When launching his first book ‘The Conversation Manager’, Steven van Belleghem, founder of InSites Consulting, opened many a marketers eyes. His follow-up book ‘The Conversation Company’ is set to open even more eyes that have remained closed since then. It is time to look at the topic of conversation marketing in a more strategic way. It’s also time to let Van Belleghem – a whirlwind of B2B marketing knowledge – share his passion with us at the B2B Marketing Forum on 20th March in Amsterdam.
His first book ‘The Conversation Manager’ focussed on a new way of marketing communications. Steven’s latest book ‘The Conversation Company’ is aimed at the heart of every company, its culture, employees and its clients. Of course many companies have already tried to start a conversation via Twitter or Facebook but these are mostly pretend conversations. They are aimed to win prizes, not share opinions.
Conversation paradox
That is where the paradox kicks in. 80 per cent of European marketing managers intends to listen to conversations with clients. However, only 20 per cent actually does. Who you are as a company is more important than what you say. Almost every company describes its core values in the same words: customer service, open, professional.
According to Van Belleghem, this is irrelevant; Companies that actually do what they promise will stick out anyway. 
When looking at conversations, you will need to take into account both internal as well as external conversations. These people are the ones in power. To manage and facilitate these conversations there are four management pillars to watch, deemed the 4 C’s by Van Belleghem:
- Conversation,
- Customer Experience,
- Content and
- Collaboration.
Integrating these values into you company culture will mean survival and most likely success.
Want to hear more? Register now for the B2B Marketing Forum on 20 March in the Westergasfabriek Amsterdam. Steven van Belleghem will launch his new book ‘The Conversation Company’ on 13 March., just a week before the B2B Marketing Forum.
