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Automated personalised marketing: why it is essential

Today, personalised marketing strategies are a consumer expectation; and a necessary reality for business owners.

As the intense rush of content floods each of our lives – online, in print, splashed on billboards, Netflix, television, radio, Spotify, YouTube, social media, and the list goes on – highly relevant, targeted content provides the impact needed to break through the white noise and capture consumer attention.

In fact, many consumers only gain trust in their favourite brands when they feel their marketing output directly addresses their individual needs, challenges and interests.

This sentiment is supported by research conducted by email automation company, Oracle Eloqua. Its study of more than 200 million emails revealed that marketing emails sent with a subject line featuring both recipient name and one other highly personalised commentary (such as location) accounted for the highest overall open rates. Meanwhile, email subject lines that did not feature any form of personalisation were among the worst performing, with very low conversion rates. 

For any business, this level of personalisation requires time, strategy and in many cases automation.

Why automation is important to personalised marketing

There are many opportunities to personalise your marketing strategy and content. Key marketing outputs that can benefit from heightened content personalisation include: email, video, social media and re-targeted marketing.

Each of these personalised marketing strategies relies heavily on the collection and segmentation of data.

With so many variables on the table there is no way that any one person can swiftly collate, organise and disseminate all the information required to target a specific individual.

Enter automation.

Cost effective email marketing is widely accessible on virtually any budget. Programs such as MailChimp and Vision6  enable even small businesses to collect and segment user data and create highly tailored campaigns. 

Perhaps you are more focused on targeted Google advertising channels? Let Google Analytics take over to help you track users as they visit your website. This data will allow you to generate strong re-targeted marketing campaigns that serve users the most relevant advertisements possible. 

How to create effective personalised marketing strategies 

In order to drive the greatest engagement it is always important to focus on the personalisation of each marketing vertical separately. Once you have determined you current focus it is time to get started! 

First things first: collect data

Knowledge is power. There is no way to personalise your marketing output without consumer data.

Structured data collection processes are invaluable to the success of any personalised marketing strategy.

Consider setting up a Google Analytics account to track user engagement with your business website. Determine what content is regularly engaged with and how, and analyse which keywords successfully drive web users to your content.

If you are working on an email campaign, take advantage of the statistics collected by your email marketing platform. Most will enable you to view insights including: how many users open your emails, click through rates, what content is shared, and when users have engaged with your content.

Social media also provides a plethora of data. Major platforms including Facebook can provide access to valuable data, such as the gender, location and age of users who engage with your content, when your content receives the highest level of engagement and what content shared achieves the greatest levels of interest from users.

Give your data meaning

It is all well and good to collect data, but what you do with it is where the magic really happens.

Once you have begun to track consumer data, it is time to segment your database. Take a step back and determine what actions you are trying to drive with your marketing strategy and content. Then break down your database based on this understanding.

For example if you aim drive engagement and build greater brand awareness, consider segmenting your consumer database based on interests, age and past purchases.

Building up you database: the positive benefits of asking for permission

As you begin to collect data to generate highly targeted and personalised content it is time to start building your database.

Permission-based marketing is a great way to ensure you are engaging with an audience that is willing to hear what you have to say.

Why not consider asking visitors to your website if they would like to sign up for a newsletter or request permission to send individuals who purchase your products ongoing marketing collateral?

Never forget that privacy is fundamental

When embarking on any automated marketing strategy, it goes without saying that anyone who provides you with information rightly expects privacy to be respected.

It is also important to communicate that your business takes adequate steps to safeguard privacy. A privacy statement should include information about third party disclosures, data protection and transparency.

Always take into account what you will do when people delete their data, submit a complaint or request to see or change their personal details.

Finally, practice makes perfect

Test the success of your output. Did your target market engage with your content? What worked well and what didn’t all? This is all more data and a great starting point for round two!  

At Content Empire we specialise in the creation of effective content marketing strategies that drive ROI. Get in touch with our team to learn more about the best personalised marketing strategy for your business.

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