"Why Conversational Marketing Matters: Engagement in the Age of Stratification" - EPiServer Partner Summit 2010

Why Conversational Marketing Matters:Engagement in the Age of Stratification
Deane Barker
Content Management Practice Director
Blend Interactive

Blend Interactive
EPiServer Partner since 2008
2009 North American Partner of the Year

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

Image by S.K. Photography

Image by Dean Franklin

@gadgetopia

Why this topic?
Conversational marketing is becoming more and more important to customers.
EPiServer has a great story to tell.

A Cultural Disclaimer

What is conversational marketing?
Un-marketing
Marketing through dialogue rather than monologue
Marketing which allows the prospect to talk back
Participating in a conversation about your industry, brand, or customer’s interest

Harmony Tweets
Very soft sell
Targeted an interest of their pool of prospective customers
Encouraged the community to talk amongst themselves
Connected to other communication channels
Involved other organizations

Why has marketing become conversational?
Marketing has stratified and technology is making it easier to cut out.
Technology has brought us back to the classic marketplace where consumers converse with each other.

Big Point #1
Marketing has stratified and technology is making it easier to cut out.

Integrated Advertising

The Commercial Break

Marketing Stratification

Stratification
Image by Matt Mechtley

Stratification

Zenith Space Commander
Image by Jim Rees

The VCR

Tivo / DVR

AdBlock Plus

Traditional Model

Integrated Model

Integrated Advertising

Marketing has stratified
Technology has made it easier to cut out
Marketing has started to integrate back into content

The $1Million Question
In a world where consumers can pick the marketing they’re exposed to, why would they pick yours?

Big Point #2
Technology has brought us back to the classic marketplace where consumers converse with each other.

The Cluetrain Manifesto

“Markets are conversations”

Marketing isn’t changing. Rather, it’s changing back.

The relative isolation of the consumer has ended.

Consumers trust other consumer recommendations 78% of the time
82% of customers who read reviews from other customers claim they were affected by those reviews
Eight out of 10 customers trust brands more if they offer customer reviews.

What is a brand?

“The experiential aspect [of a brand] consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand…”
Wikipedia, “Brand”

The conversation is a “point of contact” you cannot control.

A conversation is happening right now about your brand.
The only question: are you in on it?

The Saga of Jeremy Hermanns

Conversation FAIL.

Conversations about your brand are happening whether or not you’re involved.
There is value in participating in these conversations.
There is also considerable peril.
There’s even more value in initiating, hosting, and branding these conversations.

Case Studies

Thank You
http://gadgetopia.com
http://blendinteractive.com
deane@blendinteractive.com
@gadgetopia

"Why Conversational Marketing Matters: Engagement in the Age of Stratification" - EPiServer Partner Summit 2010

by Blend Interactive on Aug 16, 2011

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"Why Conversational Marketing Matters: Engagement in the Age of Stratification" - EPiServer Partner Summit 2010 — Presentation Transcript