People-Based Marketing - a friendlier approach to personalized marketing

These days, broad-brush approaches to marketing are considered lazy. Consumers expect a curated experience, and a personal two-way conversation is like a period of courting, prior to a relationship developing further.

Welcome to the new era of People-Based Marketing, and it is here to stay.

“91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognise, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations.” Credit - https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-77/Accenture-Pulse-Survey.pdf

People are willing to give away their data if they feel a business has earned it. To start that relationship, it might be prudent to start with one piece of data that is considered in the public domain: your first name.

We are talking about the difference between someone calling out “Hey, you!”, compared to “Hey, Daniel!” – providing your name is, of course, Daniel.

It is the simplest way to engage with someone in the real and marketing worlds.

But this isn’t just [[FNAME]] – the way to personalize the subject line of an email – first seen circa 2000.

Not at all.

Using someone’s name is a start, but an effective marketing message needs to create a connection and then contextualize it. It needs to demonstrate to your audience that you are using their data for their benefit, delivering a message of relevance, while, of course, giving the brand an opportunity to build loyalty and trust.

You may appreciate someone remembering your name at a dinner party, but if that person not only remembers your name, but recalls you are a vegan and suggests you try the Quorn sausage roll with your non-alcoholic beer because you gave up drinking two years ago … well, that is going to stick.

Immediately telling someone all the data you know about them can be creepy. Using the simplest form of personalization – a first name – in an impactful and contextual way might just be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Alex

Founder of imagefactory.io

Using the power of images to start a conversation