In the world of marketing, cutting-edge trends and new buzzwords constantly emerge.
One principle, however, remains unchanged: Communication is key.
No matter how individual trends shift over the years, communication remains a crucial cornerstone for engaging customers, converting them, and retaining their loyalty.
Here are five reasons why communication is essential in marketing in 2023, and how businesses can strategize around this principle.
Customers Expect a Personalized Experience
To start with, targeted personalization is now a key expectation among the majority of customers. And personalization is deeply rooted in communication.
In 2023, customers expect businesses to tailor their experience to their individual preferences and tastes. This ranges from sending bespoke email offers to customizing their website experience.
One of the latest developments in personalization is grounded entirely in communication – zero-party data. Currently, the majority of businesses still rely on data from third-party cookies to implement personalization. However, the end of cookies is nigh – they’re being phased out by 2024.
One viable alternative to gather customer data for personalization is the zero-party approach: asking customers directly.
Say you’re a jewelry brand. You can add a short form to the journey a customer is taken through when registering for an account, asking them about their favorite materials and styles. You can even offer a small discount or loyalty points for their responses.
By relying on this communication-based approach, you’ll be able to elevate your future interactions with your customers and boost your overall conversions.
Channel Diversity is the New Standard
Next up, customers now expect significant flexibility from businesses when it comes to communication channels. Especially since the pandemic and the advent of virtual-first communication, people have become more demanding when it comes to ways of reaching out to businesses.
Voice and video calls, live chat, messaging, emails, ticketing systems, social media. These are only some of the channels that have become the new standard for businesses across the globe.
Customers now take it for granted as part of their journey that they can reach a business through their preferred avenue. To fulfill these expectations, businesses have turned to new solutions such as cloud-based contact centers and omnichannel communication.
Multi-Channel Communication Helps You Showcase Your Visuals
Another reason why communication is an essential cornerstone of marketing is that it allows you to showcase the content you create, and to bring it to the attention of (potential) customers.
Most marketers know that visuals are crucial. Infographics. Photos. Short- and long-form video content. Graphs and charts.
Thanks to our continually decreasing attention spans, a picture (or video) is indeed worth a thousand words when it comes to captivating customers’ attention.
However, no matter how fantastic your graphic designers and video editors are, or how enthralling the content they create. Without established communication channels to share this content with your audience, it won’t achieve its intended result.
Efficient Communication Builds Trust and Increases Satisfaction
One major reason why customer communication is key in marketing in 2023 is that efficient communication builds trust and loyalty.
Say you have questions about a service, or you’re facing an issue with a product you’ve already bought. You go to the business’ website, track down their contact information, and are faced with a single meager email form. You fill it out and wait. For days. Then, you get a half-hearted response or a reply asking for clarification. Then, once again, silence.
This type of interaction is common. And it does anything but foster further interest in the business.
In contrast, if you go to a business’ contact page and find a solid selection of communication channels, it’s a different story entirely. You can decide whether you want to talk to someone via live chat, schedule a quick video call, or open a ticket.
You opt for the chat option and instantly get the answers you need from a helpful agent. They can put any doubts you have about services to rest. And provide all the support you need to get the maximum use out of the product you bought.
The bottom line? This type of efficient and versatile communication boost overall customer trust and satisfaction.
To meet the new standard, you can rely on targeted customer service software as well as the communication solutions mentioned above.
Customer Communication Standards Elevate Your Brand Voice
Finally, one of the central reasons why communication remains essential to marketing in 2023 is that it continues to co-define and elevate your brand voice. No matter whether it’s public communication via social media posts, or private messages addressed to individual customers.
In terms of public communication, social media is now the new gold standard for brands to reach out directly to large swaths of their customers. And the tone of those communications plays a major role in shaping your brand voice. No matter if it’s silly, serious or sassy, like Wendy’s famous Twitter account.
And as for messages addressed directly to individual customers, they’re only one screenshot or TikTok video away from being posted publicly and going viral for all the right (or wrong) reasons.
Final Thoughts: Customer Communication Remains Essential
Treating communication as an afterthought in digital marketing is a serious mistake. All the analytics, algorithms, and AI-boosted content in the world can’t replace a solid communication strategy that shapes your brand voice.
Investing in the right tools to provide customers with the channels they expect. Be mindful about personalization. Focus on efficiency. That way, you’ll be able to be able to provide a communication experience that fosters trust and elevates satisfaction.
