When it comes to marketing, there’s a heck of a lot more to it than just slapping your brand on a billboard. No, no, my friends. Good marketing is a matter of reaching your audience where they are with a personalized message unique to them. That’s what locks them in and that’s what seals the deal.
Want to know how to get up close and personal with your customers? Download our FREE Impressive Report: Personalizing the Customer Experience for a complete overview of cross-channel personalization and how it will benefit your digital marketing strategy!
WHAT IS CROSS-CHANNEL PERSONALIZATION?
Put simply, cross-channel personalization is a marketing method that sees advertisers use a variety of platforms (including different social media channels, maybe TV ads, and even billboards) that their target personas frequent, and create a message that speaks directly to them.
A good example of the personalized cross-channel method would be targeting millennials on Instagram (who make 59% of their active users) with streetwear ads. Or having an ad for a constipation tablet on the back of a toilet cubicle door. While they push, you’re pushing your message too, at the right time and place. It takes the strain out of the whole process (pun intended). 😉
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
A lot of people ask why they should even bother with cross-channel personalization, and rightfully so. Aren’t you meant to tailor your content to the channel? Maybe a little – but really, you should be tailoring your content to the people who are going to be viewing it.
While it does take more effort to create custom messages for your audience, the real difference is that you’re far more likely to get a much greater return on your efforts. In the wise words of Drake…
By putting in the effort to create a unique strategy that reaches your key audience at the right touch points, you’ll get a greater ROI, whether that’s in closing sales, getting more leads or raising brand awareness. Why? Because you’ve already introduced yourself with a solution that they’re likely warmed to and (if your creative is thoughtfully created) have intrigued them to seek out more about your offering.
Your creative after all, is only as good as the strategy that backs it.
HOW YOU CAN START
The possibilities are endless when it comes to cross-channel personalization, but here are some things you’ll want to consider before launching into your next campaign.
1. Understanding your audience
You’ll need to ensure you have a buyer persona mapped out before you get the ball rolling. Understanding your audience will be the driving force behind your decisions.
Make sure you collect as much data as possible to help you make educated decisions. By understanding their online behaviors, you’ll be able to start building a custom campaign for your audience.
The kind of data you may want to be looking at may include:
- Demographic data
- Platform usage data
- Locality of target audience data
- Affiliated sites or similar interests
- Buying habits
And any other behavioral data that may be of interest.
2. Synching your systems
After ascertaining your audience’s behavioral data, ensure that it’s combined with all of your other data, whether that be from your CRM, email marketing, social media data, etc. The more you have at your disposal, the better informed your marketing decisions will be.
3. Customize your content
Yes, we know, but a lot of effort will need to be made to make sure that the content is effective in converting your audience. The idea here is not to present your message, but the message that’s already burning within the consumer. Providing a solution to their personal pain point.
Be sure you invest the time and resources to doing this right.
4. Consistency
We know that your message may have to be optimized from platform to platform, but make sure there is a consistent theme that permeates across all your channels. There’s nothing more jarring than disjointed social platforms with disparate messages.
Having a consistent theme, tagline, or color scheme will ensure that audiences understand that they’re going through a journey and that every time they hear from you, the correspondences are part of the same message. Plus, it just looks more professional to have a consistent theme on your channels.
5. Have a reporting scheme in play for thorough analysis
The only way to see if your efforts are paying off is by having your analytics processes up to scratch. That way you’ll be able to make sure where ads are falling short and where the budget may need to be redirected. Having a team dedicated to analytics alone is extremely powerful and helpful for finding new growth opportunities. Analytics are just as important as the strategy so make sure you don’t take it for granted.
THE POWER OF PERSONALIZATION
Cross-channel personalization is the most powerful tool in your belt when it comes to customized marketing strategies.
At Impressive, there’s no room for cookie-cutter campaigns. Download our FREE Impressive Report: Personalizing the Customer Experience and discover bespoke marketing strategies that truly put your audience front and center.
