The world feels busier than ever. The grind of everyday life for millions of Americans balancing work, kids, family, and basic life tasks can feel daunting and overwhelming. It sometimes feels hard to keep your head above water most days, let alone pay attention to the dozens, if not hundreds, of messages we get daily from brands eagerly competing for our consideration.
As both a consumer and a marketer, I always look for ads or campaigns that impress me, gain my attention, cut through the noise, and elicit a reaction. I know that is not easy.
I notice two things in common with every email, video, or display ad from brands I respond to: First, they’re delivered at just the right time to address a current need or solve an immediate problem. Second, they’re personalized to be relevant to the current stage of life I am experiencing or somehow connected with my interests on a deeper level.
Let‘s look at an example. My family adopted our first dog, a rescue, a little over a year ago. Our dynamic changed drastically overnight, and a new need for certain products and services emerged: From dog toys to treats, food, boarding services, and more, I was clicking on every ad for anything dog-related. I opened emails from brands that promote products to make my adjustment to dog ownership easier. I purchased dog treat bones that last longer than 5 minutes – as well as specialty dog food and repellent spray to discourage our dog from chewing on the furniture. All these marketing messages were welcomed, whereas two years ago I automatically deleted or ignored anything pet-related because it was irrelevant at the time.
As data-driven marketers, we have information at our fingertips that helps connect the dots to present these messages to people so they too experience both something timely and relevant, which will lead to better-performing campaigns and valuable new customers.
Data as simple as knowing the area of the country where a person lives, the family dynamic, the presence of and age of children in the household, and a person’s hobbies or interests is valuable, as is knowing if a family travels often or, as in my case, has a dog. It could be very important to know if someone is caring for an aging relative, and it is valuable to be able to segment those who tend to use services like lawn care versus those who are DIY’ers.
All of these things influence how people shop and the goods and services they seek. Certain combinations of specific information can help predict the likelihood that people will be interested in a product or service, and help brands develop smarter marketing campaigns.
When brands present creative messages that are tailored to prospective customers to truly stand out from the noise of everyday life and help solve a problem, everybody wins. That is what good marketing is all about — finding the people who need a product or service and speaking to them on a personal and relevant level. When brands can accomplish that, they grow organically and develop loyal customers.
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