If you are like most marketers, you have already spent hours in spreadsheets creating thousands of messaging variations to send to copywriters or designers. You have probably also thought to yourself; “this is going to catch the hook, line, and sinker”. But does it? 

What can be done about it? I recently wrote on the need to capture and retain customers attention for your brand. One of the simplest ways to do this is to develop an unstoppable combination of data & creative thinking to craft messages that truly deliver on the idea of the right message at the right time, to the right person. 

So how do you make that happen? 

Know your customer inside and out:

Raise your hand if you have been guilty of executing the same tactics for long periods of time without diverging, because of a.) It has been working ok or b.) It’s “what we have always done”…. (*sheepishly raises hand*).

Is this serving you or your customer in the best way possible? What can you change? You can change the way you think about message delivery. The spray and pray approach should be laid to rest. In a study by Adlucent, 70% of customers desire a personalized message and experience. Additionally, users who had ads personalized as close to their interests as possible, cold, or remarketing were 2x likely to engage. 

By combining clear audience segmentation with specific messaging, you set a strong foundation for a successful campaign. 

Not all demographics are created equal:

Does everyone in the same “demographic” have the same needs, wants, or even sense of humor? The answer is no. Within each “demographic” there are numerous subsets of people with their own unique traits and preferences. 

The first step in any advertising strategy is to get people to engage with you. It takes a cognitive load for customers to then decide if they want to give you their business.  It is more often than not, going to take more than one attempt to convince them that they would be making the right decision. 

From there, it is all about subtly nudging them towards the desired action. Customers are more likely to convert within the first 7 days, so it is critical to ensure that every messaging point feels like it speaks directly to them based on their audience traits and how they have interacted with you so far. 

It’s a team effort:

For too long, teams within teams have been siloed, focused on their own tasks, missions, and goals.

For a scalable personalized marketing program to be successful, all stakeholders must understand the why and the how, collaborate on the big picture and the minutia, and agree on each step of the project. 

What that means is, that analysts should be able to clearly explain the predictive audience behavior and segmentation rational. Copywriters and strategists should then be able to digest this to craft the messaging and the overarching plan. The loop should be constantly be moving to ensure that everyone is on the same page before anything is launched. It is a good way to understand how the team works, and what gaps you may be missing. 

Wrapping Up

Even if you are able to start rolling out all of the above, it will still take time, to find the right mix of messaging, the best tools, and the most effective strategy. It is just a constant reminder to ourselves that we can never just do what seems to be working for us, but what is most important for the customer.