Many times in the marketing industry we get caught up with thinking of our target audience as a single unit – a demographic. However, with all the personalization abundant in our society today, people expect to be treated like an individual, not a demographic.
It’s time that we started approaching our marketing research and implementation with the goal of engaging people on a personal level. This can be accomplished by creating opportunities for your audience to express themselves while simultaneously connecting with your brand.
Now you might be thinking, “How can we possibly develop a campaign that creates an individualized experience for a million different people, or even a thousand for that matter?” I never said it would be easy – but it is extremely valuable if done right.
Let’s use a simple example of a wallet company (we can call them “Wonderful Wallet”) promoting it’s new slim, yet highly functional wallets. Wonderful Wallet could buy display ads on a reputable ad network like DoubleClick, Facebook, or AdMedia to direct people’s attention to their unique wallets. By using remarketing tools, their ad can follow its fans around the internet, displaying it on many different websites that they visit within the ad network. This sounds like a good way to keep reminding potential customers that they will love your product right?
It sure is. But what about a company that doesn’t have $50,000 to dedicate to display advertising and another $15,000 for remarketing? And what about developing a website and spending time engaging the 15 social media channels? This cost time and money!
Well this is where getting personal with your audience engagement gets creative.
Instead of trying to fund a $100,000+ marketing campaign, what if Wonderful Wallet spent their time and effort reaching out to qualified customers – identified by performing social media channel searches for #wallet #fashion or #money. Wonderful Wallet customer service reps then start reaching out to – and chatting with – these individuals to see what they like, dislike, want, and need. They offer to help them answer questions about finance, bills, style, or just tell them jokes over Twitter; anything to pull them into the Wonderful Wallet brand. The entire time, Wonderful Wallet customer service reps are taking notes on those individuals, but instead of just compiling the data into a spreadsheet and slapping numbers on the “audience,” they give each person they chat with a unique gift, maybe a $5 off coupon for a wallet; maybe the contact information for a stylist in the individual’s city – something that makes them remember how much Wonderful Wallet cares about you.
This is just one small example of how to think more personally and less demographically in order to attract new, loyal customers.
Remember your personal brand and business brand work very similarly; first impressions are everything, give them one that will put a smile on their face.
