By Merilee Kern, MBA<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n How companies can \u2018make and maintain more meaningful, impactful and enduring connections within the marketplace, tell an authentic story, foster maximized customer engagement, and breed brand loyalty\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Nobody starts out automatically caring about your products or services. They care about how you can make a difference in their lives. No matter the context, all relationships begin with a \u201chandshake moment,\u201d whether literally or figuratively\u2014those first few introductory moments that reveal a great deal about the character of the person standing before you. Why should company interactions with current and prospective customers or clients be any different?<\/p>\n Sure, \u201ccontent marketing<\/a>\u201d has been a crucial ingredient impelling the evolution of traditional marketing into today\u2019s more personalized approach, bridging the gap between cookie-cutter TV, radio, and print mass marketing to highly customized digital and social media-driven communications. Even so, today\u2019s more personalized digital communications have plenty of challenges, all too often falling on \u201cdeaf ears\u201d and \u201cblind eyes\u201d amid a marketplace becoming highly desensitized to the glut of advertising and marketing messages its exposed to any given hour of any given day…year in and year out.<\/p>\n So, how can brands can make and maintain meaningful connections and create a lifetime value with customers in ways that\u2019ll set them apart in a \u201cnoisy,\u201d increasingly jaded and discriminating marketplace? How can businesses tell an authentic story so as to foster maximized marketplace engagement and breed brand loyalty? According to Kevin Lund, author of the new book, \u201cConversation Marketing: How to be Relevant and Engage Your Customer by Speaking Human<\/a>,\u201d <\/em>the proverbial key to the Kingdom is for companies, no matter their size and scope, to simply \u201cspeak human.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Lund, \u201cThose who are wildly successful at conversation marketing understand the strategy is not simply about propagating online content and sharing through social media accounts. Rather, it\u2019s a disciplined approach to communicating with a target audience in a way that tells a simple, human story that will educate, inform, entertain and, most importantly, compel customers in a way that fully captures mind\u2013and-market share through messaging that truly resonates. Companies must stop talking \u2018at\u2019 their customers and, instead, connect with them by simply speaking human. And, it\u2019s far beyond that initial \u2018handshake moment\u2014it\u2019s through a constant stream of congenial engagements with each individual consumer, or the marketplace at large, based on trust and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n Think it\u2019s complicated to be an adept conversation marketer and speak human to your constituents? Think again! Below are eight of Lund\u2019s tactical strategies from the new book that can help companies large and small become more engaging and relevant with customers, and the marketplace at large:<\/p>\n 1. Earn Attention<\/strong><\/p>\n To gain attention in today\u2019s crowded marketplace, it\u2019s prudent to do the opposite of what most everyone else is doing. That means don\u2019t deliver clich\u00e9d, boring content that\u2019s written for robots\u2014search engines or otherwise\u2014and for generic consumption. It\u2019s unsustainable for you and your brand as well as frustratingly futile for the audience you\u2019re trying to reach. Instead, speak human by engaging your audience with eye-level language in order to gain their attention and set your brand apart. Learn to use language that educates and entertains the audience.<\/p>\n Earning attention starts with asking yourself what you and your company are passionate about and conveying that genuinely in that all-important \u201chandshake moment\u201d of first contact\u2014online or otherwise. Assume you\u2019re meeting the person on the other side of the screen for the first time. Think of what you can say that\u2019s new, memorable, a standout, and jargon-free. Also, understand and adapt to your audience. You wouldn\u2019t talk the same way to an aging Baby Boomer as you would to a teenager. <\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Tell a Story<\/strong><\/p>\n How do you hold someone\u2019s attention long enough to break down a topic and engender his or her trust, but also in a way that\u2019s unforgettable and leaves that person feeling more knowledgeable than before? The answer lies in good storytelling.<\/p>\n Good conversations are filled with good stories and anecdotes. But be mindful that the hero of the story isn\u2019t your company or its products, but rather how your product or service will have a positive impact in your customers\u2019 lives. If you can elicit an emotional response, you\u2019re onto something. Some standout companies have figured this out. Apple\u2019s story, for example, isn\u2019t about devices. It\u2019s about innovation and how our lives are being changed for the better with Apple technology in them. Learn how to make your story short, to the point, and easy to share online.<\/p>\n 3. Stay Humble<\/strong><\/p>\n Being humble begins with letting go of ego\u2014that instinctual part of the psyche that screams for a marketer to make too much noise about products or services and brag about themselves. Sigmund Freud developed a psychoanalytic theory of personality he coined the \u201cid,\u201d and marketers often tap into their own ids by telling the world how great their company and its products are, and how great a potential customer will be for buying them. The id operates based on the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification of needs.<\/p>\n In conversation marketing, speaking human dictates that your customer\u2019s needs, not your own, are top priority. Your audience wants to know what you can do for them, and that means stop talking about yourself and drop the megaphone. Instead, embrace a different approach that thoughtfully and humbly explains why you do what you do and why it can make a difference in someone\u2019s life instead of focusing on your bottom line. Stop beating them over the heads with the fabulous features and benefits of your products. Instead, tell stories that inspire and resonate with their own life experiences.<\/p>\n 4. Pick Your Party<\/strong><\/p>\n Equally important to the \u201chow\u201d of your conversation is the \u201cwhere.\u201d It should all fit seamlessly together and feel natural and organic in that moment. Part of learning how to talk to your audience and engage them in any form of conversation is deciding where to talk to them in the first place.<\/p>\n This means doing the footwork to learn where your potential customers gather and meeting them on their own ground. Where do your potential customers hang out on social media? What are they saying, and what challenges are they discussing that you can compellingly weigh-in on? Easily available research tools can help you join the right conversation at the right time and in the right place with consistency.<\/p>\n 5. Be Relevant (on a Molecular Level)<\/strong><\/p>\n True listening is about far more than hearing words. It\u2019s also about fully understanding the message and concepts being imparted\u2014whether they\u2019re needs, wants, desires, or even complaints. Being relevant means making sure you\u2019re talking about topics that are of sure interest to your audience, and that\u2019s often achieved by addressing their pain points. Before a marketer can aptly communicate and speak to such pain points, however, he or she must first hear what the prospect, customer or marketplace has to say. It can be dangerous, expensive and ultimately futile for companies to presume to inherently know what should be said in conversation marketing.<\/p>\n 6. Start the Conversation <\/strong><\/p>\n How do you gain audience attention in a way that prevents you from just being part of the noise? It\u2019s no longer a question of whether you should insert yourself into the world of content marketing. It\u2019s a matter of when you\u2019re going to start talking, what you\u2019re going to say, and how you\u2019re going to say it. One good approach is to base that initial conversation on your unique value proposition for the given audience.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to always remember that your target audience doesn\u2019t care about you. They care what you can do for them. If you\u2019ve done your research, you\u2019ll be familiar with their pain points and better prepared to offer answers that address their needs. Don\u2019t be a \u201cme-too\u201d marketer who dishes out the same information as everyone else. Instead, develop a unique angle with a thought-provoking headline that sparks attention\u2014even better if it disrupts conventional thinking. In addition, know your topic inside out before communicating, and make sure any other people handling your communications are experts in the field. You don\u2019t want to risk sounding trite or inaccurate.<\/p>\n 7. Stop Talking<\/strong><\/p>\n Unlike a monologue, a conversation is a two-way endeavor. Knowing when to stop talking is as important as knowing what to say and when to say it. It\u2019s the only way to truly get a sense of what your audience (or your potential customer) is thinking in reaction to what you\u2019ve offered, and whether to stay the course in your strategy or tweak it on-the-fly. Once you hear preliminary reaction, you can respond to questions and concerns before moving ahead or otherwise course-correct as needed. Also bear in mind that what your audience isn\u2019t saying can be just as impactful as what they do convey.<\/p>\n Once your message is out, take a step back and \u201cread the room.\u201d That could mean monitoring online response to your blog post or using various tools to learn which of your resources are drawing attention. Are people engaged? Are they adding to the conversation? What should you do if the feedback is bad? Don\u2019t consider a negative response or lack of response necessarily a failure. Instead, see it as an opportunity to adjust, make changes, and perhaps find ways to better meet your audience\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n 8. Ditch the Checklist<\/strong><\/p>\n Before every takeoff, airline crews verbally work through an extensive checklist. There\u2019s a detailed set of tasks to cover before the plane can even push back from the gate. However, in an ebb and flow conversation marketing context, this adherence to a certain protocol can pose limitations. Indeed, one problem with simply sticking to a checklist is that a content marketing strategy will never evolve with the times or differentiate itself in any way from what everyone else is doing.<\/p>\n Successful marketers endeavor to open new horizons. They take a step back and ask bigger questions about themselves and their companies\u2019 ultimate goals, as well as what sort of new challenges their audience or customers might face over time–how to aptly adjust when needed.<\/p>\n Lund also suggests finding sources of inspiration. \u201cExplore some of the successful content marketing plans that showed passion, ditched the tired old language, zeroed in on what customers needed, and started a real conversation with the market,\u201d he urges. \u201cThen scrutinize your own strategy and see where it might be lacking, so that you can continually refine your own checklist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Branding, business and entrepreneurship success pundit, Merilee Kern, MBA, is an influential media voice and lauded communications strategist. As the Executive Editor and Producer of “The Luxe List International News Syndicate,\u201d she\u2019s a revered trends expert and travel industry voice of authority who spotlights noteworthy marketplace change makers, movers and shakers. Merilee may be reached online at www.TheLuxeList.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter here: http:\/\/twitter.com\/LuxeListEditor<\/a> and Facebook here: www.Facebook.com\/TheLuxeList<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n