Marketing leaves and breaths communications. Everything we do revolves around it and when we get communications right, customers line up with wallets already in hand. We’re continuing our series on asynchronous communication now with a specific look at how it impacts marketing for customers and internal teams, and why you should already be investing in asynchronous tools.
Communicating Asynchronously with Leads
Nearly all of the marketing you are going to create is asynchronous. Traditional media, Internet/new media, ads, and other channels all are created once and then consumed by your audience at different times. There’s no need — and often no ability — for the creator and audience to engage at the same exact moment.
New Opportunities for Digital Natives
When it comes to marketing, your customers rarely communicate in a synchronous way. The big shift, however, comes from customer service. In the digital space, customer service has become a significant part of the overall marketing landscape. The chatbot is a core opportunity for marketers to leverage service in their efforts.
Favorite Asynchronous Benefits and Best Practices
Asynchronous communication is generally thought to be more effective at delivering detailed information. People can skim and read and pay attention for as long as they like — though you do need to keep their attention. Textbooks, detailed manuals, reference materials, documentaries, and many other info-packed communications are presented asynchronously.
- Make assets easy to follow and well structured. People will absorb the information at different rates, and some may need to go over a concept multiple times if you have a complex offering. Structure makes this easy and avoids frustrating your audience.
- Simplify access. If you’re going to gate content, minimize the information you need. The higher something is in your funnel; the fewer hoops customers should need to jump through to get it.
- Offer it 24/7. Content doesn’t close like an office. Use chatbots and other automation tools to ensure that your content and communications are available at all times. This is rarely an issue but is important to think of when you distribute a new campaign broadly.
- Create an “ask” but keep it simple. Asynchronous doesn’t mean content is idle, it just isn’t a rigorous back-and-forth. So, keep momentum through your funnel by making small tasks or following up often.
- Quadruple check your work. Once asynchronous communications and media are sent out, they’re hard to get back. So, review everything before it is sent.
Importance of Asynchronous Communications for Remote Teams
We’re seeing a growth in asynchronous communications within marketing teams now that more people are working from home and balancing daily tasks alongside childcare, running errands, and other responsibilities. Your team still needs vital information, but it is becoming harder to get that same information to everyone at the same instant.
Letting People Focus
Marketing is also mentally intensive work. Sometimes you need to bounce ideas off of a team on a call or in a meeting to brainstorm something great. Other times, however, you need an environment that helps you get into a deep state of focus. For some that can be the sounds and smells of a coffee shop while pink noise helps others, or you may prefer nature or absolute quiet.
Asynchronous Collaboration Tools
In our work, here are some examples where asynchronous communication really shines:
- Company-wide and team announcements: People need the information you’re sharing, but they don’t need to be present to get it. This ensures everyone has the info but doesn’t disrupt other work.
- Project planning and small updates: Outside of your main meeting, task assignments, notices of completion, and requests for review can all happen via chat and other tools. Give your team a set time to review this information each day or week and they’ll be productive without burdened.
- Suggestions and reviews: Marketing is always under review, but most of us don’t need to be present when someone is looking at a campaign asset. Plus, relying on asynchronous communication makes it easy to get everyone’s feedback before you make changes. This can reduce revision numbers while helping your team avoid feelings of frustration.
- Pet photos: Honestly, what else is Slack good for? On a slightly serious note, all the fun things we love to share in general channels are perfect for asynchronous communication because it does two things well. First, it doesn’t interrupt for something “silly.” Second, it gives us a wonderful place to go and browse when we need a mental break.
- General client and industry updates: COVID-19 has reminded us all that everything can change. We’re also re-learning how not all of these changes have an immediate need. Asynchronous tools are perfect for when people need to learn about an update but not act. For example, think if a conference is cancelled. In normal times, that could immediately impact assets as you’d need to remove contact information or booth numbers. Now, it is just a general reminder that companies aren’t ready for that step so campaigns should continue to focus on other prospects.
- Slack
- Notion
- Threads
- InVision
- Zight (formerly CloudApp)