Personal Marketing – Inexpensive, Easy, and Consumer Friendly
ByRemember the days when retailers knew their customer’s names and preferences when they walked in the door ? Well… neither do I !! I think I’ve seen this on an old “GUNSMOKE” rerun !
For many centuries now, retail marketers have been directing their messaging towards broad categories of customers (mass marketing). This is now changing due to the application of technology into the retail space.   Recording of purchase history and identifying buyer behavior is common now-a-days, but REAL change is just starting to happen… mass marketing is changing to personal marketing.
MASS MARKETINGÂ changing to PERSONAL MARKETING
Put yourself in the shoes of a business owner… you don’t want to take advantage of anyone, you just want to make a living… a completely normal urge to provide value to customers AND feed your family (ok build your business) !  How would you do that with the least amount of pain ????   In short, the least expensive and most effective way to build a business is to influence customers at the EXACT time that they are making a purchase decision.    So how do you do this ?
Personal marketing means offering customers RELEVANT information and RELEVANT offers.  Relevancy requires knowledge. You need to know about your customers’ interests and preferences… this is worth money because it lets you stop doing “shotgun” advertising. You can tailor your offers to match the needs of individuals ! This is the concept of the GeoHelp Platform. 2du creates a WIN-WIN system so businesses get relevant information and customers save money.
The chart used here is from: NextGen of Merchandising and Marketing – Customer Insights at the Point of Decision – An ebook written by DemandTec and downloadable from http://www.demandtec.com/
5 Comments
September 3rd, 2011 at 11:22 am
Bob,
I absolutely love this post on the transition we’re experiencing from Mass Marketing to Personal Marketing. I see a lot of local business primarily doing this. I went to a restaurant the other day that I’ve been to maybe two or three times before and they welcomed me by name. Obviously, I don’t need to be welcomed by name all the time, but a little personal injection is always nice! That chart you posted on this blog was also a big help and an excellent illustration of the transition.
Best,
Britt
September 3rd, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Bob, this really ties in with the explosion of social media like Facebook and Twitter. We’ve gotten very “personal”, and businesses are taking notice. What you do with 2du is a perfect fit for this trend.
Take care,
Melody
September 3rd, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Melody and Britt, Thanks for your comments. I’m glad to see such a positive response to this topic. While I think attracting new clients has always been about the personal connection, I think many companies strayed away from this. And still do. 2du is hoping to change that thinking.
September 6th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
I have been following the development of 2du.com for awhile know. At first I was skeptical of a small company trying to compete with general events listings that one can get through Google/Yahoo etc. Now I see that 2du is doing something truly unique. Putting the local back into local! What is truly great about this system is that it benefits both the retailer and the consumer – usually a one way street! You are the company that has the tools to bring the Mom and Pop retailers into the cyberage. If you don’t know what to do, try 2du!
September 20th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Hi Greg, thanks for the compliment! Yes, we are trying to compete with the big guys. Our differentiation is offering more messaging features and REAL-TIME control over your BRAND. One example of where GeoHelp differs is in what I call “brand control”. Several MEGA business listing web sites have the policy of showing “tagged photos” from Flicr or other photo services on the business profiles. In other words, if someone doesn’t like your “Bed and Breakfast”, they can create an account on Flicr and upload a picture of a rat infested junkyard and tag this picture with your B&B’s name !! This disgusting photo will then show up next to your business name !! Or your competitors ad is on the same page as your business profile ?? These web sites use the rational that they are creating “interesting community-driven mashups” !! I find this policy totally unacceptable… businesses MUST have FULL control of their own brand images ! Here are some examples of the branding problems that businesses experience.