Importance of relevance
It never fails to astound me that B2B direct
commerce still is not truly personal or relevant in 2014. As marketeers and
commerce specialists, we have never had it so good: data and analytics, social
media channels that tell us about our audience.
So, why is it that too many direct commerce
pieces still feel so impersonal and lack engagement. They talk in that: “I thought you might be interested”tonality…Recently, I have been
collecting direct commerce messages and 80% used this type of language in the opening
paragraphs.
They not talk about why the reader should read
on, they make no reference to understanding them direct – their business and
importantly how their product / service would directly help Mr X.
Business buyers are consumers too, and are becoming
tired of bland untailored commerce mesasges. They are witnessing how consumer
brands are clever using insight to make their communications; relevent to that
individual, to engage with them and to make them feel apprecaite.
We are all consumers and as such, we should be
the champions of best practice; challenging the need to make it personal, to
have one-to-one communications with our customers. Not simply getting messages
out there and hoping to get that average response rate pull through.
My personal hero’s are Ogvily and Bird. They whole philosophy was ‘great copy’and how once you engage on a relevant,
personal level, you make a different connetion with your customers. There is
too much reliance on short messaging. When the key is relevance and
engagement. The Wall Street Journal used a 6 page direct mail piece for
decades, telling a story. It grabs you from the first paragraph and you read it
– all six pages of it.
In my consultancy with B2B brands, I talk about
how less is more, how by choosing 30 prospects per month, researching
them, understanding the decison maker where possible and how your product will
affect their working lives. This tailored and personalised approach will out
perform your generic approach many times over.
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