3 Ways to Personalize Your Marketing Efforts

Maybe your mother told you when you were growing up that you should treat everyone the same. Well, your mother was wrong…at least when it comes to the world of 1-to-1, or personalized, marketing. No longer are you encouraged to place prospects upon the same level playing field. In fact, with 1-to-1 marketing, you want to embrace the diversity of your prospects and customers. You want to play to those exact differences and incorporate them into your marketing messages in order to get their attention and make them want to work with you!

1. Identify Your Audience: As with any marketing strategy, you start off by identifying your target market – the people who need your product or service. So you sit down and imagine a target. You imagine finding those people with laser point focus. You know who they are and now you have to get your message across to them. You have to tell them who you are, what you do and how you can help them. Using the 1-to-1 marketing approach, you toss aside the marketing shotgun; this is no time to “pray and spray” your message, hoping that it will be heard and acted upon.
2. Add Personalization: The idea is that by personalizing your marketing message, you are showing the customer that you know how to serve their specific needs. No customer wants you coming at them with a cookie-cutter approach and a “one-size-fits-all” solution. They want to feel like you know exactly what they need, and that you are the business that can provide it. Thus, your message needs to be current and relevant to that customer.
3. Stand Out: Your target market receives marketing messages on a daily basis. We all do, in both our personal and professional lives. It becomes second nature to ignore the messages that have little to do with our own needs. The same is true of any business. They all receive mailers, texts, and emails from other businesses, who are using the the same pitches and benefits to make the sale.

In the end, a customer will equate your marketing messages with the type of service they will receive when working with you. If your message is personalized and meets their needs, the prospect will anticipate that working with you will be a breeze. Everyone likes to work with the expectation of receiving terrific customer service and specific solutions.