We have discussed quite recently in our AIM blog that personalized marketing is quickly leaving “Marketing Trend” status and moving into the “Marketing Cornerstone” category. Most advertising across industries is focused now on the importance of serving up one-on-one messaging across digital media platforms. Every brand wants to be able to speak directly to you and build an intimate relationship with you. But how do they do it, and is it possible to really target just one customer at a time?
What is Customer strategy?
Customer strategy is business planning around the company’s top consumers. When implementing a customer strategy, traditionally, customer service automatically comes to the forefront of the daily operations of that business. To put it quite simply, a customer strategy is any that puts the customer first, in an effort to acquire and retain them for a lifetime.
How does Customer Strategy Tie Into Marketing?
This people-based marketing approach is taken from a long standing business method known as “Customer strategy” and it has been a part of business planning for ages. This concept can be a difficult one for marketers to grasp, because it isn’t until recently that they’ve had to do it, not to scale at least. Traditionally, marketers are focused on their “Audience” and that is the problem: we were taught to focus on the bigger picture, a segment, and not to speak to the individual.
In addition to not understanding customer strategy, it is difficult to measure and in marketing we live and die by the data. Right now technology is capable of delivering customized marketing to the individual (to an extent) and the way our information is collected and stored these days lets us know more than ever about the customers we want and have.
What Does it Look Like?
Imagine that your refrigerator was smart and was integrated into your entire digital life, Let’s say it knows you are out of pickles. Now the pickle companies know you are out of pickles, and when you access your mobile device you are instantly hit with an ad for pickles, even the ones you like. In fact the market now knows that you need that pickle and they have it on sale. You’ll soon get a personalized email from the store with a coupon for even more savings on your pickles. Perhaps even a pickle delivery service will transmit an audio commercial after your favorite song that let’s you know they can deliver those pickles to your house in time for lunch.
So Why Are We Not Personally Advertising to More People?
There are a few reasons that personalized marketing isn’t bigger. There is in fact a need for society and technology to catch up to the idea. We aren’t necessarily able to broadcast directly to the individual through their mobile device yet. This does happen through mobile app advertising somewhat, but on a larger scale, directly to an audience segment. Soon we may be able to see ads that are made to fit our exact needs and wants, and speak directly to us on a personal level.
In addition to finding platforms that have the capability to personalize their marketing efforts, there is also the cost to consider. If one National Company has 30 Million customers, that would mean to effectively personalize their marketing campaign they would need to actively manage 30 million customer relationships that all have 30 million custom plans, and would need to make daily adjustments and decisions for 30 million accounts. Even if you had the technology it would still require an incredible amount of man power to make a reality, at least until technology catches up with our big ideas. There is also the sensitive subject of privacy to deal with.
Can We Market to Individuals Now?
There are many easy ways to target individual customers at this time that are efficient and provide good ROI. We also have the capability to define our target audiences down to the most minute detail which allows for us to individualize our advertising enough to feel extremely personal to the end user. If you are interested in learning more about how to market to your audience and how to advertise on the digital platform successfully, contact Advantage Internet Marketing today.