How to use personalization in marine marketing to communicate relevant messages with measurable results
A version of this article originally appeared on MarketingTech News
Segmentation marketing as well as personalization marketing are indicated as two trends of major importance in 2015. Within the marine industry the more relevant your marketing message can be, the more focused you can be when communicating with the consumer or customer. In turn the more you can expect from the reply.
Studies from multiple sources indicate that personalized marketing programs provide 3 to 5 times the response rate of static promotions. Proper use of the five pillars can pre-qualify your lead, target the specific needs (as defined by) of your customer and establish dialogue and develop long-term engagement based not on marketing speak but on true brand to consumer communications in part defined by the consumer and supported by demographic research.
Most people look to personalization marketing as a new, recent addition to the digital marketing mix that is an incorrect and dated view. Personalization marketing has been around at least in principle for over 25 years, in fact I developed one of the first personalized marketing programs for Heidelberg USA over 20 years ago.
To determine what has changed and what has transferred this “legacy” technology into the modern digital world of marketing, you need to look at the independent components of this discipline, which is why I titled this article “The 5 Pillars of Personalization Marketing”.
In fact with the digitalization of this technology – which by the way could not exist in a purely analog world, the modern brand, enterprise, marketing disrupters and influencers can when properly executed find that personalization marketing is a powerful results driven tool that is draped in metrics, measurement, ROI, and repeatability as well as re-marketing – all of which are the foundations of modern digital marketing.
To ensure success, to make sure you have the witches’ brew of modern digital marketing mixed correctly, you need to balance, design, if you like your personalized marketing program based on the five integrated components or pillars listed below.
Pillar One: Big Data
Component one is Big Data, a term that you have heard over and over again. What is big data? Well it is among other things a collection, library or database that contains extremely large data sets that may be using computer technology to analyze and reveal trends, patterns, tropics, and associations, (sometimes called clusters) as the data relates to human behavior and interactions. Big data as a stand-alone is useful, but I have discovered over the last 25 years and the hundreds of personalized marketing programs that I have designed and deployed, big data via its strategic definition can only go so far, it leads to shallow personalized marketing campaigns.
To make big data work, you need to understand, integrate and use the balance of the pillars to add to and strengthen the analysis of big data.
Pillar Two: Relevancy
I first start to look for relevancy in the data and how that relevancy relates to the brand and its goals and objectives for the project. Being relevant can mean many things; it can allow you to focus on a finding within the data analysis, a trend for example; that not only supports the brand but the needs of consumer. Yes relevancy can force you to be consumer or customer centric, never a bad thing in the world of digital marketing. Relevancy can also lead you to the correct media, devices or tools to use. For example what media, devices or tools would you use to gain the attention of attorneys, lawyers within the United States? Stay tuned, the answer will be provided at the end of this article.
Pillar Three: Integration
Relevance can and will be benefit substantially if your message is defined across all media and devices. The Integration of message (content and context), the brand, and visually all within the consistent parameters of the defined program is critical.
Think about your own experiences, if a message is stated differently (from the same brand) across different media and devices what do you think? There are three items that top the list of why a personalized marketing effort failed, guess what those three items are? That answer as well will be provided at the end of this article.
Pillar Four: Interaction
Integrated relevance makes a lot of sense; you are keeping to message, defined by the research parameters, research that discovered trends that are beneficial to the brand and the consumer. What comes next?? How do you move, drive the interested consumer to complete the circle? By offering a series of tools that allow action, or interaction based on the value of the media to the targeted consumer. The interaction allows you to establish two key elements of the program, dialogue and engagement with the consumer. Without dialogue and the extension to an engagement process your efforts would have been in vain. You may have found the right target, the correct relevant message and your message may be perfectly integrated across all media, but you did not understand the need to provide different audiences with different action (drive them to the shopping cart and checkout) devices and tools.
How to use traditional direct mail as a tool to gain more than a sale? Yes, that answer will be provided at the end of this article.
Success is now close at hand you, the modern brand, enterprise, marketing disrupters and influencer has correctly divined the data tealeaves, and you have found the hidden among the big data the relevance topics that both support your needs and those of the targeted audience. You have successfully integrated the brand, visuals, and messaging across all the different media you selected. Relevant media by the way, based on the data and have provided links, hyperlinks, AR, QR, NFC, SoLoMo (social location and mobile) and other action tools to make the sale as effortlessly and as simple as possible.
Great, but did the program succeed?
Pillar Five: Measurement
Measurement is a critical aspect of any effort, but prior to determining the measurement of the program you need to consider that the results are directly related to the purpose of the program. Is this a lead generation effort? An awareness campaign? A sales program? Perhaps you are seeking referrals? Your goals and objectives in part impact the results.
Do not expect “great” sales numbers if the program, developed from the data to be an awareness effort. Measurement needs to be considered within the bull’s-eye of your goals and objectives.
Will a new business program provide you the needed sales? Maybe, but how will the relevance, integration and interactions support that new business effort. The holy grail of marketing is sales, but for me and within my skill set, I look to define program related results as the most important. Leads are great if that was your goal but conversions to a sale are better, again, if that was your goal.
Personalized or personalization marketing, is clearly a tool that’s day has come, but a tool that is not as simple as inserting a name, title or location. Personalized marketing is like all marketing, a managed effort promoting and selling products or services, linked by data, relevance, integration, interaction and measurement. Without these five integrated pillars your marketing effort will be weak and provide results that may be more then disappointing.
Answers to questions:
Pillar Two: Mobile and tablet technology, media that can be easily viewed on these devices, steer away from using only print based media, but not direct mail, that’s still a powerful tool.
Pillar Three: Content/Context, Interaction and unrealistic expectations.
Pillar Four: Consider supporting such legacy technology as direct mail, with more then just print, consider supporting your integrated print direct mail effort with integrated print, print that includes the use QR codes, AR, Watermarks, NFC or other new media.
Thaddeus Kubis
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