When was the last time you’ve received an email addressed to Dear Sir or Dear Madam? You probably don’t remember when it was or what the email said. There’s a good reason for that. Most of us disregard communication that isn’t personalised. If an organisation reaches out to you while using generic terms, it appears untrustworthy. More often than not, people ignore generic communication. It’s highly likely that the latest Dear Sir email you had landed in the spam box even before you tried to read it.
From a business perspective, no company can survive from generalised strategies and data. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to bridge the gap between impersonal data and the customers’ persona. Making your marketing interactions more relevant begins with the appreciation that your audience wants to feel understood, appreciated, and valued. You’d be surprised to know that the majority of buyers ignore discounted offers that are too generic. But they will be happy to seize the opportunity to use a less profitable offer if they feel it’s been specially made for them. So how can you make your marketing strategy relevant, relatable, and personable?
Don’t use pre-built data reporting
As much as every marketer knows the importance of data, it can be tricky to make sense of your data reports. As a rule of thumb, the average marketing team uses approximately 35 to 50 different marketing tools that collect and analyse data. Needless to say, it’s a lot of information that ends up scattered across multiple reporting dashboards. It’s easy to lose track of what matters when you need to combine multiple data sources to gain a full picture. Therefore, it’s in the interest of every marketing professional to create your own dashboard where you can bring together data from different sources. Not only can you tailor it to highlight the most meaningful information for your business, but you can also reduce time waste and data confusion. Tailoring the report allows you to gain a full understanding of who your customers are and how they interact with your brand. As a result, your team is equipped with the information they need to create personable communication.
Don’t be afraid to mix your channels
When it comes to marketing activities, a lot of companies draw a strict line between each channel, keeping online and offline activities apart. However, the more you envisage your marketing in terms of isolated channels, the more your customers find it hard to identify with your brand. Indeed, we all seamlessly combine online and offline in our day-to-day lives. Shoppers who are in a rush, for instance, prefer to order from an app and pick up their items from a physical shop. Using a mobile app for your store bridges the gap between digital and IRL and saves your customers a lot of time and hassles. Augmented reality is also blurring out the boundaries, bringing digital data into real life, such as furniture hero IKEA has been doing by enabling customers to visualise AR items into their homes. The bottom line: People are comfortable with mixing offline and online every day. Your marketing strategy can only be relatable if it follows the same principle.
Read the comments
There is no denying that social media can be a controversial place. A lot of users agree that reading social media comments is a painful experience that can have serious consequences on their mental health. However, as a company, you cannot afford to ignore social media comments. These could make or break your business so it’s always helpful to know what people think of your brand. As a rule of thumb, it takes approximately 40 positive customer experiences to undo the damages of a single negative review. In other words, when customers leave a negative comment on your social media profile, your priority is to reach out and understand what triggered it. Comments can offer insights into your customers’ mindsets, their expectations, and their struggles. As you learn to engage, you can also use the information to improve the offering and customer experience, building your marketing strategy around social media feedback.
Work with your customer service team
The customer service team works closely with your customers. They are the first in line to receive complaints and queries. Therefore, call centres and experienced customer service professionals are the best source of information for all customer-related matters. They can help identify recurring issues with your products and communication. They provide valuable insights into customers’ expectations and problems. There’s a lot your marketing team can learn from the customer service backlog.
Make it more playful
Should marketing always be a serious business? While you do need a professional approach, that doesn’t mean that you can’t design playful marketing campaigns. Studies show that customers tend to react more positively with playful messages that make them laugh. Indeed, life can be stressful, and most people welcome a fun message. Playful marketing is instantly relatable and beneficial as it can associate your brand with positive thoughts. Funny marketing advertising is more attention-grabbing and also more effective in building a real connection. Ideally, you want to strike the balance between funny, memorable, and on-brand to drive sales and boost the brand reputation.
Diversify your channels
As mentioned above, you should strive to mix online and offline channels to imitate real-life interactions. But it’s also essential to experiment with diverse marketing channels. The days where Facebook and Twitter were the only big players in the social media world are long gone. Nowadays, your customers could be using Discord, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, and even Forpose (an Indian social networking app that is set to launch in 2021). Being visible where your audience is helps keep the brand relevant to a variety of customer personas.
Don’t fear mistakes
Mistakes happen to everyone. Businesses do sometimes get their messaging wrong or accidentally mess their timing. Yet, customers are more likely to forgive errors if the company is willing to take responsibility. Getting things wrong could turn into a fantastic PR boost if you make it up to your audience. A brand that makes mistakes, apologises, and learns from it is more relatable than ever.
In conclusion, marketing is the art of making corporation speeches and intentions relevant, relatable and personable to your audience. Companies need to be able to connect with their customers and build a trustworthy relationship through their marketing activities. As such, it is essential to nurture data insights, playfulness, channel diversity, and honest interactions.