Personalize Marketing

Read what a well known marketer wrote about Personalization.

Kim T. Gordon: Marketing
The Power of Personalization
Use these 3 smart tactics to personalize marketing messages and increase sales.
By Kim T. Gordon | September 12, 2007

The Power of Personalization
Use these 3 smart tactics to personalize marketing messages and increase sales.
Marketers have found a new opportunity for more intimate and direct communication with consumers. Not so long ago, families gathered around the TV; now individuals surf the web and watch video on personal, handheld devices. Consumers have grown comfortable with–and even come to expect–a one-on-one dialogue with marketers. And personalized marketing messages are a smart way to get customers’ attention and deliver communications that increase sales.
As a small-business owner, you’re in the enviable position of interacting with customers you know on a first-name basis. You can more easily maintain a database with in-depth customer information than larger businesses. The key is to use this important data to ensure your communications strike a personal chord with customers.
Personalization is a powerful marketing tactic that’s easy to incorporate. Here are three ways to create messages that personally appeal to customers.

1. Transform mass e-mail into one-to-one.
E-mail is an exceptional tool for small businesses thanks to its low cost of implementation and high return on investment when sent to an in-house, permission-based customer or prospect list. While e-mails range from product promotions to soft-sell e-newsletters, in some instances, a one-to-one approach can have a more powerful impact.

For example, a coaching client of mine, Porro & Associates in Washington, DC is headed by Jeffrey Porro, Ph.D., a talented and experienced writer who specializes in crafting op-ed pieces and speeches for organizations and top executives. His prospect list consists of public relations and grassroots advocacy groups as well as major associations. Not only does Porro send them a monthly e-newsletter, but he also regularly sends personalized e-mails with examples of successes he has achieved for clients. Each e-mailing of this kind generates Porro & Associates several meetings and continues to bring in high-level work.

When Porro landed an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune for one of his advocacy clients, he e-mailed copies of it to his prospect database, personally addressing each individual by name. The e-mail had a simple lead-in introducing the article as something of interest, followed by a suggestion that the prospect meet with him to talk about doing similar work for their organization, and closed with Porro’s e-mail signature.

For this e-mail tactic to work, the simpler, more direct and less “crafted” your message appears, the better. Avoid graphics and other advertising design elements–including photos–which you might use in less personal forms of e-mail solicitations.

2. Personalize your offers.
Whether you’re a retailer, e-commerce merchant or direct-mail marketer, if you sell merchandise, you need to know your customers’ purchases, how much they spend per sale, and when or how often they buy. Knowledge of past behavior is a valuable tool for predicting future purchases. Not only can this information guide your business and merchandising decisions, but it’s also critical for creating personalized marketing messages that increase sales. For instance, suppose a customer purchased jogging pants out of a wide range of clothing from your website or catalog. By customizing an e-mail or direct-mail follow-up based on this purchase history, you could successfully sell this customer additional exercise attire and related products.
The key is to look at how Jane Doe shops and then personalize your offers to her based on her past purchases and preferences. Make your marketing follow the customer–not the other way around–and truly customize it to her needs. If you address your customer by name and make relevant product offers, the one-to-one relationship you develop will keep her coming back for additional purchases.

3. Put it in writing.
What better way to make your message stand out than to express it in a handwritten note? After all, with fast online and mobile communications the norm, a handwritten note emphasizes that you’ve taken the time and thought to communicate something in a special way.
Entrepreneurs nationwide swear by the effectiveness of personal, handwritten notes for making a strong, positive impression. Send anything from thank you notes to meeting confirmations, depending on the type of business you operate and what you market. A financial management company in Norcross, Georgia, for example, markets primarily via networking, and its president follows up every contact with a handwritten note. It’s a tactic that pays off, as the company boasts revenue growth of 25 percent year after year.
If you’re in an industry where it’s critical to build one-on-one relationships with prospects, it’s a good idea to print fold-over notecards with your company logo to follow up with customers. Hand address the envelopes and apply real stamps–rather than run your cards through a postage meter–for a personal look that will get past screeners. If the first task of effective marketing is to get noticed and stand out from the clamor of competing advertisers, then handwritten notecards and other personalized messages will achieve the goal.

Kim T. Gordon is the “Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.com and a multifaceted marketing expert, speaker, author and media spokesperson. Over the past 26 years, she’s helped millions of small-business owners increase their success through her company,National Marketing Federation Inc. Her latest book,Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars, is now available.

I went to a networking event the other day and I asked 5 people a couple basic questions about Postcard marketing.

1) What day of the week do they receive the highest response rate?

2) Do they know the exact response rate they are receiving?

3)  How much revenue does each postcard campaign generate?

I am sure you know where I am going with this before I even tell you….not one person had a clue the answer to those 3 very basic question.

You need to know which day of the week you receive the highest response rate so you can plan all of your mailings.  With the PurlBlitz software we give you the ability to track exactly the time/day people visit their personal URL.  You can then export that to excel and create graphs, charts, etc.  There are people out there that say “Such and Such day is the best to mail..” - how can you put everyone in the same category.  If I am a casino I want my postcard delivered later in the week so people think “Yeah let’s go to the casino tonight..”  If I am a beauty salon I may want them delivered on a Tuesday because they know they receive the highest response rate on that day.

How can anyone do a marketing campaign and not know if it is working and how much revenue it generates?  I guess they think “Oh it costs me $500 and business is coming in the door so I guess it is working” - are you crazy?  What if that business is coming in from referrals - that means you are flushing $500 down the drain.

Track your results to help your Postcard Marketing become more effective.  The reporting aspect of the PurlBlitz software will make it easy for each business to know who is interested in their product.

Businesses try to get by cheap as possible when they get a list - that is the most important element for your campaign!

Interview your list provider and make sure they have what you need.  I would also ask for more data points so you can narrow down your target market.

Here is an example.  Let’s say I opened a new golf store and I want to market to the people in that area that I  am now open for business.  I buy a list of 10000 names of people in the area and it costs me $100.   90% of the 10000 people do not even golf so do they really care that I am opening a new store?   It cost me $3000 in postage/printing and $100 for the list or $3100 to mail to that 10000.  I better sell a lot of golf clubs to make that campaign be effective.  Since 9000 of the postcards were instantly thrown in the trash because of no interested in golf you are down to 1000 - if you get 2% response rate you will get 20 people that are interested.

Another approach is to buy a list of 1000 people that you know are interested in Golf (maybe subscribe to golf magazine, bought golf equipment online, etc).  Now we mail to 1000 people and it only costs us $400 and even if we still get the same 2% response rate that is 20 people like above with 1/7 of the costs.

With PurlBlitz software we will show you how to take those 1000 targeted people and increase that response rate to 5-10% by personalizing the marketing message.  It is very powerful to get a postcard in the mail that says “Jim, hopefully you are enjoying your Golf World Magazine.  I know you are interested in Golf and we are opening a store at 120th ST.  Visit your personal URL www.mygolf.com/jim.smith.html for a special offer”

Do you think that is powerful?

Referrals are a lifeline of a lot of businesses but like me be honest for a minute - majority of business are stupid when it comes to referrals.

You ask for a referral after you sell a product or complete a service and you never ask the client again. We are pounded with so many marketing messages everyday we forget the name/number of your business 5 minutes we walk out of your store. Here is a little tip to increase your referrals.

Create a buzz around your product. People will naturally spread the word about your product or service if it is “cool”. You will be able to create that buzz with our software PurlBlitz since everything is personalized. Your prospect will ask you “How did you do that?” when a personalized audio message automatically plays when they visit their personalized landing page. They will want to spread the word about your marketing message to their friends even if you don’t have a formalized referral program. As mentioned in other posts you need to personalize emails by having people fill out a survey and use that information in future emails. People are quick to forget that they filled out a survey and 60 days later when they receive an email from you that mentions something from that survey they will be very impressed you are able to remember so many things about the client. If you want to see what I am talking about go to this website

www.personalizemarketing.com/survey.html - notice how the information is personalized and I am “Smart” by instantly sending you a personalized email (I have people working night and day creating these emails….just kidding)

You should be doing marketing research for your business relatively frequently to stay updated on changes in your industry. For this particular post I am going to focus on marketing research relating to “marketing strategies to get new business”.

Small businesses are so focused on running their business they are not staying updated on the new trends in the marketplace. One of these trends is to create a connection with your clients and make them feel like they are desired and will be taken care of when they become a client. With the internet it is very easy to create distance between yourself and cilents because most of your clients never see your face or meet you in person. One way to create a sense of trust is to learn as much as you can about your clients by providing surveys. Once you collect that information use it in the future in all emails and marketing messages.

Here is an example. Let’s say I sell air conditioners and I am emailing a prospect about getting an AC installed before the summer and I am using an Autoresponder.

Traditional Format

Hey Bob,

I am sure you are enjoying your new house and hopefully the weather is allowing you time to get the things done around the house like you had hoped. As you know we are offering a special on Air Conditioner installs for newer houses. Visit www.myhvac.com to get more information.

Personal Email (this is easy to do - just ask me how)

Hey Bob,

I am sure you are enjoying your new house. Man has it really been 6 months since it was built? Hopefully you are finding time to complete your basement and landscape your backyard. As you know we are offering a 10% discount on AC installs so please visit myhvac.com/bob.smith.html

The bolded words are all personalized information you collected during the survey. Whic email do you think will have a better response?

If you want to increase your response rates on all of your marketing then do Market Research about what your prospects want and need