Practical Ways to Add Content Personalization

//
Personalized content marketing shweiki media

 Personalized content marketing shweiki media

Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group, meets with magazine printing service Shweiki Media Printing Company to discuss tactics for personalizing content marketing.

The content marketing world is noisy, and to remain competitive, get shares, and stay relevant, a good marketer must work on the personalization of their approach.

The Trends in Marketing

These four trends are paramount, says Brenner.

  1. The first trend is specialization, which means brands must create a space that they can own.
  2. The second trend is visualization, which is creating visual content.
  3. The third trend is humanization, which is touching upon the pains and challenges and getting emotional value out of the content.
  4. The fourth is personalization.

This is something Brenner takes very seriously and thinks other marketers should do the same if they want to succeed and reach their audience. Personalization is what delivers the right piece of content to the right person.

So, How Does One Add Personalization to their Content?

Brenner says there are four to five practice steps for achieving personalization in content.

The most important step in content personalization is answering the questions that buyers are asking. These issues appear during each stage of their relationship with a company; therefore, a company must anticipate the questions and come up with answers.

He suggests using Google Trends and Google’s autofill tool to help identify the questions people are searching for on the Internet.

Format and Location are Critical

In addition to answering questions, a business must identify the format and place where their readers are likely to consume their content. Sometimes the message is better delivered in an infographic, while other times it comes from a thirty-second explanation video.

People2

Developing Modular Assets

Modular assets are what help break down the personalization opportunities. By imagining the buyer’s journey, and creating content for each stage of that voyage, the company has modularized their assets.

Assets are only the start of personalization, but they provide a company with direction so that they know where to start placing their assets.

For example, Brenner points out how a company can segment information on their website for each target audience, such as employees, investors, and marketers.

IP Addresses are Directing Content

Another way content is being personalized for the consumer is that IP addresses and the devices the user has to help them access a site tells that site which content to present. If the website recognizes that a marketer is visiting their site, the website responds by delivering messages that content marketers would appreciate. Adobe Test and Target is a company that offers that personalized experience for web creators.

Brenner says it does not have to be as complex for that. Sometimes just personalizing the content based on a customer’s weather in their location is all it takes to establish a connection.

Create an Interest Profile

The best way to modularize content and piece it into segments is to create an interest profile for each type of customer that may be interested in a company. For example, a CRM service may cater to employees, bloggers, website developers, and marketers.

Brenner points out that most companies lose their customer because they lack early stage content. While late stage content is great, first stage content is what drives the customer to push forward.

Apply Personalization Everywhere

A last and valuable piece of advice Brenner suggests is personalization must be everywhere. Personalization should be implemented everywhere a company has the opportunity, from email newsletters to website content to social media.

The Best Examples of Personalization

Brenner specifically mentions Amazon as an example of personalized content. If a consumer were to visit Amazon right now, they would find product suggestions based on their Amazon shopping and browsing history. They build the experience around the customer’s shopping history.

Netflix is another company Brenner mentions. When a customer visits Netflix, the site tells them about shows they watched in the past and new shows that correlate with that past viewing history.

While it is impossible to speak to everyone, the more effort a company puts into personalization, the more successful their content delivery will be, and Brenner has made a successful career from doing just that.

 

Like this Article? Subscribe to Our Feed!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.