Personalized Marketing

 

PERSONALIZATION  Personalized marketing (also called personalization, and sometimes called one-toone marketing) is an extreme form of product differentiation. Whereas product differentiation differenti ation tries to different differentiate iate a product from competing ones, personalization tries to make a unique product offering for each customer. 

Internet marketing Personalized marketing had been most practical in interactive media such as the internet. A web site can track a customer's interests and make suggestions for the future. Many sites help customers make choices by organizing information and prioritizing it based on the individual's liking. In some cases, the product p roduct itself can be customized using a  a configuration configuration system system..  The business movement during Web 1.0 leverage leveraged d database technology for targeting products, ads, and services to specific users with particular profile attributes. The concept was supported by technologies such as BroadVision, ATG, and BEA. Amazon is a classic example of a company that performs "One to One Marketing" by offering users targeted offers and related products. Personalization is the term that later followed as a way of describing this evolution in Internet marketing. Drew Bartkiewicz and Bill Zujewski were two of the biggest industry advocates of the benefits and feasibility of One to One and later of personalization. Dr. Pehong Chen was the technologist who founded the software company, BroadVision, which enabled large companies to personalize their e-Business initiatives in the pursuit of One to One Marketing. 

Other marketing  More recently, personalized marketing has become practical with bricks and mortar retailers. The market size, an order of magnitude greater than that of the Internet, demanded a different technological approach now available and in use. Many retailers attract customers to the physical store by offering discounted items which are automatically selected to appeal to the individual recipient. The interactivity occurs through the offer redemptions recorded by the  the  point of sale  sale systems, which can then update each model of the individual shopper. Personalization can be more accurate when based solely upon individual purchasing records because of the simplified and repetitive nature of some bricks and mortar retail purchasing, for example grocery superstores.

 

Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, in their book on the subject, The One to One [1] Future,  speak of managing customers rather than products, differentiating customers not just products, measuring share of customer not share of market, and developing  economies of scope  developing scope rather than than  economies of scale scale.. They also describe personalized marketing marketing as a four phase process: identifying potential customers; determining their needs and their lifetime value to the company; interacting with customers so as to learn about them; and customizing products, services, services, and communications communicatio ns to individual customers. Some commentators (including Peppers and Rogers) use the term "one-to-one marketing" which has been misunderstood misunderstood by some. Seldom is there just one individual on either side of the transaction. Buyer decision processes often involve several people, as do the marketer's efforts. However, the excellent metaphor refers to the objective of a single message source (store) "to" the single recipient (household), a technological analogy analogy to a "mom and pop pop"" store on a first name basis with 10 million customers. 

Strategies  One-to-one marketing refers to marketing strategies applied directly to a specific consumer. Having a knowledge of the consumer consumer's 's preferences enables suggesting specific products and promotions to each consumer. One-to-one marketing marketing is based in four main steps in order to fulfil its goals: identify, differentiate, interact and customize..[2].  customize Identify: In this stage the major concern is to get to know the customers of a company, to collect reliable data about their preferences and how their needs can best be satisfied. Differentiate: To get to distinguish the customers in terms of their lifetime value to the company, to know them by their prioritie prioritiess in terms of their needs and segment them into more restrict restricted ed groups. Interact: In this phase it is needed to know by which communicat communication ion channel and by what means contact with the client is best made. It is necessary to get the customer's attention by engaging with him in ways that are known as being the ones that he enjoys the most. Customize: It is needed to personalize the product or service to the customer individually. The knowledge that a company has about a customer needs to be put into

practice theexactly information held has to be taken into account in order to be able to give the and client what he wants.

 

Examples of companies that have made use of these techniques in order to persuade their clients:  

Market America;   Dell Computers;   Smart Cars;

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NikeID; Amazon.com;   Sonae Distribuição (Modelo Continente SGPS).   Printable Technologies

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idea was it to personalize marketing communications?  Who’s bright idea This strategy emerged alongside the introduction of computers as business tools in the eighties. To begin with I imagine it was a novel experience, experience, getting mail with your name on it, but back then it was novel to actually own a television – things have moved on. I don’t mind receiving receiving personalized post, but the thing is for it to work it has got to be correct. This is something that marketers have forgotten, by and large, and I should know because I’ve been a culprit of this kind of thing myself. It does make me wonder if  anybody ever thinks about why they are personalising a mass-communication before sending it out though. It’s a default action for most marketers and its significance has  been forgotten such such that it is bolted bolted into communications. communications. The design has been been considered carefully, the copy has been expertly written and then they go and spoil it by  presonalising presonalisin g it… incorrectly.  incorrectly.  Every piece of  direct mail  mail I receive from BT spells my name “Niel” and not “Neil”, a simple error yes, but it’s also one which serves to stop me from reading further than the envelope the communication communication comes in. If they just sent an impersonalized impersonalized mailer I might actually readpresume it. Why we shouldn’t we know about the person we are talking to The problem with database-driven marketing is that it is actually very dangerous to make assumptions about the person you are trying to communicate with. I’ll give you an example here. here. I once asked a lady if she she was pregnant… pregnant…   She looked pregnant, she sounded pregnant, she even smelled of pregnancy, I imagine. I didn’t actually smell her to confirm things one way or another. Maybe if I had I would have saved myself from myself? myself? In the future we may well greet one another as if we  were dogs, now now there’s a thought and and not a very nice nice one (I’ll stick it in my Futurology  Futurology  thinking file nonetheless nonetheless). ).  Anyhow, she wasn’t wasn’t pregnant. pregnant. So the moment I asked the innocent question the world  went into slow motion motion and the room room fell silent – I forgot to say that this was in a meeting at work so there were plenty of witnesses. She replied, “No, why do you ask?”. Ididn’t had no choice to reply “…you have a certain glow about Needless to say, suffice as but an explanation. However, in my defense, sheyou.” did look pregnant andthis

 

really the onus should have been on her to dress appropriately appropriately to avoid any confusion confusion– –   why people blamed me me for that moment moment I’ll never know.  know.  That moment however was actually pivotal in my thinking about personalized marketing communications. communic ations. If in doubt leave it out(TM). I like that, so I’ll just trade mark it for now. The trouble with business to business communications communications is that people change their jobs every few years, so there is always a large percentage of your audience who are not going to be who you think they are. In these instances you’ve got to ask yourself the question of whether you should run the risk of personalising personalising the communication. communication. There are some products where personalising the communication communication is a big “no“no-no”. Take incontinencee products for example. Imagine the look on the postman’s face when he incontinenc hands you the mail knowing about your little secret, it doesn’t bear thinking about, especially if he shares the issue and gives you a wink and asks you to open up about the problem.  All of this explains the the rise of social media media marketing, because because you get the customer customer to do the bulk of the work for you.  You don’t need to buy -in data lists to identify possible customers, they’ll do the job for you. you. That said, you can can bet that what seems seems innovative and novel now will be over-played and used again and again by ignorant marketing departments departmen ts such that the same mistakes will happen all over again. Finally, I’ve been waiting for a platform to share this this piece of direct mail I received from Orange recently. I won’t talk about it. I’ll just let the pictures pictures do the talking for me, me, and  yes I know that personalisatio personalisation n wasn’t the problem here. here.  

Personalised Marketing

Marketing through sms messages has become the rage in the field of marketing technology. Given that every other person these days has a cell phone, marketers have come up with innovative ways to reach them. In this sms generation, it is extremely important to get your point across in a quick, short and relevant format. and text messages provide the ideal means. SMS marketing is also effective in the sense that one must click and see the message before being able to delete it- the marketing campaign is already a success. Benefits  This particular point takes on added significance - wherein the SMS is used as a marketing and advertising platform. As a matter of fact, several such platforms are currently available in the market "off-the-shelf;" there is nothing to stop corporate users in making the most of these innovative services that are on offer.

On the contrary, the SMS a host ofof benefits. Forpopulation one, the market penetration is smooth and services instant. Acome largewith percentage the world is

 

currently using mobile phones and this fact cannot be ignored by any marketing professional worth his professional advice. Personalized  The personalized text messages have the potential to go a long way in striking the right note among the target audience for specific businesses. However, data base security as well as flexibility in the processes become very important - a deciding factor in the success or failure of the campaign. The SMS gateway has to be secure, flexible, and effective. The client data should be kept confidential. Moreover, there should be enough transparency in the system. An effective sms messaging solution is a great arsenal available with corporate users. It is a very interesting format to generate leads and quite efficient when it comes to promoting distinct brands. [ By: Angela Hayden ]

The SMSS platform allows your business to personalise bulk sms messages directly from your database, ensuring 100% of customers read the sms and/or e-mail you sent. You simply type the sms or e-mail message and the SMSS platform do the rest automatically FOR you. The SMSS system - Choose a unique keyword for your business/ product/ service - Set up a FREE sms reply message to be sent immediately to the customer's cell phone who used your keyword to 34050. - Add the short code 34050 and your UNIQUE keyword to your marketing material. - Customers interested about your product/ service or advertisement sms your unique keyword to: 34050. - The SMSS system instantly returns your reply message to your customer, which acknowledges their sms and provides instant customer care and information. - The SMSS system simultaneously dispatches an email and/or sms to you with the customer`s contact number, exact message, date and time of the text message sent. - The SMSS system places each mobile number in a legal database for your business - SMSS provides your business with a free sms-credit for every sms received, to be

used anyway you want, whether it'ssms's for marketing, care or SMSS information - Keywords are easy to remember, are easy customer to send and The system operates at your customer`s convenience, 24/7 - The SMSS system is a sms based leads communication system operating for your business 24/7 - it`s your own full time call centre!