Have you ever gotten an email or seen an ad that just feels like it was made for you? Like it understands exactly what you need and want? That’s what personalization in b2b marketing can do if done right.
But wait, there’s more. This approach could do wonders for your brand and, more importantly, help you turn one-time clients into long-term customers. Let’s dive in to find out how.
What is Personalization in B2B Marketing?
You can personalize your B2B marketing by tailoring your messages and content to meet your clients’ unique needs and preferences. It lets you directly connect with your customers by using data and analytics to understand their behavior, interests, and concerns.
It can be through email personalization, targeted advertising, customized landing pages, and one-to-one sales outreach. The goal is to engage with your customers personally to increase your chances of more successful sales conversion, leading to stronger customer relationships.
The Benefits of Personalized Marketing for B2B Companies
Personalization goes beyond addressing by name. And when you go beyond just marketing to everyone, you reach your customers on a deeper level.
1. Increased Engagement
When you customize your efforts to match your customers’ wants and needs, you’re more likely to capture them into your content.
People are likely to check your website, click on your links, and you can have meaningful conversations with them.
2. Improved Customer Experience
Your audience are humans like you. When you show them that you know what they’re all about and what they need, it’s like giving them a welcoming message that says, “We get you!”
It makes your customers feel special and can lead to more customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
3. Higher Conversion Rate
Personalized marketing can help B2B companies generate more and better leads.
By targeting prospects with personalized content and offers relevant to their needs, you can increase the company’s chances of converting leads into customers.
How to Personalize Your B2B Marketing Effort
Want to know how to make your marketing messages stand out to your clients? Here are some steps you can take:
1. Know your audience and create buyer personas.
First, you have to get to know your audience!
Who are they?
What’s been grinding their gears?
What are their dreams and aspirations?
Once you understand these, you can start creating messages and content that speak directly to them.
You can try conducting customer surveys or focus groups to get direct feedback. Or, you can analyze customer behavior through your CRM and spot patterns and trends. Either way, it’s all about getting up close and personal with your peeps!
2. Segment your audience.
Now that you know who you’re talking to, it’s time to group them up!
You can group your audience based on their demographics, like what kind of work they do, how big their company is, or what their job title is. Once you’ve sorted your groups, you can make specific campaigns just for them!
Let’s say you’re trying to reach small business owners. You can create content about how affordable and easy to use your products are.
But, if you’re trying to get the attention of big-shot companies, try focusing on how your systems can handle tons of data, and you can work with their fancy tech stacks. It’s like giving each group its special treat!
3. Customize your message.
Think about how you can make your messages feel extra special for each person.
For starters, let’s talk about personalized emails. Instead of sending everyone the same old plain message with general subject lines, try making it personal!
You can use the person’s name or talk about something you know they’re struggling with. That way, they’ll be like, “Oh wow, this is meant just for me!” And don’t forget about your website! You can make your visitors feel at home by using words and phrases specific to their industry or job title.
4. Use personalized marketing automation.
Do you know how sometimes it feels like you’re talking to a robot when a company sends you an email? Well, with marketing automation, you can make sure your clients don’t feel that way. It helps you send out customized messages to lots of people at once.
So, let’s say someone comes to your website and downloads a fancy whitepaper about a specific topic. With marketing automation, you can send a follow-up email with even more cool stuff related to what they’re interested in!
Bottomline used Drift’s chatbot on its website to help its visitors out. The automation tool figured out what the visitors were looking for and gave them the perfect info and answers to all their questions about sales. And guess what? In just 18 months, Bottomline made an extra $4.3 million in sales!¹
5. Consider account-based marketing (ABM)
This is all about picking out specific companies you want to work with and making them feel like they’re the coolest kids on the block!
To use this strategy, you’ve got to do some digging and figure out who the essential peeps are in that company. Then, you can make some super special messages just for them!
Let’s say you’re trying to work with this one company in particular. You can make a webpage that explains precisely what they need and how you can help them. That way, they’ll feel like you’re reading their minds and totally get their struggles.
Social media is like a giant playground where you can hang out with your customers! You can post excellent content and have fun chatting with them!
This makes getting feedback easy, and you can answer any questions they might have. And the best part? You can make sure you’re sharing stuff they’re interested in. You can join in on the conversations and show how fantastic your brand is!
7. Use retargeting.
Have you wondered why when you go online shopping, you suddenly see ads for the stuff you just searched for? That’s called retargeting!
It’s when companies try to bring you back to their website after you’ve already shown interest. So if you visit a website, add something to your cart, and then leave without buying it, they might offer you an ad later that says, “Hey, don’t forget about this thing you wanted to buy!”
In the same way, you can retarget your clients, customize your campaign and remind them to come back.
8. Monitor and measure your marketing efforts.
It’s super important to watch how well your personalized marketing is doing. That way, you can see what’s working and what’s not and make changes if needed.
You can use tools like Google Analytics to track how many people are opening your emails, clicking on your links, and connecting. Then, you can use all this information to improve your marketing and get more people interested in what you’re selling!
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing Personalized Marketing Strategies
You’re probably itching to jump right in and not miss out on the fun, right? But hold up! You have to be extra careful not to mess things up. Here are some mistakes to look out for when personalizing your marketing efforts.
1. Inaccurate Data Collection
The success of personalized marketing relies on accurate data collection. You might collect the wrong or insufficient info, which can lead to ads that just don’t make sense to your customers. To avoid this, consider using the right personalization tools and processes.
Customer surveys
Surveys can be a great way to get data about customer needs, interests, and behaviors. Surveys can be conducted online or in person and can be used to gather qualitative and quantitative data.
Website analytics
Website analytics can provide valuable insights into how customers interact with a website. By tracking website behavior, you can learn what content resonates with its audience and what isn’t.
CRM data
Customer relationship management (CRM) data can provide valuable insights into customer behavior, including purchase history, customer preferences, and customer feedback.
Social media monitoring
Social media monitoring can provide insights into what customers say about a brand, product, or service. By monitoring social media conversations, you can learn what customers like and dislike about your brand and adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.
2. Overpersonalization
Overpersonalization can come across as cringy and creepy. No one wants to feel like being stalked by a company, right? So, it’s super important to find that sweet spot between personalization and privacy.
Be open and honest about your data collection and usage, and give your audience the option to opt out of any personalized marketing campaigns.
Try not to get too personal with your language or guess their every move. Keep it cool, calm, and collected, and you’ll have happy customers all around!
3. Lack of Testing and Optimization
There’s no one magic formula for personalized marketing that fits every business and customer out there. You’ve got to mix it up and try different approaches to find what works best for you.
Try techniques like A/B testing to fine-tune your campaigns and connect with your audience. Don’t be afraid to listen to feedback and switch things up as needed. With some testing and tweaking, you’ll be on your way to personalized marketing greatness!
BUILD A KILLER RECRUITER BRAND WITH THE HELP OF ALLIED INSIGHT
Personalizing your content can be a little tricky, but it’s definitely doable. And it’s just one of the many ways you can build a fantastic brand for your company.
But if you want to take things up a notch, why not consider partnering with Allied Insight? We’re a B2B Fractional CMO and Growth Marketing Agency, and we can help you achieve consistency in your brand, attract business opportunities, and protect your brand’s integrity without sacrificing valuable messaging and delivery.
So, whether you’re looking to target the right audience or simply present your brand in the best possible light, we’ve got your back.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you!
References
- “Bottomline Accelerates Revenue and Generates Over $4.3M in Pipeline.” Drift, Accessed 21 April. 2023, www.drift.com/case-studies/bottomline-technologies/.
