Personalisation has always been more traditionally associated with our B2C cousins, but that doesn’t mean us B2B Marketers shouldn’t reach out to prospects on a personal level too. Especially when 64% of web users say it’s important that companies present them with offers that are relevant to them as an individual.
And when personalisation is one of the top 3 most significant trends for B2B marketers this year, it’s definitely time to become a little more human with your marketing campaigns. Follow our top tips to get started with a personalised approach and set yourself apart as the B2B brand with a difference.
Tip 1 – Get data rich with digital tools
70% of B2B buyers rate how vendors engage with them as more impactful than what they were actually selling. With the growing capabilities of digital marketing tools and data available, there’s no better time to get personal and offer products, information or content that you know is relevant to them and their stage in the buying journey.
Get data rich by using tools like Lead Forensics to learn how individual prospects interact with your website and digital marketing campaigns. What product did they spend the most time looking at? Were they interested in pricing? Or did they read your latest blog? Use this insight to target communications and deliver timely and relevant content based on what you know they’re researching, rather than batch-and-blasting information on what you think they’re interested in.
Tip 2 – Become smarter by targeting using Buyer Personas
Effective list segmentation is the key to delivering more personalised experiences to your leads and customers, but before you dive in, you’ll need to get smarter at identifying these segments first.
Get your sales and marketing teams together to build core key buyer personas. You’ll better understand your audience in terms of their personal and professional habits, social presence, and preferred communications. Where do they consume content? Are they likely to be on the road? Do they use tablets or desktop PCs?
Once you understand this, you can take personalisation to a deeper, more human level across every channel. And don’t forget to test, analyse and re-test to find what works for you and your audience too.
Tip 3 – Dip your toe in with personalised email marketing
In terms of starting out with a personalised approach, (if you haven’t already) email is definitely the best and most accessible place to start for B2B marketers. And when 64% of respondents prefer emails with a personal touch, we’re not just talking about inserting personalisation tags into your email templates.
80% of marketers agree that prospects expect them to provide relevant information across any digital marketing channel.
Use your buyer persona’s and data on what you already know about subscribers to create high impact and relevant email communications. Rather than segmenting your contact list by job function or industry alone, treat your email prospects as individuals and split data by content downloaded, stage in the buying cycle or products previously purchased. Our B2C cousins Amazon and Tesco have it nailed – read about their personalised approach here.
Tip 4 – Be personable as a B2B brand
As well as personalising your marketing campaigns, don’t forget that your wider business can be personable too. People prefer to buy from people. Think about how you can take a more personable approach with social media activity, your sales approach and even your invoicing processes too.
Discover your company’s fun side and set yourself apart by promoting your company’s unique culture and personality- you’ll welcome your prospects to be part of your brand, and they will want to buy from you too.
Tip 5 – Build on your learnings
Once you’ve taken your first steps into personalisation, measure, analyse and report on your learnings to build a more integrated approach business wide. If you can make use of new data and cutting-edge technologies to personalise your marketing communications and content in innovative new ways, and you’ll set yourself apart as the B2B brand with a difference.
Want to become the Ultimate B2B Marketer? Download the Ultimate Content Planner and build a personalised content strategy for 2015.
Have some more tips on becoming a more personalised B2B brand? Tweet us your thoughts @LeadForensics using #UltimateContent.
