Personalization Mistakes That Ruin Your Marketing Efforts

Marketing is the bridge that connects your offering to the market. Without a marketing strategy, your startup is likely to remain unnoticed by potential buyers, investors, and partners. To put it into unequivocal terms, marketing gives your company a voice to be heard. 

However, if you don’t want your marketing strategy to be the equivalent of shouting at the top of your lungs in the middle of an empty canyon – in other words, if you don’t want your marketing strategy to be a waste of energy and money – you need to make sure you’re communicating the right message with the right people and in the right way.

Personalized marketing is all about getting in touch with the people who are the most likely to buy from you because you make them feel like they can trust you. Indeed, personalizing your marketing campaigns goes a lot further than writing a simple “Hi Jane” on top of your email.

It’s a matter of showing your audience that you not only understand them but that you can make yourself indispensable to their everyday life. When it is done well, personalization will win you many customers.

However, if you make any of the following mistakes, your marketing efforts are going to be in vain:

You don’t know your audience

There is no personalization possible if you don’t understand first who you are talking to. Identifying and researching your audience needs to be at the top of your priority list. Unfortunately, too many startups continue to skip this essential step to save costs and rush their arrival on the market.

You need to be very clear about who your target is, where they are, and, more importantly, how they prefer to be contacted. Targeting your audience is a strenuous exercise for newcomers to the market, so there’s no need to make things harder for yourself!

You don’t use cost-effective customizing solutions

Free gimmicks have become a natural expectation from your customers. Personalizing your give-away products will ensure your brand remains memorable. However, freebie personalization tends to be a budget hazard. Many startups choose to add a branded sticker in an effort to keep their costs low. Unfortunately, stickers are easily lost.

You’ll find that engraving your logo and/or slogan with a laser cutter (just be sure to read some laser cutter reviews first) will save you both time and money in the long term. Besides, engraving the name of your customer for VIP gifts makes sure they will remember your brand. 

You use shortcuts

There is a big difference between data-informed targeting decisions and targeting assumptions. When time is short, it’s not uncommon for businesses to make assumptions about their customers based on single interactions. The truth is that you don’t know and understand a user’s needs after a single touchpoint. You need to gather information about each individual customer to personalize your message and offers effectively. Incorrect personalization is more destructive than no personalization at all.

The typical “Hi Jane” message you send to your customers needs to be the result of a long-term and involved data analysis. Knowing your audience and ensuring you rely on proven facts rather than assumptions will make a great deal of difference.

Additionally, it‘s fair to say that a personalized gift will open many doors, as long as you use quality and reliable customization solutions.

This is a contributed post.