Stop Spamming and Start Selling:

Combine Channels for Maximum Marketing Effectiveness

As technology continues to evolve, marketers have increasingly more ways to target key prospects and send messages. A recent 1to1 article discusses at length how these new approaches can help marketers meet customer expectations. The simple truth is that “[today’s customer]…expects personalized interactions from their preferred brands,” and technology is a great way to meet the expectation.

Marketing is a constantly fluctuating environment. On one hand, tools such as social media are allowing marketers to personably engage prospects in new and exciting ways. This is good news that should not be ignored.

On the other hand, new technology has produced a multichannel environment, where brands are frequently required to engage prospects and customers in a number of venues while maintaining a personable touch. This can make meeting customer expectations a complex challenge.

Additionally, it is critical that multichannel outreach be well planned — considering the strengths and limitations of each channel. For example, according to a recent Gallup Study, “Brand-sponsored social media initiatives do not have much impact in prospective customers’ decision making. Nor do they drive prospective customers to consider trying a brand or recommending a brand to others in their social network.”

Rather than having social media flying solo, a better approach might be to let social media be the channel to lead a brand’s natural social engagement (positive buzz about the product from customers, earned and paid media, etc.). Brands can then use other channels, such as contact centers, to follow up with leads in support of the engagement built by social media. The aim is to provide personal, multichannel experiences to each prospect, building to the sale.

Perhaps surprisingly, Gallup indicated that the most frequently used type of social networking is still analog — face-to-face or telephone. A well trained contact center agent who is fluent in their client’s brand and in multichannel operations can directly communicate with prospects in a thoughtful and adaptive manner that can close the sale that all of the brand’s multichannel outreach has been building to.

We hope you found this month’s Dialogue informative.