No one today wants to be a number. People don’t want to be grouped into faceless categories and they don’t like to be part of the herd. Today, marketing is all about personalization. It’s about building a relationship around things that really matter to that individual. If this seems like a tall task, it is. But, if you do it right, it pays off big time. Let’s get started.
Personalize Your Message Across Platforms and Media
In the Digital Marketing Institute blog “How to Inject Personalization into Your Marketing Strategy,” it’s all about going personal. This blog is summarized and explored loosely below.
This article kicks off with a Hubspot stat: “Nearly three-fourths (74%) of online consumers get frustrated by websites with content (e.g. offers, ads, promotions) that has nothing to do with their interests.” The solution: go for the interests, and go personal. Transforming unique customer traits into personalized messages grabs attention across all mediums including website copy, emails, social media posts, webinars, eBooks, and interactive content.
So, how can you do it?
Step One: Map out your strategy. Taken directly and quoted from the article, define the answers to these questions:
- “What brand message do I want to send to individuals?
- What types of customer behavior am I hoping to enable (repeat visits, increased trust, more purchases, etc.)?
- What marketing resources do we have (or can we create) that will enable one strategy over another?
- Does the plan require a short-or long-term obligation?
- Do I have enough resources to enable success (people, tools, time, etc.)?”
Step Two: Construct your program. It’s time to research your audience. You have to know the ins and outs of your people before you know how to talk to them. Dive deep into your market with a variety of tools like:
- Surveys
- Focus groups
- Informal discussions
- Anonymous feedback (from your website, email, or other portal)
- Social media
Don’t inundate them. Attention spans and available time can be limited, so keep it short and focused on what you need to know.
Step Three: Select and Implement. With a defined audience and a strategy at your fingertips, it’s time to launch with the biggest and most tiered step. There are many marketing methods to pick from, so determine what makes the most sense for your brand and your goal. Here are some ideas to mull over:
Send emails from humans: Look at the “from” field as an opportunity. Instead of sending your email from your company, use an actual real live human on your marketing team. Additionally, avoid email templates that scream email templates to achieve the authentic feel you are aiming for.
Rely on marketing automation tools: If someone clicks on a specific area of content (like an eBook), what segmented email group do they belong to? As you start to build like-minded sub categories, this can be a huge win for future targeted campaigns and outreach.
Segment email databases: Once you have defined your marketing persona groups, it’s easy to tailor your personalized messages with the right voice and offers.
Embrace the name: When you use your recipients’ name (real and verified that you already have), they will look twice before deleting the email.
Channel the persona in the content: Speak to your audience with tailored messages that you know will grab them.
Talk back on social media: Social media is a great place to talk with your people. If they post something on social media (be sure you are watching 24/7), send back a personal response that meets their needs.
Build targeted landing pages: Leveraging those invaluable marketing personas, think about creating individual landing pages similar to tailored emails. You can also consider specific landing pages for various offers.
Does Personalization Payoff?
Personalization is substantial work for a brand, so what are the benefits beyond a good customer experience? This article has a short-list of evidence to consider.
Customer data: At the end of this rainbow, the rich collected insights are the pot of treasure to enjoy. With deep information into the habits, needs, and movements of people, these golden nuggets are immensely useful to the sales team on how to effectively target customers and how to boost sales.
Loyalty: Simply, personalization helps build customer loyalty. When people feel that a brand listens to them and truly cares for them, they will keep coming back.
Insights: The result of tracking customers is insight. This information can help the company continue to fine-tune marketing messages and tactics in a more effective (and potentially highly profitable) way.
This article also states that according to Digital Trends, “73% of consumers prefer to do business with brands that use personal information to make their shopping experiences more relevant.” While this article gave brand-specific examples to various campaigns, we will include the more general ideas to consider:
Identity-based campaigns: In these specific campaigns, people can actually “self-select” their segments for a more personalized experience.
Location-based emails: Once companies have customer location information, it is effective to send emails with details and offers about the nearest store.
Personalized emails: Discussed earlier, emails that come from account managers can get a better response, including measurable ways like clicks.
Segmented email opt-ins: When people opt-in to your brand (i.e. newsletter); use this opportunity to ask a question to better segment your audience!
Productivity reports: This is pretty specific to a time management company, but based on the actions that people took on the site, this company sent a personalized report of the activities they did online, playing on the “time management capabilities” of the person. While this will not apply to every brand, think of niche-focused outreach that is unique to the customer experience.
Behavior-triggered emails: Did you know that “trigger” emails have a 152% higher open rate than traditional emails? These emails (in which they remind people they haven’t logged in lately) can engage users to take action.
Segmented promotions: When you have highly specific information about your people (i.e. most customers buy two products at a time), it’s an incredible way to create successful promotions.
Next Steps
Monetate states that “40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels,” so this is yet another clear-cut fact to make personalization the biggest component of your marketing strategy. What personalization strategies are most effective for your brand? What will you try next? Let’s share some ideas here!
This article is made possible by Checksforless.com. For more than 35 years, Checksforless.com has provided over 500,000 businesses with high quality business checks, deposit slips, and other banking supplies with easy ordering and fast production times; all at the guaranteed lowest price in the nation. Our discount business checks are easily customizable and compatible with over 4,500 software programs including QuickBooks® and Peachtree/Sage®. Email or call us toll-free at 800-245-5775.