Bots, live chat, Facebook Messenger for business... All this conversational marketing stuff is overwhelming, isn't it?  

What's conversational marketing you ask? 

At HubSpot, we define conversational marketing as a new dimension of inbound marketing that allows you to use modern technology like live chat, messenger and bots to connect with your prospects and customers in a human, non-disruptive, speedy way that enables you to exceed their expectations. 

And why do you need to jump on any of this? 

Simple. How people communicate and want to get information about your business is evolving. Consumers are more demanding than ever before. They expect you to be always on, always there, always knowing who they are and how to help them. 

Prospects and customers nowadays want to chat with you at their convenience and get immediate answers to their questions. And because you probably can't afford to hire a 24/7 workforce that's glued to a laptop all the time, you'll need to rely on technology such as bots. 

As professionals from any discipline, we have a tendency to jump into action too quickly.

We spend little time defining goals and then doing research to identify the right tactics that will enable us to hit those goals.

I think this is particularly relevant in PR and on the PR Resolution podcast with Stella Bayles, we discuss exactly that.

Stella and I had a long conversation around inbound and PR, goals and measurement, content creation and planning. 

I want to share with you the beginning of our discussion points and give you the opportunity to listen to the whole podcast below. 

Let's start with a definition of inbound as some of our listeners are completely new to this. Could you give us a summary of what inbound really means? 

92% of businesses state that content has become an asset to their company.

I saw this in an infographic from iScribblers that looks at the state of content marketing mainly for B2B but has insights for marketers from all industries. 

In addition to generating high-quality leads and establishing a stronger positioning for your product or services, content marketing improves both the lead quality and lead quantity for 74% of companies. 

What's more, businesses with proper content marketing strategies see six times the conversion rate of companies that don’t. It's no surprise then that 57% of B2B buyers have already made their purchase decision before even speaking to a sales rep. 

I think what this tells us that we've all become digital buyers who rely on content that we find on our own at our own pace when we need it to do research rather than wait for information to find us. 

If you're still not convinced, take a look at the below stats: 

64 Content Marketing Statistics in 2018

The funnel is dead. 

Say what? 

Yup, that funnel that you've been using for decades in your marketing and sales to generate traffic and then convert and close leads into customers is dead. 

Why is it dead? Because the funnel uses a linear approach and as our VP of Marketing Jon Dick says, 

"Funnels lose the energy you put into them once you reach the bottom... Funnels produce customers, but don’t consider how those customers can help you grow. And all the momentum you built acquiring that customer? Gone. Each day, each month, and each quarter, we have to start new."

In an internal meeting at HubSpot, Jon futher explained how: 

The problem with most companies is that they have built their company designed with my dad in mind and not me in mind. In a world where customers' main source of info was vendors, you thought of your business like a funnel. In a world where customer's main source of info is other customers, you think of your business like a flywheel that spins at the rate of your customer's delight. If you want to grow better in 2018, you need to match your business to the modern buyer, throw away the funnel and embrace the flywheel.

The Need for a New Growth Model

Did you know that 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others?

Social media allows you to build brand awareness without needing to invest a ton in media, print or display advertising. It allows you to bring leads to your business by complementing or augmenting your other marketing efforts such as email or events.

Social media has replaced the need for an intermediary by enabling you to have a direct one-on-one contact with your prospects and customers in a genuine, human way. 

Through social conversations, you can build an authentic brand that attracts people to your business and builds loyalty with customers.

This all sounds great, right? The big question, though, is how do you truly make this happen and leverage the benefits of social media to help you grow your business.