The demand for personalised marketing is increasing, so here’s how to approach it as a business 

The demand for personalised marketing is increasing, so here’s how to approach it as a business 

The marketing industry has changed dramatically since the beginning of the 21st century. Traditional marketing became insufficient for customers’ needs, so the rise of digital marketing, social media and personalisation was required for businesses to remain relevant. Communication with clients became more interactive and varied in regard to channels, while content marketing was developed to target specific audiences online.

But among these innovative business methods, personalisation is what drives a company’s success. This term can be applied to multiple organisation sectors and form communication strategies for products. Nowadays, companies that avoid personalisation might struggle to keep up with the competition as most businesses try to match the overall personality of their customers with a proper approach rather than provide a simple view of the company’s culture. 

Some specific examples of these organisations include Snapchat, whose Bitmoji has continuously peaked since its market arrival, Target’s Guest ID and Spotify’s magic “Discover Weekly” playlist section. If you, too, want to be among these businesses, here’s how to achieve it. 

 

Run impactful marketing campaigns 

According to a recent report, 62% of users prefer to work with a brand that personalised their experience as customers. The statistics increased considerably during the pandemic, when customers changed their shopping behaviours as a response to the world crisis. The same study reveals that clients may feel frustrated when a company doesn’t offer a personalised approach based on their needs, which is why you should aim to run impactful marketing campaigns. 

A successful marketing campaign requires a specific target, budget and ending date. You need to know your target audience perfectly to fit its expectations. For example, if Gen Z is who you aim to impress, you only have to post memes and become an entertaining company, regardless of your products and services. It’s also necessary to choose your communication channels cautiously because they help boost your target base. Finally, executing, monitoring and analysing all your campaigns is a must because this is how you learn about your business’s strengths and weaknesses. You can achieve these tasks by using proper software solutions to save time, money and human resources. 

 

Personalise online and offline 

Personalisation has to run in both online and offline environments. That’s because no matter how much you adapt your social media content, your strategy will fail if customer service employees aren’t trained to provide support based on each client. 

Online personalisation should be your priority. From your customer’s perspective, this option leverages more opportunities than in-person, but it’s also beneficial for your company because you can target users more efficiently. The offline personalisation strategy is pretty straightforward. You offer a personalised gift based on the limited data on your customer or provide discounted offers during holidays.  

You can improve your product personalisation by using all data available to enhance experiences. Demographic data, behavioural information and even contextual aspects of your target audience can increase sales and boost your brand. At the same time, you must implement a personalised follow-up system, this would help increase sales. For example, if you make personalised water bottles, it’s best to come with a follow-up email and ask for the customer’s opinion. In these cases, most people will give you a nice answer and not really what you’d expect to hear, but they still appreciate your company’s intention to meet their needs. 

 

Prioritise first-party data 

Third-party cookies are starting to get out of function as customers are concerned about their data privacy. Therefore, many businesses have started using third-party data instead to personalise the customer experience. The benefits are multiple: higher quality data, easier management and more privacy. 

Using first-party data collecting helps companies leverage the highest returns on investment as it’s based solely on the brand’s interactions with customers. There are many sources from where you can get first-party data, such as the following:

• Your website can track certain behaviours and data that can help with specific retargeting strategies;
• Your marketing email strategy can provide open rates, click rates and bounce rates;
• Beacons capture in-depth details about your customer’s behaviours;

However, since this method is relatively new to marketers, you might find achieving results challenging. If your company decides it’s a good approach, you need to be prepared to resolve identity and building profiles, integrate data across platforms and take action in real-time. 

 

Balance personalisation and privacy 

There is a fine line between morally using customers’ data to provide them with the best services and illicitly gathering information and entering people’s systems. Personalisation can sometimes be questioned when it comes to data safety, which is why you need to approach it correctly. 

There are three main aspects you must consider. First, transparency is required. Regardless of your company’s activity, you must purposefully inform people about your data-collecting strategies and what they mean for your business. At the same time, you should expect other questions to arise, for which you need to be prepared. Secondly, consumer choice must also be a priority. You can do anything to promote your brand as personalised, but you should also respect people’s choices and understand that most of them don’t want their data to be used and collected. 

Finally, accountability is necessary for your business to remain relevant. That’s because mistakes sometimes happen, but as long as you take responsibility, acknowledge your actions, and offer to make a change, you won’t be hit by customer backlash. 

Privacy concerns might be more or less harsh depending on the region where you founded your business. Regardless, your organisation has a duty of care when it comes to protecting customers, so you must take action and provide them with trust. 

 

Bottom line 

As the demand for personalised products and services increases, companies need to face the consequences of fast-changing customer behaviours and provide proper support. Therefore, you need to implement a strategy that can be adapted when required and also be prepared for changing times because everything has changed since the pandemic.