With so much automation trend in the world, it's no surprise that bots are everywhere, especially in the marketing world. When it comes to managing processes and generating leads and paying customers, chatbots can be a perfect ally in the digital marketing strategy we undertake.
Chatbots have gained ground and have become invaluable tools for companies, as evidenced by the increase in sales and improvements in the different levels of operations.
But there is more to it than that.
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a program that provides simple answers to visitors to a website. They function as virtual assistants, as they are designed to maintain conversations with users over the Internet.
Chatbots are capable of interacting with users or visitors to a site using the information we program them with. While it is true that they still have some limitations, thanks to the integration of AI and natural language processing they have become increasingly “intelligent”.
Today they are valued as one of the best tools in customer service. In fact, in some cases they can be confused with real people.
How to make a digital marketing strategy
Today, most of our content consumption takes place in the digital world. To keep pace with our dependence on technology, marketing has also gone digital. This shift requires every brand to be present online and for that, it must have a solid digital marketing strategy to ensure a successful digital presence.
To have an exemplary digital strategy within marketing, it must follow some fundamental steps:
- Set a goal: What do you hope to achieve? More visitors, followers, sales, loyal customers? The goal must be clear.
- Evaluate your current digital marketing presence: What have you done so far? What has worked best for you? What needs to be improved?
- A properly structured digital sales funnel: Does the current funnel meet the objectives of attracting attention, engaging prospects, empathizing with them and achieving sales? How about integrating it into a CRM?
- Define the buyer persona: Who is your ideal client?
- Locate customers in their journey through the sales funnel: How did they find you? Have you already contacted them? Have they bought from you before? Knowing what stage of the process they are in will help you better define the strategy in each particular case.
- Create a content plan: This will help you connect more with prospects and clients and will generate a discourse of authority in the area around the brand.
- Analyze the results: Is the estimated reach equal to or better than the one obtained? Using analytics or customer relationship management tools can give you a clue as to what steps to take next.
Where does the role of chatbots fit into a digital marketing strategy?
The role of chatbots as part of a company's digital marketing strategy transcends throughout the entire strategy because it is the first contact customers have with the brand.
Chatbot integration has evolved to serve today as an opportunity to promote your products or services with targeted messages to increase brand visibility, boost customer engagement, or automate lead generation processes.
To successfully implement chatbots as a digital marketing strategy, you must know its three key components:
- The chatbot must be able to understand the context of each conversation to make it effective.
- You need to be able to personalize every conversation so that customers feel connected to your business.
- You need to engage with customers in real time.
Chatbots are changing the game of digital marketingBut how can we jump on the chatbot bandwagon and incorporate these AI powerhouses into our own digital marketing strategy?
Now, before you come up with the idea that “robots are taking our jobs,” let’s be clear: chatbots are not in any way substitutes for humans. They are actually facilitators of human interaction.
In addition, they are an ideal tool to enhance the digital marketing strategy that we have designed.
They collect initial information from potential customers.
Chatbots are a much more personalized way of collecting contact information from a customer or prospect (rather than, say, contact forms) and are much more time-efficient given their conversational approach.
Task scheduling and calendar
Instead of going back and forth with your customer, you can enable the chatbot to schedule a sales or customer service call, as well as schedule specific tasks for a specific customer in your calendar if it is properly linked. If the chatbot is also integrated with a CRM, even better!
Answer the most frequently asked questions.
Regardless of the type of business, there are always a series of questions that are often repeated from client to client.
A chatbot can be the ideal FAQ answering tool. Instead of wasting an employee's time and energy answering those questions every time they are asked.
It guarantees savings for the company and better customer relationships, since the company will not have to wait for an employee to be available to answer general questions.
Quickly greet customers when they first arrive at your website.
Chatbots can recreate the interaction experience as if they were in a physical store by sending a personalized greeting to each person who arrives at your page. Just as if customers were walking through the front door of the store!
Automated marketing with chatbots
Chatbots can automate a large part of the marketing process, meaning it is possible to handle a higher volume of conversations per day and close more sales as a result. The degree of personalization that their communication approach allows will ensure a great impact on sales.
Chatbots bridge the gap between marketing and sales
There can be a huge disconnect between marketing and sales. Marketing may not know what sales needs to be successful, or sales may not know exactly how the marketing strategy is set up (and where potential customers are in the sales cycle when they come across their desk).
Chatbots are a more efficient way to gather information, qualify leads, and set your sales team up for success. By involving all teams in your chatbot-powered digital strategy, you can get both departments on the same page and convert more leads into paying customers.
The ace up your sleeve of your digital marketing strategy
In case you haven't noticed, marketing takes work - and lots of it!
Chatbots are ideal for handling the initial steps of the marketing process, whether it's collecting contact details and information for a sales call, answering general customer service questions, or providing guidance on common technology issues.
The chatbot’s job is to handle the initial communication and gather any necessary details from your customers, so that when we can intervene in time, we already have what we need to engage a customer support agent in a meaningful way.
As chatbot integration becomes more and more common, once you're ready to add a chatbot to your site, you don't need to start from scratch, as the customization options are as varied and accessible as the prices.
Marketing strategies are significantly improved when chatbots are used for different business functions. Using personalized responses helps to build loyal customers for your brand.
Of course, for each business, the marketing objective may be different, such as generating leads or acquiring customers. However, integrating chatbots into a strategy with clear objectives strengthens our digital marketing strategy.
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