What is Conversation Marketing by Idiom Strategies

A Conversa+on Marke+ng Agency

March 26, 2009

Hi, Iʼm Christine and Iʼm the Chief Conversationalist at Idiom Strategies. This is Yan and Tony. Together we work with companies to develop actionable conversation marketing plans to help them participate in their market conversation.

Conversa+on Marke+ng is the strategic  convergence of: • • • • • • • • •

Inﬂuencer/Press Rela/ons Social Media Word of Mouth Marke/ng Reputa/on Management Content Marke/ng Community Outreach Lead Genera/on Online Marke/ng Event Marke/ng © Copyright Idiom Strategies, LLC. 2009

Right now you’re probably asking yourself, What is Conversation Marketing? Put simply it’s the strategic convergence of many traditional marketing disciplines all optimized for participating in the market conversation. Think of it as taking the best traditions, customs and teachings from everywhere on earth—the ones that make the most sense to you—and creating your own unique culture. With Conversation marketing, you’re taking the aspects of all these disciplines that are meaningful to your company and your market conversation and building a plan to converse with your audiences.

Iden/fy  inﬂuencers. Understand who  par/cipates &  who listens. Address  ques/ons,  concerns &  praise  immediately. Communicate  openly with the  right Tools in the  right Loca/ons.

But what does it mean to “Participate” in the market conversation? Well, True participation is a mixture of activities aimed at accomplishing 5 objectives. And the optimal mix is unique to every company. * The first objective Listening to current customers, prospects, experts and other influencers and internalizing what you hear. Really listening to what people need and want. * The second is Speaking to the overall market conversation with quality, helpful content that people want to respond to and pass on. * The third is Caring about what the market is saying about you, your products and the industry, but also caring about helping people fulfill their needs and wants and not just about selling your products. * The next objective is Sharing your experiences—both positive and negative. Highlight your wins, but also your customers’ successes. Own up to errors and work toward resolutions. * The final objective is Building relationships. Identify Influencers, understand who Participates and who Listens to the market conversation. Be open to communication with everyone.

Conversa+on  Marke+ng  Vs.  Other  Marke+ng  Disciplines © Copyright Idiom Strategies, LLC. 2009

Conversation marketing strategies are more effective than simple traditional strategies because it focuses on a 2-way dialogue with all audiences. Older approaches were very one-directional because they weren’t working toward the 5 objectives of Listening, Speaking, Caring, Sharing and Building Relationships.

The 80/20 Rule Inﬂuencers & Par+cipants Inﬂuence

Listeners  (aka customers & prospects)

Influence plays a big role in conversation marketing. Understanding market influence is vital to determining the right conversation marketing mix. The 80/20 rule applies here. 80% of the market conversation ecosystem is influenced by the 20% of Influencers and conversation participants.

Peers & Colleagues In‐person events  Online communi/es, forums, social media Online events % IT Buyers Inﬂuenced By... Interac/ve  online media 12% 33% 16%

17%

23% © Copyright Idiom Strategies, LLC. 2009

As an example of how influence works in a market space, This recent report by Forrester illustrates who and what influences IT buyers All of which are part of the market conversation.

Inﬂuencers

Creators 43%

Par/cipants

Listeners

Cri+cs 58%

•Review and Rate Products •Comment: Blogs/Forums •Contribute to Wikis

Collectors 48%

•RSS Feeds •Vote/Surveys •Tags/Bookmark sharing

Joiners 55%

•Visit Social Sites •Maintain Online Profile

Spectators 91%

*Forrester Research, February 2009:  The Social Technographics® Of  Business Buyers

•Publish content: Blog/ Website, Video/Audio, Presentations •Articles/Research Reports

Inac+ves 5%

•Reads: Blogs/Articles/ Reports/Chats/Microblogs/ Reviews •Watches/Listens: Podcasts/ Webinars/Videos •Does nothing

By now you might be wondering how to tie all this together to end up with an actionable  marketing plan.  But first it’s important to understand the market conversation ecosystem It can be broken down into three groups. First there are Influencers. the Individuals and  entities who influence customers and prospects.  Next there are Participants. the Individuals who respond and contribute to the topics typically  raised by Influencers. Finally, there are Listeners who happen to be the largest group and generally include your  customers and prospects. They are the Individuals who look to Influencers and Participants for  purchase advice. Forrester Research breaks it down even further. Influencers are equivalent to creators— essentially the people who raise topics by voicing or publishing their knowledge and opinions.  Participants are equivalent to what Forrester calls critics, collectors and joiners—what these  three groups have in common is that they all participate in the market conversation in some  way by responding to what the Influencers/creators are saying. Then Listeners are equivalent  to Spectators. You can see that this is the biggest group. And yes, you’ve probably surmised  that sometimes people and organizations fall into more than one of these groups. That’s why  it’s important to be constantly listening and monitoring what’s happening in the market  conversation.

The last part youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll want to understand is that the conversation is happening both on and offline in different Locations, both physical and virtual. The locations where the conversation takes place is highly dependent on your industry, the influencers and many other factors, but they can include: * Social Media Networks, Blogs and other Social Media Outlets * Forums and Chat rooms * Conferences, Tradeshows and other sponsored events * On and Offline Publications and Industry Research * User Groups and Industry Trade Organizations * Webinars, Podcasts and Webcasts And then there are Tools. People use different tools to participate in the conversation. These are the means by which they voice or publish their thoughts And also the ways in which they take in information. * Social media technology such as blogs, wikis, networking sites and many others * News aggregators, RSS Feeds, alerts and other tracking systems * Podcast, webcast and webinar technologies * Live speeches and presentations * Calendaring technologies and Web communities * Email, and yes, even snail mail

• Iden/fy Inﬂuencers • Understand Par/cipants  and Listeners • Discover what the Market  really needs/wants and how  they perceive solu/ons • Research Conversa/on  Loca/ons & Tools

• Current Marke/ng  Ac/vi/es • Conversa/on Messaging • Rela/onship Development  Best Prac/ces • Conversa/on Par/cipa/on  Best Prac/ces • Measurement/Monitoring

Conversa+on  Marke+ng  Plan

Now we get down to figuring it out. To determine the optimal mix of conversation marketing activities you need to really look at the market conversation. Do a full Market Conversation Analysis to understand the ecosystem, the Locations, the Tools and topic trends. Then, with the five conversation marketing objectives in mind, review your current marketing activities to see how well they’re doing. How can you alter your marketing messages to be more conversational? Are you extracting market conversation content? Review your research findings with the 5 objectives in mind and you’ll begin to see what you need to do to Listen and what to do with that information, where and when to speak and what to say, how to show you care, what to share and when to share it, and who to build relationships with. Unfortunately, success can’t be pulled off a shelf. The trick is to gather enough knowledge, and continually listen and watch for changes, so that you can choose the right mix of activities.

The benefits you can expect from activities that achieve the five conversation marketing objectives include: * Increased brand visibility: If you’re participating with quality content more people will be noticing you. * Decreased market research costs: You won’t need to spend as much on focus groups or market research because you’re paying attention to what the market needs. * Reduced impact from negative user-generated content: Not everyone in the world will love you and you will have some customers who are unhappy, but conversing with them both in public and private to resolve their issues will keep them from telling everyone else that you’re a bad company. * Increase in direct inquires and more qualified leads: Potential customers will have a better understanding of who you are and what you offer before they contact you. * Increased sales: When you actively interact with the entire conversation ecosystem you’ll expand your brand awareness and improve brand perception. * Increased sales win ratios: Your sales team will be able to counter sales objections with relevant content from the market conversation. * Increased customer retention: Actively communicating with your customers and the communities they’re involved with makes it less likely that they’ll leave. * Increased equity of your created content: You’ll leverage activities in the market conversation to expand the reach of your created content. * Full equity in influencer relationships: Unlike a PR agency, we don’t own the relationships with the Influencers, you do.

Chris+ne Fife – Chief Conversa+onalist Idiom Strategies LLC PO Box 640172 San Francisco, CA 94146 415.494.8212 chris/ne@idiomstrategies.com www.idiomstrategies.com Twiger: @chrissﬁfe

I hope you find this presentation helpful. If youʼd like to know more about Idiom Strategiesʼ approach to conversation marketing, look over the Services and Approach tabs on our website or watch our Idiom Strategies Approach to Conversation Marketing video presentation. Feel free to email or call with any questions. Cheers