Integration

I remember that feeling in my teenager stomach when my father came to me and said: "Let's have a conversation." This 'conversation' was a long monologue, interrupted by a few rhetoric or unanswerable questions: 'Why did you do it?' 'Don't you think I have to work for my money?'
And then there were these innocent talks that traansported me to a different place. They opened up feelings, allowed to form a closer bond with my father: When he talked about his upbringing in the 30's, being a refugee in his own country, having to work 6 days a week for 12 hours in a job none of us would survive for 2 hours.

Conversational Marketing is about opening up. It's not about formulating a response to what a person is saying while that person is speaking to us. Brands are still to attached to their thinking, their positioning and their organizational thinking to really listen to people.

Organizations have to change fundamentally to succeed. Demolish the old separation of church (emotion) and state (thinking): The company produces the product and surrounds it with content and experiences. The thinking is done by the brand and the emotion is attached by an agency.

Instead, we need to integrate emotion during the product development process. This will allow to communicate authentic feelings during the marketing process. It becomes a more organic development and conversational. Conversational Marketing is not a tactic or another channel. It's a mindset.