Personalized Marketing

Personalized Marketing
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July 24, 2018

You’ve heard of all these, and you’ve heard that your business should be using them improve your bottom line. But what exactly is one-to-marketing? How do you get started?

Effective One-to-One Marketing

Let’s start with coffee people. Not those who just like coffee, not daily drinkers, not even all-day drinkers. But coffee people, those for whom coffee is as much a ritual as a beverage. You know someone like this, and you know that they won’t be caught dead in a chain coffee shop. When asked about it they’ll tell you that the chain coffee isn’t as good, the location isn’t as pleasing, the business practices are disagreeable, etc. It’s very likely to hear that their favorite local coffee shop cares. The baristas care about the customers and about the products, and the customers care about the business in return. The successful coffee shops develop personal relationships with their customers, starting with something as simple as a barista remembering a customer’s favorite drink. That’s a simple and effective example of good customer service, and the basis for today’s discussion on one-to-one marketing.

Basics of Personalized Marketing

Having a customer now doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have that same customer in the future. It’s likely that this customer will always need the goods and services you are currently providing, but they may decide for whatever reason that your competitor suits their needs better. Building a learning relationship with this customer really tips the future of their business in your favor, helping you keep the customers you’ve already won over. Every interaction with this customer should improve your ability to serve their exact needs without wasted time or resources. Even if a competitor offers the same type of customization, the personal cost to the customer of switching companies now involves rebuilding this learning relationship. The more complex your customer’s needs are, the more attractive they will find personalization.

A Simple Idea

One-to-one marketing relies on your business being willing and able to adapt to the needs of individual customers based on feedback that comes directly from the customer. If a customer tells you that they use product A on a daily basis but don’t care at all for product B, it doesn’t make any sense to market the product B to that customer. That’s intuitive enough, but what about actually implementing this practice? A top performing barista can remember the preferences of tens to hundreds of customers, but what if your business serves thousands to millions? As things become exponentially more complicated, it becomes clear that intelligently planning your direct marketing campaign deserves much of the resources dedicated to such an endeavor. Below is an outline of how 2020 eConsulting will get your one-to-one marketing campaign built and maintained.

  1. Identify Your Customers
    The obvious first step in learning from your customers is to be able to locate and contact them. Eventually all your customers, but it’s perfectly okay to start with your most valuable and important customers. It’s not enough to survey your customers just once, but constantly over the course of the relationship you are building with them, and through several platforms. Build a complete picture with all their wants, needs, and dislikes. This will give you insight into their preferences and habits that they may not even know if asked directly.
  2. Differentiate Your Customers
    No two customers are exactly alike. Cataloging a customer’s exact profile will allow you to target their specific needs with the littlest trial and error, saving you time and resources. Correctly identifying their needs early will prevent wasted effort and resources, helping to convert a customer of convenience to a brand-loyal supporter. An important but sometimes overlooked aspect of accurate and timely marketing is that targeting a customer with the wrong kind of material could damage the goodwill you’ve built (think of all the junk mail you roll your eyes at).
  3. Interact with Your Customers
    Unsuccessful 1:1 marketing campaigns often begin at this step and attempt to work both backwards and forwards. Interacting with your customers should reinforce their identity and help differentiate their needs, but a basic understanding of the customer should come before that. Every interaction with your customer should take place in the context of the information you’ve already gathered, a feedback loop that paints a picture of each customer. Here your company will learn to pursue the ideas and tactics that generate sales while disregarding techniques that aren’t cost effective.
  4. Customizing Your Company’s Behaviors
    Discovering what your customers need from you will inevitably highlight the need for some kind of modification to an aspect of your business. From the creation of completely new and customized products, to a small change in your customer service department that improves customer experience. While this step will likely be the most complicated, time-consuming, and expensive, it is crucial for developing your end of the relationship.

How Can 2020 eConsulting Help

It’s likely that the information technology branch of your business is already working near capacity to serve your existing needs. 2020 will work with your business from the ground up, starting with a small but effective direct marketing campaign that will grow to encompass larger and larger customer populations. This begins with assessing your business and customers, setting priorities to work towards your business goals, and laying down a foundation that will allow your one-on-one marketing campaign to develop and improve over time. It’s not a matter of whether or not your company will benefit from direct marketing, but rather how much of a direct marketing strategy your company is prepared to handle today.

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