They, and other brands like HubSpot, offer a conversational marketing certification. This can be extremely useful to ensure that you understand the basics of Buzz marketing examples and conversational marketing Drift. Drift has a wealth of documentation available; you can even download the Drift conversational marketing book, take the quizzes, and so forth.

A Drift conversational marketing certification can be useful both for employees and employers, as it ensures that employees understand the newest standards, while also making individual employees more effective at their jobs. While conversational marketing certification is fairly new, it’s also gaining steam very fast, while a HubSpot certification has always been considered as a worthwhile achievement for B2B marketers. The Drift playbook certification and Drift conversational marketing certification answers can be studied by business owners who are interested in just learning more about their own marketing.

During the 2019 state of conversational marketing Drift was one of the leading contenders and the most important conversational marketing companies. It is still a top conversational marketing company, but many competitors have emerged. Along with the Drift popup, there are other systems like Intercom.

What is conversational marketing Drift in 2021? 2021 is going to continue to see more competition and more advances in technology, which can only be good for the marketing industry. But while there are many new conversational marketing tools, businesses need to think about not only the technology but also its longevity and support.

Conversational Marketing Examples

Conversational marketing is very effective, and there are great tools to help with the process. But that does not mean that conversational marketing is easy. If you want your marketing to be as effective as possible, you should look into some dialogue marketing examples.

Conversational marketing examples will give you an idea of the types of conversations you should map out, and conversational marketing quotes will help you come up with the exact verbiage for your conversations. Check out this Terminus resource if you want to see a conversational marketing example that really works — it features all kinds of conversational marketing ideas.

The best method of understanding conversational marketing is to look at some conversational marketing examples, a conversational marketing blueprint, or a conversational marketing book. You can even download a conversational marketing PDF to review. Examples of conversational marketing will tell you not only what conversational marketing is, but how it works and what works best. You can look at the techniques in a conversational marketing book PDF and learn what strategies you should use and what strategies you should avoid.

Some examples of conversational marketing include:

• Booking a meeting with someone. Through chat, customers are able to book meetings, moving on to the next stage of the buyer’s journey, and sending information about themselves directly to the organization.
• Taking a look at a knowledge base. A chat can operate as a fully-functional interface between the customer and the organization’s knowledge base, looking up articles that trigger certain keywords and returning them in order of relevance.
• Providing superior customer support. Many support inquiries can potentially be answered by AI, and chats can always be escalated to a human customer support representative as needed.
• Extending the company’s brand. Some chats are just fun. Whether the chat is answering questions or just connecting to a booking system, instilling it with personality and intrigue can make it interesting to interact with.
• Answering commonly asked questions. Where chats really excel is in automation. Conversational marketing can be used to automate some of the most frequently asked questions or frequently requested tasks.

But even so, that’s only a small part of conversational marketing. Conversational marketing is a complex field and it’s constantly growing, even if its appeal is simple and direct. The right conversational marketing partner can help you grow and develop your marketing strategies.

Conversational AI

At this point, you may be wondering, what is a chatbot? This term has been used several times in this guide, but it hasn’t been fully explained. So, what are chatbots? A conversational marketing chatbot is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that talks with customers through a chat window.

The AI starts the conversation based on the information it knows about the person visiting the website. Then, the AI is programmed to offer different responses or take certain actions based on what the person types in the chatbox.

The benefits of conversational marketing are that it features machine learning, meaning that the chatbots actually get better at their job over time. A conversational AI can also direct the person to a live individual in the company if and when needed.

Why is conversation marketing becoming so important? Because conversational AI is becoming so advanced.

Conversational marketing AI has been in development for a long time. But only in the latter half of the decade has it become advanced enough to really seem like a person. Some AI chatbots are even expressly designed to “fool” people into thinking they’re real people. Before, AI chatbots could be infuriating to deal with because they never understood natural human language. Now they’re advanced enough that they can be effective.

The main opportunity of conversational marketing is to provide information, support, and even entertainment to customers on an automated basis. Customers are able to interact with an AI chat without adding any administrative overhead to the organization itself. And if the individual does end up needing to talk to a real human being, the chat can be easily escalated to someone, with all of the prior information intact; it doesn’t have to entirely replace customer support and service.

There’s a reason why so many companies are switching to conversational marketing. It’s effective. And people have come to expect conversational marketing, from everyone from small businesses to larger enterprises. With the right partner and the right technology, you should be able to find the right conversational marketing platform for you.

Conversational Marketing Certification

If you want to learn more about conversational marketing, you may want to take a class. Similarly, businesses that want their marketing teams to know more about this process should consider having them take courses on this topic. Two of the biggest players in the conversational marketing sphere — HubSpot and Drift — actually offer certification programs.

To get Drift conversational marketing certification answers, you can check out the Drift website. Drift offers a Conversational Sales Certification, a Virtual Events Certification, a Conversational Marketing Certification, and a 2021 Playbook Basics Certification. All of these certifications are free, and you can earn industry-recognized badges to put on your LinkedIn profile.

Most of these courses include several videos from experts, and then, you take the Drift conversational marketing certification quizlet to obtain your certification. Don’t let the word “quizlet” confuse you — these tests are hard and can take one to three hours to complete.

The courses on conversational marketing HubSpot offers are also free, and you can choose from courses on HubSpot Marketing software, inbound sales, inbound marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, digital marketing, digital advertising, and more. Like Drift’s courses, HubSpot certification courses are also free, and you can earn badges to put on your LinkedIn profile.

When you get to the HubSpot website, you may notice that a chatbot pops up in the corner. This is a chance for you to see conversational marketing in action, and you can also utilize the chatbot to get directed to the best courses for your needs. Don’t be afraid to use that tool — it can help you navigate the site, but also help you get a hands-on feel for the potential of conversational marketing.

Conversational Marketing Software

As businesses established their marketing strategy 2020, many of them turned to Terminus, an emerging conversational marketing software platform. Terminus helped its clients create their conversational marketing 2020 plans, and the company is now embracing even better strategies for conversational marketing 2021 plans.

As a relatively new player in the market, Terminus is focused on innovation. It has been able to build on and improve the approach used by other conversational marketing platforms, and this has given Terminus a competitive edge in a tight marketplace.

With so many conversational marketing vendors to choose from, why are businesses turning to Terminus? Well, this company understands the challenges businesses face if they want to be successful with conversational marketing in 2021, and it offers tools that are easy to use and that create results.

Businesses that used Terminus saw a 700% increase in target account engagement. On average, they also experienced a 16-fold increase in sales conversations just two weeks after implementing the software — this is a 1600% increase in less than 15 days. You don’t have to wait to see the positive effects of Terminus. They start almost immediately when you implement the software.

Terminus also helped its clients triple their lead volume and improve their lead response time by 51%. These companies also experienced a 42% increase in their close rate for sales accepted leads (SAL) and an 80% increase in their close rates for all chat-sourced leads.

All of these numbers point to one thing — Terminus helps businesses bring in more revenue and close more deals. It guides site visitors through the sales funnel quickly and efficiently. It starts a conversation, nurtures leads, and then passes them to sales reps or customer service agents when they are ripe and ready to be closed.

Conversational Marketing Tools

The great thing about conversational marketing is that you can learn about this process for free. If you enroll in college for a business degree, you aren’t likely to see any conversational marketing classes — this technique is too new for most colleges to have developed courses.

Luckily, however, marketers have developed courses about conversational marketing, and these courses let you learn from people in the trenches who are actually using these strategies. The courses span from basic introductions to conversational marketing to advanced topics on optimizing this strategy.

In addition to the certification courses mentioned above, you may want to check out the conversational marketing book by Drift. This book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other booksellers, and you can get it as an ebook, a hardcover, a digital audiobook, or a CD audiobook. It contains a conversational marketing blueprint that explains the key information you need to use conversational marketing effectively.

This book, however, is a static document, and if you want up-to-date resources, you may want to check out the resources on the Terminus website. There, you can find blogs on various conversational marketing tools as well as a conversational marketing PDF download and more. To find other resources online, consider doing a search for a conversational marketing PDF and look for resources that have been created or vetted by reputable companies that make chatbots.

Conversational marketing lets you connect with customers automatically 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. It fosters a connection between your business and your customers that ultimately leads to more qualified leads and more sales. If you want to improve your approach to marketing and customer relationship management, you need to learn as much about conversational marketing as possible. Your bottom line will thank you.