Jet Mail 5/12/22 7:00 AM

What is Personalized Marketing?

What is Personalized Marketing?

One of the hottest marketing topics of 2022 is personalization. If you feel like it’s all anyone ever talks about, you’re not imagining things.

The reason personalization is so hot is simple: it works. In fact, 93% of businesses saw an increase in revenue when they focused on an advanced personalization strategy.

Personalized marketing uses data from your CRM (typically collected from prospect and customer interactions with your business, such as a form fill on your website or recent purchase history) to include personal elements in marketing communications.

Unlike impersonal, un-targeted correspondence with your audience, a personalized marketing strategy taps into basic human needs–and it’s extremely effective in building brand awareness, driving sales and boosting customer loyalty.

Ready to leverage this power of personalization and boost your marketing arsenal?

Here’s everything you need to know about personalized marketing, including:

  • The psychology of personalized marketing.
  • How personalized marketing benefits businesses.
  • Top tips and best practices for personalized campaigns.

The Psychology of Personalized Marketing

Understanding human behavior is critical to every component of any marketing strategy. To benefit from the power of personalization, marketers will want to familiarize themselves with the psychological principles that make personalized marketing so effective.

Personalization makes your audience feel valued.

Would you rather frequent a local coffee shop where the baristas know your name and start making your order as soon as you walk through the door? Or, would you rather be just another (probably butchered) name on the paper cup of a national chain?

Now, think about your target audience. Are they more likely to open a mailer addressed to "Current Resident" or one addressed to them personally? Are they more likely to convert from one-size-fits-all messaging or content tailored to their individual preferences?

84% of customers say they’re more likely to buy from brands that treat them like a person, not a number.

Humans like to be recognized as unique. They like to be valued as an individual, warmly greeted, called by name and have their preferences remembered.

>>>Related Resource: Learn how personalization helps businesses stand out in crowded regional markets.

Personalization cuts through the clutter.

The human brain is not wired to constantly process information, yet in the 21st Century, we are bombarded by information in the form of advertising all day long.

Personalized content cuts through the clutter, allowing your audience to easily understand how your business provides a unique solution for their individual pain points.

As described by Hubspot, “When you know that the content being displayed on a website is tailored to you, it provides a more manageable framework for engagement. With personalization, you aren’t presented with thousands of resources to sort through and consume. Instead, you are – ideally – presented with exactly the information you were looking for. Hence, you never feel 'overloaded' with information.”

>>>Related Resource: Check out our top personalization strategies and use cases.

Personalization builds trust by humanizing your brand.

Consumer trust in businesses is at an all-time low. In fact, 71% of consumers aren't convinced that a business will deliver on its promises.

Successful marketing strategies mitigate this by humanizing their brand and engaging in authentic communication with prospective customers. This transforms the perception of a business from a cold, sterile, greedy entity into a trustworthy and reliable source of information.
Build trust by identifying and solving for the individual pain points of your target audience.

>>>Related Resource: See how the healthcare businesses humanize their brand through customer-centric marketing.

Personalized offers are more intriguing to customers.

Consumers are more than twice as likely to view personalized offers as important than unimportant, and 52% expect offers to always be personalized.

You can personalize offers based on a variety of factors, such as past purchasing behavior, recency of purchase, dollar value, time of year (seasonal) and location. Receiving a personalized offer makes prospective customers feel like your business genuinely cares about and understands their needs.

For example, send a personalized postcard directing the recipient to claim a special offer on your website. Use a personalized URL (pURL) such as www.yourcompanyname.com/johndoe with the recipients' names to catch their eye.

>>>Related Resource: Learn how to get your message in front of customers first.

Now that we’ve covered how personalized marketing builds trust and rapport with your target audience, here’s what you need to know about implementing a personalized marketing strategy.

Tips for a Successful Personalized Marketing Strategy

Consumers are extremely savvy these days, and they expect personalization beyond just their first name. Effective personalization takes into account their current situation (i.e. where they’re at in the buyer journey), as well as expectations and preferences. From there, businesses should tailor marketing communications accordingly.

  • Situation: Are they simply gathering information about your product or service, or ready to make a purchase?
  • Expectations: How does your audience want to be communicated with? What level of quality and service do they expect?
  • Preferences: What colors and styles, categories of products or types of services do they prefer?

Wondering how your business is supposed to know the expectations and preferences of your target audience? The answer is data.

Personalized marketing requires data, and there is no such thing as too much data.

>>>Related Resource: Learn how marketers in the home service industry use data to boost their marketing ROI.

How to Collect Data for Personalized Marketing

Data allows marketers to develop detailed profiles that highlight what types of content, offers, images and other variables are most likely to appeal to that individual.

For example, in the medical device sector, marketers must address the pain points of multiple decision-makers, each of whom has different challenges. The pain points of an orthopedist in a rural outpatient facility are completely different from those of a C-suite executive at a Level 1 trauma center in a major metropolitan area.

While both are decision-makers, their decision to purchase is influenced by drastically different content.

The orthopedist cares about a product’s ability to produce high-quality images of the bones and muscles. Since the orthopedist’s facility is an outpatient facility in a rural area, marketing content highlighting the product’s speed won’t resonate nearly as well as content that showcases crisp and clear images.

Speed, however, is a major pain point for the C-suite executive since his facility services a large population. And since his facility is a trauma center, the faster the product can scan a patient and produce images, the faster treatment can begin.

Given the increasing concerns around data and security consciousness, it’s likely that your target audience is hesitant to share their personal information. Businesses can mitigate this challenge by offering something of value in exchange for data. For instance, your business can offer discounts, promotional products or special offers in exchange for personal information.

>>>Related Resource: Here’s how to use product samples to collect data.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to collect more than just names and email addresses.

Try and collect as much information as possible, including:

  • Demographic Data: Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, occupation and income (when applicable).
  • Geographic Data: Street, state, zip, and community or region (when necessary).
  • Behavioral Data: Purchase preferences, buying habits, pain points and challenges.
  • Psychographic Data: Interests, passions and recreational activities.

Implement a Personalized Marketing Strategy with Jet Mail

Since 1993, Jet Mail has specialized in providing fast, data-driven and personalized marketing fulfillment solutions that help businesses maximize ROI and boost sales. Our in-house print, mail, fulfillment and shipping capabilities allow us to create customized solutions that meet the unique needs of your business. Ready to implement a personalized marketing strategy? Contact our team of marketing fulfillment experts today.

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