Personalised Target Marketing: a Question and Answer Session

The marketing industry is moving fast. New technologies, new techniques and even new audience theories are driving marketers forwards, allowing them to communicate with their customers and potential customers in increasingly intimate ways.

Personalised target marketing is just one such development, combining emerging technologies with improved marketing knowledge in a very progressive way.

Personalised target marketing is a taking the industry by storm, so what do you need to know about this increasingly important form of marketing? We’ve endeavoured to answer a few of the most common questions about personalised target marketing to give you a little more information on the subject…

Q: So what is personalised target marketing?

A: Personalised target marketing is a technique in which marketers customise their strategies in order to appeal to the individual, rather than the masses. Taking a scattergun approach to marketing isn’t very cost-effective when it comes to some products and services, so targeting only those people who might have a vested interest in those products and services allows marketers to experience a greater success rate at a lower cost.

Q: But how does it work?

A: In a nutshell, personalised target marketing is a data capture exercise. Marketing companies will amass data on their customers and potential customers alike in order to determine their interests and buying habits – thus giving them a greater chance of reaching them with marketing material they’ll approve of. Social media is a particularly lucrative resource for data miners looking to learn as much as possible about their customers.

Q: What does this mean for my business?

A: Thanks to social media, gathering data for personalised targeted marketing is quick, cheap and accurate. With that data you can then send out mailers with a far higher chance of generating positive read-through and click-through figures. Why spam thousands of disinterested people when you could reach out to those who are more likely to take an interest – for a lot less money – instead?

Q: Is it just social media, then?

A: No, it’s not just social media. Marketing data can be captured by cookies – online tools that record page views and browsing habits – in order to target pop-up and banner adverts to those who are more likely to pay attention to them. Cookies aren’t alone either. Ever wonder why sites such as Facebook seem to be covered with adverts related to your favourite bands, TV shows and sports teams? That’s personalised targeted marketing in action! There are even some experts looking to harness the power of the human genome in order to make personalised target marketing even more accurate and effective in future…

Q: So how can I make the most of this opportunity?

A: Personalised target marketing is a great opportunity to reach out to particularly interested parties, but it’s not as easy as it looks. You’ll need a lot of data in order to undertake this particular marketing activity effectively, and you’ll also need a progressive marketing strategy if you’re going to reach the customers you’re looking for.