In a world where most of business is conducted virtually, brands need to find new ways to incorporate a personal element into their marketing. Customers still want to connect with a business even if they aren’t walking into a physical store or talking face-to-face with salespeople. Digital marketers can follow these steps to foster that personal connection with their target audiences.
Personalize whenever possible
It is a well-established fact that people respond more favorably to personalized content. One element of personalization involves product recommendations tailored to a user’s particular interests or past buying history. This is definitely important for advertising, but it may not be the most important thing for connecting with audiences on an individual level.
Personalization is often more of a communication strategy than a specific tactic, something you can incorporate into all of your content, web copy, advertisements, etc. Act like you’re speaking directly to someone in all of your content. Using the recipient’s name and referencing past activity is a good strategy if you are catering to a repeat customer. But even if you are catering to prospects, simply using ‘you’ in your calls to action can be more effective than speaking in generalities. If you need someone to assist you in generating content while still retaining your “voice” you can reach out to Catherine Nikkel. She’s an in-demand content strategist who has helped many businesses generate and market their content.
Lead with your values
Related to the above tip, forming a personal connection with audiences requires authenticity and empathy in all of your communications. Consumers are becoming more socially conscious than ever, and people like to invest in brands that they feel are doing something good with their money. Don’t be afraid to use your content and copy to take a stand as a business and give audiences something valuable to connect with.
There are different ways to show prospects what you stand for. Let’s say your company prioritizes environmental issues. You might want to show this off through recyclable packaging or donating a dollar earned from each purchase to a climate organization. Or perhaps you want to incorporate these values into your logo and other aspects of your brand identity.
Whatever your niche is, it would be best to describe your philosophy, efforts, and priorities through visuals and build a good rapport with clients. For instance, this great collage maker will help you bring together all your achievements and convince people that their money covers production costs and invests in various activities, whether pertinent to charity, humanitarian aid, etc.
Measure engagement
As you implement different branding and marketing strategies, you should be consistently assessing the effectiveness of your campaigns. Measure important engagement metrics like organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rate on your website. Tools like Google Analytics are accessible and free to use, offering you a wealth of information about how users are interacting with your website.
Don’t be afraid to make changes to your brand strategy, website layout, etc. in response to insights gathered from your key performance indicators (KPIs). You may find that content you thought was performing well with users is not having the impact you thought it was. Or maybe a particular page gets a lot of traffic but doesn’t actually result in any sales. By constantly monitoring key metrics, you will be better able to gauge the impact of your personalization efforts and adapt accordingly.
Start a conversation
For online businesses, it’s crucial that you still offer a forum for customer interaction, even if advertising and purchasing happens all online. This may be direct messaging on social media for customers to ask questions or a chat feature on your website. Even if you are using a chatbot, make sure scripts are personalized and informative. And still offer a phone number or email address so people can get in contact with a human if need be.
You can also get the conversation started by asking directly for feedback. Offer your audience a discount for filling out a survey, or incentivize them to leave a photo or video review. You can even incorporate this feedback into later marketing content to build trust in your brand by using the words of satisfied customers. Prospects will be more likely to trust the recommendations of other users than if you are just talking up your own business all the time.
Conclusion
Creating a personal connection with your target audience comes down to psychology. Assume your users are smart and savvy, and cater to them in a way that is sincere and adds value. It’s not hard to tell when a brand is all about profits, and these shallow interactions will not earn you repeat customers and loyal brand enthusiasts. Instead, you can incorporate personal elements and customer interaction in all aspects of your online presence.