78% of Marketers Struggle to Personalize at Scale. Here’s What Works.

It’s 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you just got home. Toto, your dog, jumps up to greet you, and you think, “Wow, Toto needs a bath and a trim.” But then you’re on to the next thing, because dinner needs prepping, your kids are coming at you with weekend plans already, and — as we all know — life is busy.

Two days later, a postcard arrives that says, “It’s time for Toto’s next grooming appointment!” On the card is a QR code to scan to schedule his appointment.

Are you booking the appointment? I know I am — that reminder just made my life easier.

And that’s the power of personalized, highly relevant marketing.

The problem is nearly 4 in 5 marketers (78%) say they need more personalized content than they’re able to produce. Most businesses don’t fail at personalization because they don’t care or aren’t informed. They fail because personalization is time-consuming, operationally messy and hard to sustain.

My $100 million-plus business, PostcardMania, generated 149,028 leads last year, so I know firsthand how powerful personalized marketing can be when it’s done correctly.

Here’s a practical guide to scaling personalized marketing without overwhelming your team.

Personalization requires data, so track and organize your contacts

Personalization is not just adding someone’s first name to an email.

Real personalization means delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time through the right marketing channel — whether that’s social media, email, a website or a mailbox.

To do that, you need a system that organizes customer information effectively. Here are the main things you’ll want that system to keep track of:

• Names and contact information
• Customer status (lead, quote, customer, repeat customer)
• Purchase history

Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms like Zoho, Salesforce and HubSpot can organize this data. Some CRMs can help you build sophisticated profiles for every lead, for example: tracking purchasing behaviors or creating buying personas for more targeted campaigns.

Whether you gather this information from events, your website or other outreach methods, the important step is categorizing and segmenting your audiences so that you can use that data effectively to personalize your marketing.

The better your data, the more relevant your marketing becomes.

Personalization starts with meeting prospects where they are

So where are your prospects spending time? If you want to generate more leads, you need to show up where your audience is — or at least where it’s guaranteed they will see you.

This means digital channels should be a part of your recipe for daily advertising. But don’t just stop there like many business owners do. You can expand your reach beyond Google and social media by finding new customers offline.

Direct mail, for example, can’t be avoided. Everyone checks their mailbox. So a mailer is perfect for an introductory marketing piece that drives new interest straight to your business. A personalized mail piece gives your marketing a physical presence that digital channels simply cannot replicate.

But you aren’t choosing direct mail or digital ads. The most effective strategy is to combine both of these marketing methods into one coordinated system.

One study showed campaigns integrating online ads with direct mail generated an average 448% boost in sales compared to online-only campaigns. In fact, offline-first campaigns saw a higher boost (491%) compared to online-first (405%), with both exceeding sales from online-only campaigns by $10,800 and $8,900, respectively. 

To get started with direct mail, make sure you acquire a mailing list that targets your ideal customer profile. At the same time, run digital ads targeting the same group so that the mailers and online ads work together to drive traffic to your website and instigate communication.

Use consistent branding, headlines and offers across every channel so prospects recognize your business immediately no matter where they see you. Repeat the process until they unsubscribe or buy.

This creates a stronger, more memorable experience that drives response and better long-term results.

Simplify your personalization process using automation technology

Once you’ve identified your audience and strategized your marketing channels, the next step is creating a system that builds consistent follow-up in order to continually funnel people into purchasing.

Automated follow-up — aka using your CRM to automatically follow up with leads at pivotal moments — can make or break how many people buy from you and how many people just sit in your database unconverted.

Start by identifying the customer actions that should trigger follow-up marketing. Some common triggers include: when someone first becomes a new lead; when you tried to call but reached voicemail instead; when someone goes a certain amount of time without contacting you; when someone’s subscription is coming up (or their dog is due for grooming).

These are just a few examples of the many possibilities, but the trigger should automatically launch a follow-up outreach, like an email or a postcard (yes, you can send individual mailers just as easily as emails now!).

It’s the timing and relevancy of automated follow-up that makes it feel personalized. Prospects feel seen and heard, as if you’re responding to their individual needs in real time — but without ongoing effort on your end. It’s win-win.

A number of CRMs will trigger these automations for you. Depending on the CRM, you’ll be able to manage all of your marketing from one convenient place. Just make sure you consider all of the pricing options before you commit to one management system because some have expensive set-up fees or add-ons. Once you craft this automation system to your liking, all you have to do is nurture those relationships moving forward for lifetime connection.