There’s plenty of research on how this shift affects our well-being, but what about how it affects marketing? When Thalia Wheatley, PhD, says that “Conversation is this ancient technology for aligning our brains so that we can be on the same page,” it resonates deeply with what marketers are actually trying to do every day: connect, align, and understand.
One of the most compelling examples of the power of real conversation that led me to this line of thinking came from a story I heard last week about high school teacher Stacy Flannery, who has asks her students to interview an older relative each year as part of StoryCorps’ Thanksgiving tradition. What do those students get out of being pushed into this assignment?
She explains:
“One of the things I’m hearing more and more in the interviews is that they’re living in a world where conversation isn’t valued. And I cannot tell you how many times someone has said, ‘No one has ever asked me this.’”
Now imagine your target accounts. Your prospects. Your customers. If they felt valued, heard, and understood—wouldn’t that be a marketing win? How might that impact your pipeline, your conversions, or your renewals? The connection isn’t always linear or simple, but it’s real.
So the question becomes: How do we bring meaningful conversation back into marketing—and do it in a way that moves the needle?
1. Engage and Interact More Digitally
If we’re being honest, conversation cannot always be in-person. It can start where people already are:
On Your Website
Use interactive tools, helpful content pathways, chat options, quizzes, or simple “choose your journey” UX to spark engagement—not just passive reading.
On your Social Channels
Start actual discussions. Ask questions. Reply thoughtfully. React like a human (because… you are one). Social can be an entry point to dialogue, not a distribution channel for announcements.
2. Take Advantage of In-Person Events
As in-person events have continued to ramp up, so have leads and new customer acquisitions from those connections (at least for some of our clients). As you continue to build your calendar of events, keep in mind that you can get attendee lists beforehand and drive those people to a page to book an in-person appointment. Every conversation you have at your booth or off the trade show floor is an opportunity to find out what is most important to your audience, respond to objections in real time, and further your learnings to develop your messaging going forward.
3. Talk to Your Clients (Actually Talk to Them)
At Solid Digital, I conduct customer and stakeholder interviews for every website redesign project we take on. Yes, it’s often difficult to get time on someone’s calendar—but once you overcome that hurdle, the insights are invaluable.
Sharing a screen with prepared questions—and a willingness to go off-script when the conversation naturally veers—uncovers learnings no survey, dashboard, or analytics tool can match. There is simply no replacement for hearing someone’s tone, their pauses, their emphasis, or their frustrations firsthand.
4. Talk to Your Closed-Lost Contacts
When I interview sales stakeholders, one of my standard questions is, “When you lose a sale, what reasons do prospects give?” But imagine the clarity you’d gain by asking the people who said no themselves.
These conversations can reshape your messaging, correct misalignment between marketing and sales, and reveal friction you didn’t know existed.
As We Head Into Thanksgiving…
As you gather with people you care about, think about the conversations you’ll have over the holiday weekend—how you’ll approach them, and how you want people to feel when they walk away.
Now bring that same mindset into your marketing.
Because the brands that create real moments of connection—even small ones—are the ones that deepen relationships, strengthen loyalty, and ultimately grow.
