Marketing Book Club: Conversational Marketing by D. Gerhardt & D. Cancel

We're all guilty of getting caught up in the B2B norms of landing pages, eBooks, lead capture forms, email open rates - but what if we thought about our customers differently? What if we engaged with them like *gasp* actual human beings?!
 
That's one of the key themes in Conversational Marketing, and in this episode of the Marketing & Tech Book Club Carlos caught up with Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift and co-author of our book of the month to chat about the future of marketing.
 
Today at the touch of a button we can have food delivered instantly, pay our car registration instantly, order transport instantly, download music and movies instantly...so in a world where consumers have the luxury of on an demand real time lifestyle why do we still put up barriers to purchase in the B2B world?
 
Conversational marketing is all about now Gerhardt tells us, offering relatable dialogue, real-time messaging, fostering trust, providing genuine help and above all - and here's the kicker - generate more leads and a shorter sales cycle.
 

Conversation Marketing by David Cancel and Dave GerhardtWhy we loved it

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in 'but that's the way we've always done it'. Conversational Marketing highlights that breaking out of the norms doesn't have to be scary, or hard - that it's as simple as being more human.
 
The book offers a pretty eye-opening look at how we are selling to our customers the wrong way...consumer buying patterns have changed and it's high time marketers got up to speed. 
 
There are great analogies regarding bricks and mortar stores that point out the glaringly obvious failings in the B2B buying experience.
 
Grab a copy for practical tips on getting started with conversational marketing basics like upping your chatbot game, to hyper targeted messaging, conversational account based marketing, through to using conversation 'after the sale'.
 
 

Interview with Dave Gerhardt

Catch the full interview with Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift and co-author of Conversational Marketing in our latest Marketing & Tech Book Club episode!
 
 
 

In this episode;

  • Exactly what is Conversational Marketing?
  • How to break out of the B2B norms and start thinking differently
  • The Gary Vee approach to content distribution
  • What does the role of a sales person look like in the future?
  • The Hypergrowth event
  • How to use video to disarm your audience
  • Speaking to your customers like real humans
  • The number one objection to conversational marketing 
  • Empathy...'Do unto others what you would have them do unto you'

Episode preview