A One-to-One Marketing Strategy

The number of options available online today is overwhelming. People don’t want more choices, they want what they want…when and where they want it. And you can give it to them by refining your one-to-one marketing strategy.

As a digital B2B and B2C marketing agency, we take marketing to a whole new, personalized level by integrating strategies for digital ads, real-time personalized email campaigns, custom social media audience ads, and more. We’re constantly using data to learn about customers and provide the best user experience for our clients. How do we do it?

Let’s take a look.

What Is One-to-One Marketing?

Today, customer’s expectations are higher than ever. They expect personalization and they value it. A one-to-one marketing strategy focuses on direct communication with potential leads that speaks directly to their persona, industry, and/or pain points. In other words, it helps to bridge the gap between an endless abyss of choices and the needs of the individual.

Personalized marketing requires intimate knowledge about the customer journey, providing relevant content that drives action, and technology that delivers results.

The Amazon Effect: Earn Customers for Life

Customers are always teaching us about their preferences, needs and wants. Listening gives you a powerful competitive advantage, potentially earning you customers for life.

Consider Amazon. Amazon is a massive example of a company that uses deep learning to execute one-to-one marketing very well. They track search and purchases to make personalized recommendations that not only fit their buying behaviors, but also their personality. Clever.

While not every business can be an Amazon, every business can mimic certain hyper-personalized marketing strategies to connect with customers and take sales to a whole new level. In fact, many companies are already improving their efforts using this strategy.

Invest in the Power of Personalization

Investing in one-to-one marketing strategies that build relationships and create improved experiences can pay off with big rewards for brands.

Need proof? A recent article highlighted in Forbes revealed some shocking statistics about the power of personalization:

• Marketers report that personalization efforts can boost revenues by up to 15%.
• Companies using advanced personalization report a $20 return for every $1 spent.
• 95% of companies that saw 3x ROI from their personalization efforts increased profitability in the year after their personalization efforts.
• Millennial brand loyalty increases by 28% if they receive personalized communication.
• Personalization can increase marketing spend efficiency by up to 30%.

Use the Tools

If personalization and customization are executed well, it can improve customer loyalty and business performance. But, it all depends on how willing you are to use the tools to get you there including: data mining, segmentation, messaging, and integration.

Let’s dive deeper.

Data

Consumers are hungry for more personalized marketing.

Creating a successful one-to-one experience for an individual has everything to do with good quality data and how it is applied. The more data you have, the more tailored your one-to-one marketing strategy can be.

Some key data considerations when creating a one-to-one target marketing group include:

• Demographics
• Online behaviors
• Interests
• Perceptions
• Transactional

There’s a wealth of consumer data at your fingertips. There’s just one catch: you must have a system in place to analyze it and apply it correctly.

Customer Segmentation

Using all that data, companies can split markets by a number of variables to ensure each group of customers receive the most relevant messaging at the right time in their buying journey. This segmentation allows marketers to become more efficient and effective at reaching the right user.

In business-to-consumer segmentation, companies might segment their customers according to:

• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Marital status
• Location

Business-to-business segmentation might categorize customers based on factors such as:

• Location
• Number of employees
• Industry

Every target audience will have different triggers. Different industries (apparel, cosmetics, food) have customers with varying needs. Take a clothing store: individuals not only differ in their physical measurements, but also in their tastes and preferences.

Why go through all this trouble?

Consumers are much more likely to shop with brands who provide relevant offers and personalized recommendations. The goal is to provide clarity through messaging about needs such as helping them get a better deal, saving time, providing information, or simply making the purchasing process easier.

It all begins with gathering data and then acting on it with the right messaging.

Persona-Driven Messaging

Consumers want to know how a particular product or service will directly impact them. So much so that nearly 75% of online consumers report feeling frustrated by marketing that has nothing to do with their interests.

Besides, if nothing is tailored to the customer, why would they pay attention?

Persona-driven messaging works. It can cut through the noise to help an individual feel heard and understood. From personalized recommendations to product offers, it can provide a unique experience by solving a problem or filling a need.

Personalization is also difficult to apply the right way.

According to a recent Gartner, Inc. study, “The price of getting personalization wrong is steep. In a survey of more than 2,500 customers, more than half report they will unsubscribe from a company’s communications and 38 percent will stop doing business with a company if they find personalization efforts to be “creepy.”’

It’s not just creepy. In the ever-changing landscape of data regulations, such as GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), companies are facing more obstacles than ever to get messaging right.

So, how do you win them over without crossing the line? The key to making this recipe work is taking that persona-driven messaging and integrating it in a transparent way that customers are comfortable with.

Data-Driven Integration

Even though some individuals may not even realize it when it happens, more and more brands are using data-driven personalization to integrate unique web and mobile experiences tailored for their customers.

One of the best ways to get started with one-to-one marketing is through email marketing. It’s easy to segment subscribers immediately at signup. For example, when users visit your website and fill out a form, they can check off categories that they’re interested in. This way, subscribers only receive the content that they want to read. Although this method is not hyper-personalized, it can result in lower bounce rates, higher click through rates and increased conversions.

One-to-one marketing is all about providing an engaging user experience by showing that you truly understand who the customer is as a person. Dynamic content is another example that can allow brands to refine the user experience based on interests and browsing behaviors.

Different from static content that doesn’t change, dynamic content refers to online content that changes based on data, user preferences and behaviors. This can be through landing pages, ads, text, video, etc.

The main goal is to capture a complete and accurate picture of who your customers are and what they want. If you can help them save time and effort, you could be earning a customer for life.

But it’s a continuous process.

A One-to-One Marketing Schematic

 

Is Your Company Ready?

While these opportunities are exciting, many marketers feel under equipped and risk getting left behind. According to The Clear Path to Personalization report by Forbes Insights, 48% of marketers cite data quality as a leading roadblock to effective personalization. Consumers expect companies to anticipate their needs. If you’re not making relevant suggestions, you’ll be missing out.

At CMDS, it’s our job to help you navigate through all that data and conquer your one-to-one marketing strategy. Our approach is holistic and brand-centric. We start by entrenching ourselves in your brand, in your mission, in your goals. We work hand-in-hand with you to determine the smartest, most impactful way to achieve your objectives—and then we craft the brand strategy and recommended tactics to get you there.

Let’s connect! We’re just a phone call away 732-365-4484.