Personalization has increasingly become a staple for brand marketing, however, there is a very fine line between personalization and stalking.
While personalization marketing is an extremely effective, it is often a misused tool to garner consumer attention. From email, social media and web personalization marketing, the wrong approach can sever a relationship. Surely personalization has never been easier to provide, but brands continue to falter in the usage of it.
Here are five tips that can help brands optimize personalization marketing.
Data Collection
Combine data analysis and social listening data, which may include social media remarks, profiles and data from online interactions, to create poignant yet interesting ad. The best way to collect this data is through a sign-up option. This allows the consumer to feel he/she has a voluntary, mutual relationship with the brand.
Segmentation
Every consumer is a collection of data – location, age, gender. These facts can guide a brand, but they should not define the marketing. Dividing consumer by demographics is a simple beginning to a complex process. Marketers should take a closer look at purchasing history. There is no more clear indicator to personalization than past purchase activity.
Hone Your Target
Once customers have been segmented into demographics, marketers must look beyond these simple efforts by moving beyond basic purchasing information. On-website and in-app activity are perfect platforms to extrapolate data for messaging, such as reminders or tips.
Content
Messaging and ads for a consumer have a very short life span if the content is not worth their time. Personalization marketing, in order to be effective, must include content that is not only relevant but useful. Tips and reminder messages, or ads for specific brands, should include something the consumer can use, thereby giving them a reason to continue seek out the content.
Above all, content should be clear and concise. An ad is like a joke – if it has to be explained it’s not effective. A consumer should not be confused by the ad or message. The value of it should be obvious to the customer.
Contextual Data
You wouldn’t advertise bathing suits in the winter time or snow tires in the summer. And while they are extreme examples, marketers should consider the regional context to ad placement. Depending on where and when a consumer is looking at the ad or message, it can determine whether the personalization seems genuine or manifested. In order to understand the consumer, understand their context.
