Marketing “sur mesure” - Using data to create tailored experiences
I am not going to argue that brainstorming, inspiration and eureka moments have become redundant in marketing and advertising. But the fact that customers/users are appreciating more and more brands and companies that know how to offer them what they ‘re after (instead of what the demographic group they belong to seems to be after) is undeniable.
So I would like to share my thoughts on how important it is for marketers to invest time and effort in developing strategies that make each customer feel unique: feel that their desires, needs and preferences are understood and taken into account in order to create tailored offers and experiences that can make their life simpler, more fun, more exciting or provide solutions to major/ minor problems.
Big data to the rescue - The marketer’s side
Yes, we are swimming in an ocean full of data becoming deeper everyday. Yes, there is a lot of noise in there. Yes, the amount of information can become an obstacle sometimes and hamper decision making, preventing us from taking initiative to move things forward. However, knowing how to turn data into insight is invaluable for the modern marketer: in data lie the answers we are looking for to create meaningful relationships with our audience throughout the customer journey.
It can be frightening to some but the reality is that, if we want to, big data can help us understand each customer with unimaginable detail. Users’ activity on social media and their interaction with mobile applications enables us to know which grocery store they visit more often, which products are their favourite ones and why, in which cases they prefer to do their research online but complete a purchase offline (or vice versa), what puts them off and what persuades them to buy. But what’s even more exciting (or frightening, depending on how big an effect Orwell’s 1984 has had on you), we also know where exactly they are having coffee right now (and with whom), where they plan to go afterwards, what their fashion - food - art - entertainment tastes are (to mention but a few), which items they are coveting and, most importantly, which aspects of their life they are looking to improve. If marketers learn how to master big data (with the help of data scientists of course), the potential is huge: we now have the ability to understand personalities on an individual user level and capitalise on that by building customised, unique relationships.
Segmentation 2.0: Individualisation - The user’s side
We are bombarded with advertisements and offers every minute, every day. From the moment we open our eyes till we go to sleep (most of the times with our smartphone in hand), brands are trying to catch our attention. At home, at the office, during our lunch break, when commuting, while shopping, when we are hanging out with friends. And we ‘ve become more open to promotional messaging (especially younger generations). We click on CTAs, we scan QR codes, we download the suggested new app, we share with our network the codes brands give us to drive referrals, we like brands on Facebook and follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest (or elsewhere), we give our details when completing a purchase in a store to be contacted for special offers. But how do we choose which brands to do all that for?
Well, that’s easy: we do it for those brands that treat us as unique personalities rather than market segments. And we know that marketers now have the insights needed to do that - it’s just a matter of them deciding to go the extra mile and value customer intimacy more, even if this translates into higher costs (related to research, analysis and developing tailored offer variations and customised messaging) at least at an initial stage.
