Marketing is an integral branch of any organisation that aspires to make it big. It is the pulse that breathes life into the efforts of developing a company business plan. Over the years, marketing as a branch has evolved considerably, but it is the company’s implementation of new strategies that decides its rate of success. Simply put, the fundamentals of marketing have not changed; the method of delivery has.
Each year, companies upgrade their respective marketing policies. Analysts predict a growing number of companies will adopt a consumer-centric approach in order to win customers' hearts, leaving behind indelible impressions. This shift towards a more consumer-oriented, personalized marketing policy is driven by the ever-increasing competition in the market, faster communication channels and the need for resource accountability and to create a legacy.
Why Personalization is the Key to Success
‘Her’, a science fiction romantic comedy-drama film by Spike Jonze transports its viewers to a time in the future where the lost art of writing letters, mostly romantic in nature, is being revisited and is a growing business. At a time when everything around seems robotic and mundane, in monochromes of grey, the protagonist Theodore Twombly, works to earn his bread and butter writing hand-written love letters as per client demand, reminiscing moments between lovers in a way that touches a chord within readers.
When one opts to adopt a personalized approach towards offering products and services, their business makes a winning case for itself. Personalizing customer experience, be it online or offline, is the key to creating a trustworthy brand that people can return to without hesitation. Needless to say, in the film, the hero goes on to become a successful writer!
Making Dreams Come True
Analysts at FMI believe that a business plan comes with possibilities without barriers. Businessmen often come across clients who carry around a full bag of expectations related to personalized products and services. Sometimes, a shift in perspective in viewing customer expectations through a lens of possibility can lead to a revolutionary personalized marketing technique.
Imagine a house-painting company delivering a specific hue that does not feature in its catalogue. This customization offers a brilliant opportunity for the business house to not just paint dreams, but to also deliver a unique service like no other company is able to for the moment. Perhaps marketeers need to take Walt Disney’s saying, “If you can dream it, you can do it”, seriously!
Risking Reinvention
The next trick in the book towards ensuring this shift in marketing strategy is a winning one, is to accurately predict customer’s expectations.
Currently, Internet software allows companies to identify the physical locations customers are signing in from, keep records of customers’ transactions and use tracking cookies to learn about consumers' other shopping interests. In order to personalize a visitor's experience, all this data can be hosted on a customized page of a website featuring their language preference and products and offers they are more likely to be interested in. Brands such as Nike and Adidas are leading the way in terms of product personalization.
Personalized service has mostly been an attribute of the small businesses and local stores, where marketeers usually know their customers by name; now database technologies are equipping larger businesses to be able to offer personalized services as well. With inbound marketing options and strategies, personalized communication with customers can be in real-time, based on individual response behaviours.
According to FMI analysts, marketeers need to work with a zealous drive, originality and creativity to create experiences that tantalize consumers at a personal level. They emphasize on focusing on a specific need or emotion of a consumer and lay a proposition that deals with it for a dramatic marketing strategy that spells a roaring success. Marketeers need to be quick and accurate in anticipating what consumers are likely to want, and deliver this on their respective doorsteps.
Parting Shot
It will all be about 'the customer' – delivering personalized brand experience. Personalization will be the ultimate marketing strategy, come New Year. FMI definitely hopes so!
