A lot has been written over the last few years about the power of personalization in marketing, some of it on this blog. The ability to communicate with customers in a way that lets them know you are aware of who they are as individuals and not just part of a market segment can bring impressive results in today’s ultra competitive marketplace. Simply putting someone’s name on a piece of marketing collateral can greatly increase the chances that it is read rather than finding its way to the trash. However, to really grab a prospects’ attention you need to go further than just a name, you need to know their gender, their age, their location and their interests and you need to use that information in a way that it is relevant to the prospect. New tools available to Marketers allow you to use that information in a variety of creative ways lead to outstanding ROI on marketing dollars. However, it all begins with information. You must have accurate, dependable, well organized information about your prospects in order to put the power of personalization to work.
Most organizations have some information about their clients and prospects but few put any time or effort into making sure this information is accurate, up to date and is in a usable format. They have a database but they don’t know if it is accurate. They have an accurate data base but it is not all formatted correctly. They have a rolodex but no electronic files. Names are misspelled, addresses are incomplete, emails are unavailable and they have ten thousand prospects and don’t know where to begin. Even if you have a good CRM package unless the data is entered correctly and consistently it is for all practical purposes, useless.
Over time, we will address all of these issues here. We’ll offer tips and guidelines on how to build good customer data. Where should you begin? Start with your Top 100 prospects, the ones that spend the most money or have the most money to spend. Make sure that the information you have about them is complete and accurate. Make sure the data is formatted correctly. Begin using a CRM package to keep track of this information and make sure everyone is using it the same way. Once that is in place don’t stop, build on it. Add more prospects and gather more data on the ones you have. Before too long you’ll have a database that will allow you to use the power of personalization.