Did you read that title and wonder at its meaning? If so, it’s incredibly important for you to get an answer, particularly if you are building an online marketing strategy or involved in digital marketing in any way.

The statement describes the increasing use of messaging by consumers reaching out to a company with which they do business or which they are considering doing business. Different from social messaging apps, such as Facebook’s Messenger, they operate on somewhat similar principles. As an article about this in a recent edition of AdWeek explained, “Messaging with a business is not the same as messaging with a friend. You’re not reaching out to your cable provider to send them the latest meme or tell them about that funny thing that happened last night on the train. You have a problem or a question, and you want it taken care of.”

Engage Customer also recently identified ten technology trends for customer engagement, similarly tagging messaging as an essential part of any modern, online marketing strategy, but also included social messaging apps, adding that “with platforms like Facebook Messenger already supporting voice, organizations need to be ready to support those customers who want to engage directly from their social messaging environment.”

And both statements show exactly how you can begin to use messaging to your advantage in digital marketing or as part of an online marketing strategy.

Messaging as Online Marketing Strategy

Those experts all noted that messaging can become part of your digital marketing efforts when it is used as a sales channel. In other words, the level of confidence and comfort that a consumer feels when using messaging to communicate (rather than filling out a form or picking up the phone), makes it a great resource.

How? When building live online chatting or messaging functions into your online marketing strategy and website, just ask yourself a key question: Why would clients use it?

Yes, they have a question, but can they use it to book an appointment of some sort? Experts say that digital appointment making eliminates most of the “friction” that consumers try to avoid. They can clearly get fast answers because a great appeal of messaging as part of digital marketing is the immediate response received. After all, email inquiries, contact forms and phone messages may cause delays lasting hours or even days.

The responsiveness of messaging is another way you can leverage it into your digital marketing. Yet, experts say you should not limit your use of this channel to the most obvious options. Why not also consider other “touch points” with customers? What about receipts sent via a messaging app as a part of the checkout process? You might include a plug-in on your product pages that allow visitors to send questions or even supply answers to the most common questions.

The possibilities with messaging are just emerging, and if you wish to integrate them into your strategy, contact the team at Organically. They can show you if and where it will work with your customer base, and help you build your connections with every visitor and client.