If you’re running a B2B company, you know that the marketing and sales process is often much longer and more complicated than it is for B2C brands. So, it’s important to take advantage of any processes or strategies that could boost conversions and drive more sales.

Thankfully, conversational marketing is a valuable tool that can help a B2B company strengthen its bottom line. However, because of the complex nature of the B2B buying process, it’s imperative to understand how it works and how to deploy it. Here’s what you need to know.

What is Conversational Marketing?

Conversational marketing is the process of using a dialogue-driven approach to interact with prospective customers. In a B2B setting, this can involve using chatbots to communicate with leads and help them understand what your company has to offer.

By generating conversational questions and responses, these bots can collect information about leads and their company’s pain points. From there, a sales rep can jump into the conversation with everything they need to move the lead to the next stage of the funnel.

Overall, this type of marketing is designed to be less and more authentic. Plus, because B2B sales usually involve multiple decision-makers, text marketing can be more convenient than a traditional sales pitch.

How to Utilize Conversational Marketing in a B2B Setting

Typically, SMS campaigns and text marketing are used for B2C sales with specific offers for customers. However, there are ways to incorporate conversational messaging into a B2B marketing campaign, including:

Focus on Capturing Data, Not Selling Products

A big appeal of conversational messaging is that it takes away the pressure of closing a deal as quickly as possible. Whether the conversation happens via SMS, a phone call, or email, the goal should be to collect data first. Ask questions about the prospect’s pain point, who they answer to, and what their current workflows look like.

The initial conversations should focus on getting to know the business as much as possible. From there, you can start to promote your product or service and ask to speak with other decision-makers.

Create Automation Based on Data

AI and chatbots make it easier than ever to automate the marketing and sales process. As you manually collect information from prospects, you can train these programs to provide better responses. Automating the initial conversation frees sales reps to contact warm leads who have already engaged with the brand.

Choose the Right Communication Channels

B2B prospects are much different than regular customers, so you need to know how to communicate with them effectively. While an omnichannel messaging program like Mitto makes it easier, you still need to focus your attention on the “best” channels. For example, email may work well for some contacts, while texting works better for others. 

The more you know about your prospects and how they fit within their companies, the easier it is to create a customized marketing strategy. Also, you need to be able to track the conversation across channels so that there are no crossed wires or miscommunications between your team and the prospect.

Create High-Value Engagement Content

Whether your reps are communicating with lower-level employees or top executives, you need to sell the value of your product or service. Part of conversational marketing is engaging prospects with interactive content. This material can include surveys, chatbots, SMS campaigns, and more. By having this content ready to go, you can send it to new leads and move the conversation along.

The more valuable your content, the more likely it is that a prospect will move it up the chain. Even if you’re talking with executives directly, they can see the value for themselves and are more likely to move forward within the sales funnel.

Create an Omnichannel Messaging Strategy Today

The value of this kind of marketing is crucial for B2B brands because it enables them to connect with businesses more comprehensively. Plus, by removing the pressure to close a deal, prospects are more willing to have these conversations and provide better-curated data. From there, your sales reps can come in at the right moment to increase conversion rates and boost customer satisfaction.

Best of all, omnichannel messaging programs like Mitto make this process even easier. Reps can communicate with leads across different channels in an all-in-one dashboard. It’s much easier to keep track of interactions, and nurture leads with the right conversations at the right time. Check out Mitto for yourself today.