How You Can Improve Ad Personalization
One of the most important factors in successful marketing today is personalization. People have come to expect it. Technology has made it possible for your business to target individuals based on whatever demographic or personality you choose. Even outside of direct advertisements — user experiences, exclusive memberships, and other marketing tactics communicate with personalization in mind. Is your business mature when it comes to your personalization? Here’s what personalization looks like and how you can improve.
Personalization is Necessary
People anticipate personalization today. They want to feel special. There are businesses out there using personalization tactics to make them feel special, become brand fans, and buy more. If you’re not doing this, you will fall behind.
Personalization could be a targeted ad to the right customer. But it’s also push notifications or direct messages that address the customer. It’s including customers in the everyday conversation of your business as it relates to them. It’s using the personal ‘you’ directed to the customer every time you communicate. Where do you stand when it comes to personalizing your business?
Start Where You Are
Before adding additional personalization strategies to your plans this year, first assess where you are now. Do you have any personalization tactics in place? Do you have a membership for customers, a company-based app customers download to interact with your business, or a messaging system in place to send customers updates?
Make a list with everywhere you have some personalization in place at the moment. Ask the following questions during this process:
When do we have one-on-one communication between us and a single customer?
Do we know how to predict what groups our ideal audience is part of?
How quickly can we optimize and adapt user experiences?
Looking at your company with these questions will set you above the curve and take you from okay and average to great.
Develop Goals
After this self-assessment, you can set your goals and build a plan to mature. You may already know the areas you want to grow now. Find companies whose personalization efforts you admire. They don’t have to be in your industry. Then use these companies’ tactics as goals for your business. Here are a few examples.
Starbucks has a highly personalized app that sends customers a free drink on their birthday, allows them to build up “stars” with every purchase to redeem for discounts, and regularly pushes email and notification updates on specials and new drinks available
The Southwest Airlines app will update customers on their flight schedule and when it’s time for their group to board, among other personalized communications
What companies could you add to this list? What can you take from what other companies are doing and adapt it to your own business? More than these strategies of communication, how can you improve your predictive skills when it comes to finding new audiences? Set clear goals to improve your personalization with customers.
Build Your Tactics
The last step in maturing as a personalized business is to build your tactics and execute your plan. Here are a few ideas:
Develop your own app to connect individually with customers, or improve the app you have now
Structure your emails to speak to the individual person instead of group of people
Use technology to predict and target new customers
What tactics do you want to develop? The best tactics you can build for your business are the most sustainable ones. Avoid setting a lofty goal far from where you are now. Instead, start where you are and develop tactics to mature one step at a time.
Keep Maturing
Personalization is a key marketing tactic for 2022 and beyond. People don’t want to be generalized into a group of people. They want to feel unique and called out specifically for who they are and how a business can help them. Technology continues to develop machine learning and AI capabilities to improve personalization. Stay up to date and keep maturing with personalization strategies in 2022 for your business.
