Let's get personal: AI, automation and the team to deliver it

Personalisation in digital marketing has become the name of the game when it comes to data-driven strategies. The more information you can gather on a potential lead, the better you can target your communications with them to position your organisation's products or services as the solution to all their needs. The irony of personalisation in digital and content marketing is that one of the best ways to gather this granular information on your audiences is to utilise AI, machine learning and automation!

Personalisation should now be at the forefront of every digital agency and team’s priorities, and with increasingly sophisticated MarTech, chatbots, AI, machine learning and automation platforms available, personalisation is easier than ever. Find out how you can leverage personalisation for your organisation or team – and why you should – in our useful guide! 

What are the benefits of personalisation in digital marketing? 

There are many benefits of personalisation, some are monetary, some are logistical – and all are something digital teams should aim for! We had a hard time narrowing it down to just four, and these include:

1. Making your brand stand out from the crowd 

With increased amounts of customers now used to using almost entirely digital channels to address their needs, there is an extremely crowded online marketplace that brands need to stand out from. During the pandemic, those brands that were able to communicate authenticity and provide a more personalised level of service were rewarded with increased engagement levels from their customers. 

2. Creating a better understanding of your customers 

Segmenting your customers to isolate their pain points and shape content to meet them inherently requires you to have a deep understanding of your customers’ needs, background, and profile. Having this granular level of detail in your marketing strategy means that your organisation can better communicate with and nurture customers through to a sale and beyond. Thus leading to higher quality of lead generation, sales and conversion rates!

3. Driving higher engagement, customer loyalty and advocacy 

When content is keenly targeted for your intended audiences’ pain points, you are also more likely to get an engaged customer or lead. This means they will have clicked on links, have been through several pages of your site or looked at several products. They will have a greater idea of your brand and recognise the value of your products or services. These types of leads are more likely to be converted into sales and nurtured through to repeat, loyal customers and even advocates for your brand. 

4. Creating valuable cost savings and efficiencies  

According to Harvard Business Review, personalisation can reduce acquisition costs by as much as 50%, lift revenues by 5-15%, and increase the efficiency of marketing spend by 10-30%. 

5 considerations when setting up a digital personalisation strategy: 

Implementing a personalisation-focused marketing strategy is no mean feat, it requires patience, innovation, creativity and a lot of problem solving at every level of deployment! We’ve mapped out a few considerations to take into account when you embed personalisation at the heart of your marketing strategy.  

1. Choosing and setting up AI and machine learning 

There are many many marketing AI programmes, platforms and tools out there to choose from. They all promise the world when it comes to granular segmentation, personalisation and dynamic content, but do they all measure up and will they all be relevant to your services? 

A very granular tool that is targeted to eCommerce companies selling multiple items B2C will not be as relevant to a B2B professional services company. Finding the right tool for your organisation and services will be vital in supporting your personalised marketing strategy. Some of the top AI-led marketing tools to explore include: 

- Hubspot
- Marketto
- Zymplify
- Segment
- Yusp
- Everage
- Qubit

2. Problem solving and triggers 

When you’re thinking about what triggers to implement that will deploy personalised content, you need to almost think backwards from your clients’ and customers’ pain points. What action did they take that made them Google a product or problem? How can we anticipate this? What message would hit home before they’ve even realised they have a need? 

This process can differ based on your service offering, from offers and promotions for people that have Googled products and items, to targeted thought leadership for people searching for an SEO-optimised term you rank for.  

3. What is automation in personalised marketing? 

Automation is another piece of the personalisation puzzle. Once you have your triggers completely thought out, automating communications allows you to have that sense of ‘anticipation their needs’ that resonates with customers or clients. The immediacy and relevance of your personalised communications and messaging can improve engagement and encourage repeat customers.  

A study by the Annuitas Group revealed that companies using marketing automation to nurture prospects see a 451% increase in qualified leads. Those nurtured leads, in turn, make purchases 47% larger than their non-nurtured counterparts. 

4. Leveraging personalised content marketing  

Personalised content marketing can mean a wide range of things; from personalised web content depending on your audiences’ entry point (social, organic, PPC, etc.), to dynamic email content and much more. However, they all depend on the way you collect and categorise buying signals from your customers, segment them and atomate your communication.  

This can be a very tricky as it can often be an omni-channel process that requires the right CRM and marketing automation software. 

5. Evaluating, analysing and refining 

Like all strategies, personalised marketing requires an attitude of continuous learning, experimentation and creativity. Continually aiming to optimise and improve should drive all your analysis of your efforts and asset performance.  

How can Energize Digital help you leverage personalisation? 

A marketing strategy with personalisation at its core requires a team of committed digital professionals. From leadership and strategy right through to implementation and analysis, you should look to flesh out your marketing team with highly-sought-after digital marketing skills and experience.  

With a talent network of over 100,000 digital marketing professionals, Energize Digital is a preferred supplier to many of the world’s leading media agencies and brands. As true channel specialists, the expertise of our highly-experienced team has allowed us to consistently deliver market-leading staffing solutions in the UK, Germany and the United States of America since 2009. Whether building out entire departments or providing a strategic sole hire, a partnership with Energize Digital assures you of a high-quality, customer-centric approach, and access to an unrivalled professional network. For expert guidance, contact Energize Digital today.