Personalization in Marketing: Why and How

Personalization in Marketing: Why and How

Personalized marketing provides visitors with an individualized experience. In turn, this creates more opportunities for brand growth and customer loyalty — and increases the chance that people will make a purchase.

Want to learn more about personalization in marketing? Here’s what you’ll want to know.

What are the benefits of personalization?

Creating an individualized experience can help your brand stand out in an oversaturated market. When customers feel that you care about them and not just their money, they’re more likely to take notice and engage.

How important is data for personalization efforts?

Data is critical for personalized marketing. Luckily, there are many ways to help you find out who your customers are and what they want.

You’ll need to get familiar with data analytics tools, use surveys and quizzes, put an A/B testing plan in place, and do thorough market research.

How are brands customizing their marketing campaigns?

Segmenting and personalizing email marketing is a common way that brands to start with customization.

Many companies also use more advanced techniques such as personalized abandon cart messages and promotional offers, custom product or service recommendations, and location-based recommendations.

Other Considerations

Putting data to work is always a wise idea, but personalization can also involve:

  • Quick and helpful customer support
  • A thoughtfully automated chatbot
  • Responsive social media management

Get Started With Personalization

Contact us today if you have any questions about personalization in marketing and how to make it work for you.

What Should You Know About PR?

What Should You Know About PR?

Public relations (PR) is a term most people know. But what is it, exactly?

On a basic level, PR is how an organization or brand communicates with its audience and the public image it presents. The idea is to create a mutually beneficial relationship.

Ready to learn more? Here’s what you should know about PR and how it works.

How is PR different from marketing and advertising?

PR is different from marketing and advertising in one major way.

The PR pro or team is responsible for presenting and maintaining the public image of a person, organization or brand. Marketing and advertising take the role of promoting products or services (and the sales team, if applicable).

What do PR professionals do?

Unlike marketing, PR professionals don’t buy advertising or focus on increasing revenue.

Instead, people in PR generally build a public reputation by using unpaid avenues such as social media, press releases, media relations and pitches, blogging or speaking engagements to leverage the organization’s mission. (In short, they leverage earned media.)

There is wiggle room when it comes to specific responsibilities depending upon whether it’s a government agency, nonprofit, public brand, or a different kind of organization.

How can PR work with marketing to optimize potential?

While PR and marketing professionals do different things, they do need to work together in some ways.

PR works to attract positive attention from the press, but marketing grows brand awareness and builds the consumer audience. When these teams work together, companies have a better chance at building brand trust and earning a positive reputation.

Still have questions?

We’re here to help! Reach out today to learn more about implementing the right strategies for your brand.

4 Shopify Best Practices to Implement

4 Shopify Best Practices to Implement

Are you using Shopify? It’s one of the simplest and most popular e-commerce platforms available, and it has plenty of features to help you boost awareness and sales. But to take full advantage of Shopify, make sure you understand how to optimize your use of the platform.

Here’s what to know, including helpful tips you can put to work right away:

Let’s start with the basics…

Shopify is a subscription-based e-commerce platform that allows any business to set up a virtual store and sell their products online. Some of its key features include the ability to showcase products, manage inventory and facilitate payments — all while making stronger and more impactful connections with your customers.

And optimize with best practices.

Selling your products online gives you a bigger customer base, but it’s still up to you to grab people’s attention (and meet your revenue goals). Make sure you’re implementing a few best practices:

  • Copy: All of your products should be accompanied by descriptive, well-written copy. Keep it short but impactful, and always include a CTA.

  • Navigation: Break down bigger menus into smaller, more digestible sections so that your customers can easily see what’s available. And put an organized tagging system in place so shoppers can easily search and filter products.
  • Collections: Create curated collections to provide targeted recommendations and increase the scope of individual sales.
  • Design and Imagery: High-quality design and images make your products more attractive and let customers know what they’ll get.

Need help with your marketing? Get in touch anytime.

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

Are you familiar with omnichannel marketing?

While it’s easy to get confused with multichannel marketing, omnichannel marketing is a distinct approach with its own best practices — and its own big benefits for your brand.

Here’s what to know, including the basics of what omnichannel marketing is and some simple tips on how you can start adapting it into your strategy.

What Is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel marketing is an integrated, sales-focused marketing strategy that aims to provide customers with a cohesive shopping experience across all platforms, places and devices.

At its core, omnichannel marketing is about putting the customer experience first. The goal is to ensure that regardless of how your customers like to shop — on their phone, through social media, in-store, etc. — the messaging and interactions they have will remain consistent.

Omnichannel Marketing vs. Multichannel Marketing
Both omnichannel and multichannel marketing are diverse strategies intended to capture an audience in various places and in various ways.

Where they differ is in intent: While multichannel marketing is focused on simply building a brand presence on as many platforms as possible, omnichannel marketing is about bringing cohesion to that practice in order to boost sales.

Make the Switch to an Omnichannel Approach
Creating an integrated sales experience isn’t just better for your customers — it’s better for you, too. Here are some tips to get you started:

  • Know your customers. Build well-researched customer personas to understand how and where your audience prefers to shop.
  • Work on segmentation. Different customers have different needs at different times. Segment them into groups (for example, new customers and existing customers in need of re-engagement) so you can offer an optimized experience.
  • Focus on cohesion. You want to make sure your customers have the same experience regardless of where they are. Double-check your story, your message and your branding are consistent from channel to channel.

Need more advice? Get in touch and we can help.

Marketing to Gen Z: A Quick Guide

Marketing to Gen Z: A Quick Guide

Are you in touch with Gen Z?

 

The nation’s next big generation of spenders grew up in an era of connectivity and social influence, both in terms of how they relate to each other and how they relate to brands. To get their attention, you’re going to have to know what’s important to them. Here’s a quick explainer to get you started.

What is Gen Z?
Generation Z refers to young adults born in the years 1996 to 2015. And they’re about to surpass Millennials as the most populous generation on the planet.

How Gen Z Feels About…
As the most racially and ethnically diverse generation of Americans to date, it’s difficult to generalize about Gen Z’s opinions. What we do know though: Members of Gen Z have lived their whole lives online, and that’s affected how and where they’re spending their money — and their feelings about the market in general.

  • Brands: Authenticity is the name of the game when appealing to Gen Z, with 82% saying they trust companies more if they use real people in advertisements.
  • Capitalism: Only 20% of Gen Z has “very positive” views about capitalism, which is fewer than any preceding generation.
  • Social Media Marketing: Gen Z isn’t just completely tuned in to social media marketing they’re also redefining it. So while they’re happy to engage with brands, it’s increasingly on their own terms.

What It All Means
Gen Z has high digital expectations for brands. Looking ahead, you’ll need to invest in new platforms and the authenticity of your image.

This generation is spending big, but you have to earn it. If you need more guidance on how to do it, get in touch.