With all the noise out there, one of the most effective ways of cutting through and reaching your audience is personalization, and this has become a key element of online marketing. But what is personalization, and how can you achieve it?
What is content personalization?
Personalizing content is a process where you select the content you show a particular audience based on what you know about them. This increases the likelihood of them interacting with that content, and subsequently an action. Content can be geared towards a whole host and combination of things: gender, age, income, interests… the list is only limited by the data you can gather. The trick is collecting, managing then leveraging that data. For this, you’ll need a DMP.
What is a DMP?
A DMP pulls in data about your audience from a range of sources, including websites, apps, social media, CRMs and more. Primarily, you can collect data from your own website or app; age, gender and location are the obvious markers here. But you can also supplement this with data from second- (another website) and third-party (data exchanges) sources. Adding this data can add depth to the insights you can achieve on your audience.
Having the data isn’t enough though. It needs to be structured in such a way that you can actually use it. A DMP allows you to manage that data and divide your audience into segments. You can create segments in countless different ways, and a DMP will allow you to specify your own. For example, you might want to group you audiences depending on the websites they visit, a product they’ve purchased, or their location. The possibilities here are only limited by the amount and type of data you have.
You can integrate your DMP with other demand- and supply-side platforms, and in terms of personalization, integrate it with your CRM to deliver personalized content.
Why is this important for marketers?
The more you know about your customer, the better you can target them. If you’re marketing a business that sells a range of products or services, then indiscriminate banner ads showing just one particular product is going to appeal to a very small percentage of the audience. Take a sporting goods store, for example. It sells thousands of products, but only a fraction of those might be of interest to a particular individual. However, if you know (either from your own first-party, or from second-party data sources) that an individual has recently purchased a road bike, then they’re likely to be interested in road bike accessories and clothing. Displaying ads of interest greatly increases the chance of interaction, and ultimately, a sale.
That’s the power of personalization, and that’s why you need to make a DMP part of your marketing setup.