Effective communication is critical to sales and marketing success.
Delivering the right message—in a way that’s efficient, consistent, and on-brand—can make or break how well companies engage customers, employees, and prospects. The past year made this apparent as the shift to remote and hybrid environments added new challenges for sales and marketing teams in connecting with their audiences.
But effective communication doesn’t come easily, and companies are now losing more time and money due to inefficient, inconsistent communication. Experts estimate that poorly written communication costs businesses billions of dollars annually in lost productivity. Research also shows companies are spending over $3.1 billion each year on writing training for employees in an effort to improve communication. Leaders must overcome this challenge because when teams feel confident in their communication, they’re able to accelerate sales and marketing motions, advance brand visibility, and close more deals.
As the business landscape continues to change, it’s time for sales and marketing leaders to invest in solutions to enhance communication. Digital tools such as AI-powered writing assistants can help teams better communicate across existing systems—resulting in higher quality, consistency, and efficiency of all written communications and content.
By investing in effective communication, leaders can set their organizations up for success as they adapt and scale in the long term.
Adapting to a New Business Landscape
The past year permanently changed the way customers engage with brands. We saw a seismic shift to e-commerce and digital channels, with customers spending over $860 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020, up 44% year over year. Data also shows 20–30% of that spending shift toward digital will likely be permanent, fundamentally transforming the customer experience and making it critical for sellers to nail these digital interactions.
In addition to new customer demands, sales and marketing teams are experiencing their own internal challenges as they adapt to a hybrid landscape. In fact, Gartner found 35% of digital marketing leaders said their biggest challenges this year would come from within their organizations, and building collaborative relationships is now critical. In a dispersed environment, it has never been more challenging—or essential—to keep teams in sync as they interact with each other and audiences in more ways.
At the heart of these changes is a new imperative: Improve the speed, quality, and consistency of communication across all touchpoints—or risk falling behind. Sales and marketing teams need to meet customers wherever they are—email, mobile, chat, text and messaging apps, or social media—while delivering more value out of all those interactions. Leaders also need to equip remote teams with the appropriate guidance and tools to preserve brand identity, which requires consistent messaging across channels.
Not only can technology help in these situations, but also by improving the speed and impact of communications, sales and marketing teams can focus on creating repeat customers—and delivering efficient growth.
No More Trade-Offs Between Consistency and Efficiency
The way sales and marketing teams communicate externally is a reflection of that brand, and consistency plays a significant—and undervalued—role. Clear, consistent messaging and engagement across channels help brands create a strong image and strengthen customer trust. That’s important because research from Forrester found companies that build and consistently reinforce trust are better positioned to build lasting bonds with customers.
One increasingly critical aspect of brand consistency is using the right tone of voice. In particular, the effects of the pandemic left people desiring more empathy, emotional sensitivity, and personalization from brand interactions. Sales and marketing leaders that focus on the human touch and striking a more empathic tone across touchpoints will better engage customers and prospects.
But focusing on the proper delivery and consistency is challenging when teams are moving faster than ever across more channels—leaving many leaders feeling they must make trade-offs between speed and quality to keep up. That’s where tools like writing assistants that help automate and enhance communications can help, providing real-time feedback around using the right language, style, and tone that align with a company’s brand voice.
With a foundation of consistent and efficient communication, trade-offs are a thing of the past.
The Business Case for Investing in a Writing Assistant
Effective communication is critical to any company’s ability to remain competitive. For marketing and sales teams, creating compelling, on-brand content quickly with the ability to engage current and potential customers drives growth.
Let’s consider a real-world example. One top research and consulting firm needed to produce more engaging reports and marketing materials for senior buyers, but it was challenging to keep up with the growing volume and pace of content. By adopting AI-powered writing assistant technology, the firm produced more compelling content, cut editing time of reports by 66%, and completed 500+ new projects in a year.
Rather than deploying net-new connectivity tools and channels—which often contribute to digital overload—leaders should focus on solutions that optimize communications across existing systems. Here are a few factors to look for in adopting writing assistant technology:
- AI-powered capabilities that improve both the quality and efficiency of communication
- Enterprise-grade functionality, including robust analytics and administrative controls, to monitor impact on business performance
- Stringent security and privacy standards to safeguard company data
- A consistent track record of delivering proven business value and ROI
Whether looking to accelerate sales, improve brand perception, or quickly produce compelling content, leaders need to recognize effective communication is the foundation of reaching business goals. By investing in the right solutions now, sales and marketing leaders will be well-positioned to meet evolving demands in a digital-first reality.
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