Selling is essentially about communicating. In order for this dialogue (virtual or otherwise) between seller and customer to take place, the communication channels and their methods and strategies must be appropriate. Is it possible to do this while keeping up with the times? MBK, which has found a good solution thanks to its Marketing department, wants to explain it in this article.
Defining a communication strategy means setting an objective; whether we are talking about sales or lead generation, conversion expressed in clicks, views or other targets, all these actions are the natural conclusion of a desire.
Changing the way we communicate, however, is not an operation unrelated to other schemes; products, users and consumer markets have changed. As a result, perspectives on defining objectives have also changed significantly.
So let’s see together what these changes have led to, and how to exploit them to obtain increasingly interesting results.
UX: a multi-faced macro-responsibility
User Experience (UX), which many people confuse with UI (or User Interface), is the attention paid by a specialist (the UX Designer) to the experience of any user; not only with regard to a website or a digital resource, but at 360°. This must therefore be taken care of also when talking about products, communication, services and experiences in general.
Regarding communication with own users, reviewing UX means focusing on 3 points:
- defining objectives
- selection of communication channels
- content design
In fact, when defining business targets, it is fundamental to work on the perspective; making a purchasing experience accessible and functional for the customer requires particular attention to the customer-side approach, which implies a completely new work of data analysis and adaptation of tools (UI, CMS, Content).
As far as the selection of communication channels is concerned, the choice today in 2021 is wide, varied, and complex to define in full.
Mobile Hegemony
An increasingly frenetic pace of life, with its constant changes and adaptations to the needs and fashions of the moment, means that it is no longer possible to just wait to access a PC to get information; mobile use of web content is now the primary resource, the primary medium. It goes without saying that this mental and gestural change has brought new needs and solutions into the lives of users.
If we look at the hardware side, the need to focus on smaller, portable devices, with reduced screens compared to those of a computer, is slowly changing the way of reading and grabbing contents and information; vertical scrolling replaces an overall view (which had supplanted page flipping).
At this rhythm, the contents themselves have also had to adapt; short and incisive sentences, more direct and compressed language, a very high percentage (over 70%) of visual content.
Social Diffusion
Following the above trend, the medium sociale has been one of the most impactful from the point of view of communication. The immediacy required by the platform in order to communicate effectively had to be reshaped even on commercial players, designing new communication strategies that follow the language of social media.
Moreover, being present on the same social networks, both to benefit from the marketplace and for brand awareness, requires a knowledge of the specific language dynamics of each platform (and of the generation that populates them); hence the use of w, becomes one of the most effective weapons in the hands of the internal communicators of different companies.
Visual Fruition
What content is more immediate than an image? Why not tell in 30 seconds what we should read in 3 minutes?
The use of visual content, both images and videos, is not only more frequent, but also necessary. Summarizing an entire paragraph to be explained in a well-made, engaging, complete and compact infographic, will not only grab the user’s attention more effectively, but will create higher engagement, better sharing levels and more satisfactory conversion rates (depending on of the target and objective).
The appeal of a video, especially if it follows the latest trends, is unrivalled in terms of involvement, sharing and immediate simplicity.
Using this kind of content lightens the fruition of information, interrupting the “textual wall” that many users find difficult to overcome. In UX terms, they are a significant resource.
Human to Human (H2H): new communication for new content
MBK Fincom and its e-commerce platform ProduceShop have adopted a new approach to communication (including corporate communication): Human to Human.
The old B2B and B2C distinction has over time revealed its limitations, especially at a time when customers expect a major transformation in the foundations of a company. The forced closure due to the pandemic situation also revealed some very human and very real sides of the individual actors within the different companies, which had a strong grip both within the business itself and on the public.
Redefining a business communication strategy therefore starts with a data analysis; not just ‘listening‘ to what users and customers have to say, but giving a new value to what is recorded. With tools such as the NPS (Net Promoter Score) or the UEQ (User Experience Questionnaire), you can move from merely counting your KPIs quantitatively to assessing them qualitatively.
In this way, it becomes easier to adapt the ToV (Tone of Voice) to a listener who wants interaction and integration, but wants them to be real; storytelling becomes essential even where technical language was sufficient before, communication is integrated and the results, in the long term (but not too long), are considerable.
For example, the approach adopted in ProduceShop’s Product Blog, where you not only tell the customer what they are buying, but converse with them about the best way to use it, has generated significant engagement, with encouraging results.
In Conclusion
Adaptation means changing, and often the effort required (in costs and ideas) can be considerable. Is it worth it? From our point of view it is.
Conforming to the needs of users is not only a way to communicate with them more effectively and sell to them; you are participating in the creation of a new marketing and buying era that, over time, could lead to an increasingly fluid acquisition and buying journey.
Fonti
- Corporate PR
- ProduceShop Marketing Dept. (https://mbkfincom.com)
- Digital 4 Biz
- Accenture Reports
- KPMG Reports
- InsideMarketing
- BriefingLab
- Marketing Journal