B2C research is increasingly telling marketers that the key to driving sales and profitability is by creating a two-way conversation with consumers. Social media is undoubtedly the best platform to do this, but marketers need to make sure that they’re not only speaking to customers, they’re also listening to their responses.

While there is always the apparent division between consumer and business marketing, what is true for B2C is often the case in B2B – clients want an open, factual two-way conversation with the brand or company to gain insight into the values and processes that will become key to the on-going business relationship.

Through developing a marketing strategy that allows for prospects and clients to engage meaningful dialogue across a range of touch points, such as the company website, social media and targeted email, B2B marketers are able to communicate with clients and prospects in a continually evolving way.

That way you will learn to understand what customers want from you.

And by listening to the responses to the message your organisation is broadcasting, you will be able to tailor future responses to better serve your audience – and deliver engaged clients and prospects, leading to increased sales.

In digital marketing, there is a plethora of ways to listen and respond to your audience – from website analytics and multi-variable testing, through email response rates, to social media monitoring – but the key is to know how to read the data and make it useful.

While creating a two-way communications strategy is a great way to deliver increased marketing ROI, making sure you are able to reach your audience in order to have that conversation must be a key consideration.

In a world where consumers will research over 10 different information sources before purchasing a product, making sure your message is ‘omni-channel’ – present and consistent across all key touch points – is paramount to a campaign’s success.

All marketers, whether B2C or B2B should focus on sending out the right message across the right channels, and making sure they respond to the feedback effectively to generate significant uplift in brand engagement – and, in turn, maintain or enhance revenue streams.