‘We Want People To Recognise What We Stand For Immediately’: Salim Ali
In a new episode of Pitch BrandTalk - a video series that engages with the senior management of brands to churn out innovative insights - Pitch had an insightful conversation with Gupshup’s first Chief Marketing Officer, Salim Ali. Gupshup is firming its place in conversational technologies, helping brands connect with customers on their terms. In this chat, Ali shares his vision for Gupshup, the company's marketing approach, and how they're shaping the future of customer interactions. Edited Excerpts Vision For Gupshup Exciting about adding value to Gupshup’s growth story, Ali says "I'm very new here and Gupshup has been an amazing growth story. It's grown dramatically - we have acquired companies, and we are on the cusp of even more growth at this point. So my approach here is three-fold. What can I come to do to further accelerate our growth in India and internationally? That's one aspect. The second is, how we put forth a strong brand positioning and messaging. The third dimension is, how we accelerate demand across multiple routes, direct, and indirect partners and customers. Those are the 3 dimensions that I'm looking at right now.” The Cusp of B2B Marketing Further, Ali reinforces what Gupshup brings to the table in terms of positioning and adds, “We've created a new category called Conversational Engagement, Conversational Marketing, or Conversational Cloud, and we're the leaders in this space." He highlights the importance of solidifying Gupshup's global leadership, saying ‘We want people to recognise what we stand for immediately, the value we offer to our 45,000 customers, and the scale of our operation. We want to communicate that boldly and with a louder voice." Understanding the audience is the core of B2B marketing strategies, and Ali underscores that by saying, "In B2B marketing, it's quite simple. the first step is to understand your customer base thoroughly. We begin with what we call an ideal customer profile (ICP). This tells you which customer segment, industry, and size of companies we want to reach. There's no room for guesswork here. Once you know that, what are the different channels and techniques? There are multiple channels and we can do multiple things. The third part is, once you do that, can you scale that at a global level? Because marketing in India is different to marketing in the Middle East, Brazil or the US. How do you do that with a global lens that allows you to scale and grow faster?” The Future of Conversation Marketing Talking about how marketing has evolved in the last few years, Ali sheds light on how conversations are becoming a go-to channel for brand marketing. He adds, “For the longest time, we were marketing by email, events, billboards, etc. But conversations are the next marketing domain, and I say that not just as GupShup but as a marketer. Because conversations are real-time and they are interpersonal. So conversation is going to play a lot in marketing, whether you're B2B to B2C, it doesn't matter. Hence there's a skill set and tech that we need to invest in so that we are marketing across this new domain of conversational marketing.” However, often while interacting with brands via chat, consumers find the experience artificial and need more empathy. Ali adds, “When you reach out to a brand, what do we want? We want a fast, contextual reaction, and we want to be authentic. Brands can create journeys. The idea is to be thoughtful in creating this contextual journey and adapt to your question. The second point is that AI models and tech are evolving. We are getting to a stage where the distinction between what is real and bot is becoming very diffused.”
Tags : Gupshup Salim Ali Conversational Marketing Pitch BrandTalk