… says BBC’s Evan Davies in this episode of The Bottom Line (excellent radio programme about business trends with global* relevance) - www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0002zrl
Music to my ears.
The programme’s premise is this “as society is becoming more affluent, we’re happy to pay for some self-expression in our purchases and also technology is making it easy to personalise products.”
Good. Because making the personalisation of marketing communications easy is exactly what my book, The Power of Personal – How to Connect, Convince and Create Exceptional Client Relationships is all about – why, what and how.
However, the programme’s real value is in demonstrating just how much personalisation is the direction of travel for innovative players in industry and commerce, in this case automotive, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, banking and fashion. If you have sector groups and/or clients in these sectors, it is worth a listen for these gems alone.
Citroën customers can customise their new car in multiple ways including colour, engine types and trims. Ultimately there are 50,000 possibilities.
Mogrify, a transformative cell therapy company, is exploring the creation of personalised medicines based on gene therapy (this is mind-blowing btw).
Handelsbanken offers decentralised banking where local branch staff know your name and are empowered, locally, to make decisions for customers. They value long term relationships and take a holistic view of their client/customer businesses.
Amazon has filed a patent on a clothing manufacturing system where customers can scan themselves (see Zozo suit for a sort of prototype) and Amazon will manufacture bespoke items to each individual measurement. When developed, it’s a process that will deliver a tailored item and reduce wastage in the fashion industry.
You can see where this is going.
While The Power of Personal explains the why and how behind personalisation, the Propella business intelligence software shows you how to identify your priority stakeholders who qualify for personalised marketing communications.
Here’s a low risk test of the theory. Remove your top ten most profitable clients from the commoditised marketing output and, instead, send them in-advance, personalised communications pinpoint relevant to them (covered in detail, Chapter 13, Act Small (With Beautiful Results) from someone senior they know. My bet is that your impact will increase exponentially.
At the very least, if any of your clients are offering even a smidgen of bespoke, tailored or personalised products or services, start personalising your marketing communications to them pdq.
*available from anywhere in the world if you install the international version of the BBC iPlayer Radio app.