5 Tips to Use Personalisation and Increase Customer Engagement as a Small Business Owner

Big brands typically enjoy all of the recognition, they have the authority and the social proof, and they have an easier time engaging their customers both online and offline.

So, as a small business owner, you face a cumbersome challenge of attracting some of that attention to your brand in order to acquire new clients and customers, build your brand’s reputation, and execute your long-term growth strategy. Needless to say, achieving these goals will require you to engage with your existing and potential customers in a more meaningful way.

This is also one of those integral tactics that will allow you to mitigate risk in the long run, and future-proof your business in the competitive industry. Let’s explore some of the best ways you can use personalisation online and offline to boost customer engagement and surpass the competitors that use cookie-cutter solutions.

It all starts with buyer personas

There’s no way around it, all business leaders need to invest in thorough market research if they are to obtain relevant industry insights, as well as invaluable information about their target audience. Doing this will allow you to lay the foundation of your entire personalisation strategy, and create the buyer personas needed to personalise your site’s content, your communication strategy, as well as your entire offline marketing approach.

And it all starts with data collation. You need to collect as much data about your customers, and your target demographic as possible. Then, you need to collect the data regarding your competitors’ loyal customers in the hopes of winning them over in time. Next, you’ll need to create in-depth buyer personas. Now, there’s no way to pinpoint the exact interests and pain points of every person, but what you can do is to group your personas and create personalised content and experiences based on the preferences of different groups of customers.

Optimise and personalise your content

Every modern business needs a content strategy. By taking charge of your content and developing a comprehensive approach to creation, SEO implementation, and dissemination, you will elevate your brand’s reputation and authority, gain exposure across the online world, and drive traffic to your website through improved engagement. To achieve all of this, though, you need to emphasise content personalisation.

The obvious example of content personalisation is email marketing. But beyond personalised emails and carefully-curated product lists and promotions, you should also tailor your content to the specific needs of your various audience groups. Choose content topics that are relevant to different types of customers in order to appeal to different age groups and sensibilities. This way, you will cast a wider net with a higher chance of engaging a greater number of online and offline customers.

Personalise all promotional materials

When it comes to offline marketing, nothing beats the good old business card and a well-designed promotional product boasting your name and visual design. This is the other side of the personalisation coin, a side where you personalise products to bear the logo and name of your brand, and give them out at every promotional event to raise brand awareness and boost word of mouth. Besides that, use a personalized proposal template for clients to expand your brand identity further.

Don’t underestimate the power and potential of something as simple as promotional pens to position your brand in front of the right audience, and become part of their daily lives. It’s these types of handy promotional products that will make the biggest impact on your customers, as they serve a clear purpose and won’t be discarded so easily. Use personalised promo materials to get your brand out there, and don’t forget to include them in your online promotional campaigns as well.

Introduce personalisation into your communication strategy

It should go without saying that your communication strategy should emphasise personalisation across the board. Whether you’re talking to your customers online or offline, you need to address them by name, and tailor your approach to their needs and personality, all the while avoiding sensitive issues or looking like you’re trying too hard. The conversation needs to flow naturally, which requires you to hire skilled customer service agents that can quickly adapt to each customer.

It doesn’t really matter if you’re trying to grow an Ecommerce business or if you’re trying to get more people to sign up for your services, you need to engage with your customers on a deeper level – a level you can reach by letting them know how much you appreciate them as an individual. If you’re working in international markets as well, it pays to have live chat agents who are fluent in local languages.

Use past behaviour to tailor the brand experience

And finally, growth-oriented businesses should go the extra mile to personalise the entire brand experience. You can achieve this by collecting past user data, and tailoring the experience on your website based on their past behaviour. This means that different customers will view different, more relevant content on your site based on their interests and shopping habits. It also means that they will encounter tailored marketing and sales messages that will elevate engagement and inspire them to make the decision to buy, or become your loyal brand followers.

Wrapping up

As a small business owner, you have to carve your way to the top of your industry by engaging with your demographic through personalisation. The modern customer wants to feel valued and appreciated as an individual rather than just another shopper, so be sure to use these tips to step up your personalisation game and reach new heights of success.