“You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be something to someone.”
Drew Davis
We have over 3.4 Billion potential connections online which when combined with 18.9 Billion network connections gives an unprecedented marketing opportunity. However these numbers represent real people who want to be treated as individuals. This creates a dilemma how do you appeal to a mass market while retaining a personal marketing touch. The answer lies with personalisation.
Marketing has always been about the individual, however in the past you were able to mass market to the individual, with social media consumers now want the personal touch. They come to expect the Amazons of this world to give them reasonable purchase recommendations based on their personal browsing and purchasing history. They also expect Amazon to match them with like-minded individuals. This has amplified the power of an individual and the drive towards individual marketing.
“Increasingly, the mass marketing is turning into a mass of niches. “
Chris Anderson
With the marketing emphasis on “me” our audience expects you to single them out. They know they belong to a herd but want to be treated as “unique individuals”. This is why celebrities like Taylor Swift inspire so much passion in her fans. She singles out individual fans and invites them around to her home. It does not matter that this is a minuscule percentage of her overall following; the gesture is enough to inspire all fans.
“You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be something to someone.”
Drew Davis
Your marketing strategy has to become personal. The trick is to embrace personalisation and make it scalable. Since most brands cannot interact with every consumer on an individual basis they need to at least reach out to every customer who try’s to interact with them. For every customer you interact with online there will be many more customers judging your performance from the sideline. They will want to know how you deal with potential problems and queries.
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
Jeff Bezos
The only way to scale marketing personalisation is by the use of software automation. Whether it is Amazons personalised shopping lists and recommendations or ad retargeting or personalised webpage’s they are all driven by software automation. Customers are generally aware that is it is driven by software automation and they see that you want personalise their experience. They appreciate the effort and also want to know if they need to contact directly you it will be a positive experience. Software personalisation is not a substitute for real interaction it is there to complement it.
Sometimes in our rush to automate online tasks we forget they are not the only tools in our arsenal. Personalisation software has its place, however never forget there is no substitute for real contact. Brands who forget this risk loosing a strong marketing advantage.