5 top tips for driving growth through personalization

Delivering relevant and personalized marketing is becoming increasingly complex. Yet at the same time, customer expectations are growing exponentially. They’re more aware than ever of how their data is being used, presenting a huge challenge in personalizing marketing and balancing data privacy. This is only going to get tougher in the years ahead. 

As explained by McKinsey & Company’s Next in Personalization 2021 Report, companies nailing personalization generate faster rates of revenue growth compared to their peers. 

Our CMO, Carol Howley, recently delivered a webinar on how to build engagement with customers through personalization. Carol explained how, in 2023, companies can strategically focus on engagement to support both demand generation and building long-term relationships. You can watch the full webinar on demand here.  

In the meantime, check out our 5 key takeaways on how successful companies approach personalization: 

1. They put the customers at the heart of their business 

Customers must be the focus of every department. This ensures the product and experience live up to the expectations and promises made by the organization.   

Companies that truly put their customers at the heart of what they do focus on a business-wide objective to drive engagement. That’s why it’s essential to set up cross-departmental working groups, so you can look at what’s happening with all business activities and whether they’re all in alignment.  

Carol said:

"At Exclaimer, we work to map our funnels, to see trends, to learn what’s working and what’s not working. This way, we’re always improving and able to connect experiences.” 

People today see through brands that don’t deliver and quickly turn away from bad experiences. So, you can’t just measure engagement through your Net Promoter Score (NPS) while not strategically focusing on customer experience. One top tip is to check review sites to gauge customer sentiment over time. 

2. They lean into data and analytics to identify opportunities 

Data in marketing is something you’ve probably heard about a million times over.  And for good reason. 

Right now, prioritizing investments in data and insights within marketing is critical to making your business nimble and resilient to rapid changes. 

As we mentioned earlier, people’s expectations are high. The power’s in the hands of the consumer. With data privacy, the focus has completely shifted.  You must update your strategies to share only relevant ads and measure campaign success. The ability to measure ROI, optimize campaigns, and use predictive models are key to unlocking the power of data. 

3. They scale the right performance marketing for their own business 

How do you know what’s the right performance marketing for your business?  Well, that depends on what stage of growth you’re at, your product, your audience, and what category you’re in. It’s a lot to think about. 

Carol noted:

“As a scale-up, performance marketing is hugely important for Exclaimer.  We’re B2B, so we obviously sway more towards channels like Google, LinkedIn and Twitter. But there are so many other social media and advertising options.”  

So how do you know which channels are right for you? You need to test, measure and perfect constantly. But it’s equally important to be consistent across all channels to get your message across effectively So, carefully choose the right tactics for your brand, your business growth stage and the company readiness 

4. They build a value-driven content engine to strengthen their brand 

Content is an area that can drive amazing results and is hugely important for driving business success.   

In a recent ‘State of Demand Generation’ video, Chris Walker from Refine Labs spoke about how fundamental content was to business growth. 

Chris said:

“I’m not thinking of any individual post, about how it drove a lead…It’s not part of my thought process when I post something. I think that’s why I’m able to be generous, why I’m able to write things that help people.” 

In the end, performance marketing peaks and no longer drives desired results. This opens up the opportunity for all businesses to build a strong brand and even stronger content strategy. Great content educates, inspires, and helps people solve problems. So, have a clear point of view so you’re able to add value for your audiences.  

5. They diversify their channel mix early to drive growth 

It’s hugely important to diversify your channel mix early so you don’t become dependent on just one. 

Often when the marketing department becomes busy, they take something that works and keep using it. They then end up in a bit of a hamster wheel where they’re constantly focusing on just one or two areas. 

This is especially important when looking at what’s happening right now in advertising with data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA. Customers have such huge expectations. You need to layer all your marketing activities together, so they complement each other and work together. 

When speaking about diversifying the channel mix, Carol said:

“As I mentioned, eventually performance marketing does plateau, so you need to invest in building a brand, and the other channels, so you can deal with this…There’s a huge untapped opportunity in every business, every element of communication – customers, clients, recommendations, your own staff.” 

This also means optimizing every owned channel that you have. So, leverage opportunities from every message you send, every interaction you have, everyone you speak to.  

An untapped personalization opportunity  

Don’t forget that there’s also a huge amount of opportunity in the business emails we all send. When used intelligently, every corporate email your company sends becomes a powerful engagement platform for personalized marketing.

And when you pair it with email signature software from Exclaimer, you can optimize emails for customer success, make decisions based on actionable data and present relevant messaging at different stages of the buying journey. 

If you’re interested in diversifying your channel mix with email signature software, book yourself a free demo today.