In the marketing industry we often talk about engaging your customers through a personalised approach but how can this work for your business?
When planning any marketing campaign, agencies analyse current trends, buyer personas and competitor strategies amongst a variety of other influences.
Buyer personas are particularly key to advertising as it provides an insight into the day to day life of who is buying your product – Why are they buying it? Where are they buying it from? How much do they earn? What product questions do they have? What influences do they have to overcome to make the purchase? There are hundreds of questions that we can ask during the planning and strategy stage, regardless of industry.
Nowadays the tables have turned quite dramatically from push to pull marketing – instead of the typical ‘hard sell’, you can provide all the information they need to make the decision themselves. They can then make the choice as a result of your inbound marketing strategy.
Qualifying leads through data collection
Many customers worry when it comes to filling in a form without the knowledge of where their details are going to be used. Nevertheless, we have found that by using data capture methods in return for a free download or product guide, there is a much higher rate of marketing qualified leads. By filling out a form to gain access to privileged content, the customer is showing a keen product interest. Add in marketing automation techniques such as email auto responders and you can then update them regularly with similar content that may be of interest – providing you with a much better chance to turn visitors into customers.
Personalised content vs privacy concerns
A recent study by CloudSense revealed that 51% of customers are more concerned about their online privacy than they are about personalised advertising. This didn’t come as a great shock to us. With so many hacking stories in the news and annoying cold-callers, as a society we have become precious about giving out our data. However, this doesn’t only apply to the B2C market as many organisations also filter their communications – quite commonly there is a generic company email that is only referenced during a sales call. So how can you get through the screening process? Previously, marketing strategies worked on the basis that seven touch points were required before you could have a conversation with your prospect – inbound marketing allows you to speed the process the up.
Conversation starter
Going back to my earlier mention of buyer personas, you should know everything about your customer before you write your advert or tailor your website. Websites are key to your campaign and are usually the second touch point. The first point would usually be content you have generated that is visible on search engines. The second point is your website. They have an idea of what you do already and want to know more – they’re already a little bit interested.
Your website must engage with them instantly – it’s too easy to click off and go to a competitor site. Use your buyer persona knowledge to guide them clearly through the site, providing relevant information as they navigate and calls-to-action to encourage them to engage.