Marketing - make it personal

BY DONNA KAPLAN

In this age of Web sites, instant messaging and social networking, consumers are looking for companies to be tech savvy but to also show them that they value their business. There is one surefire way that your marketing dollars will work harder for you – take your marketing from impersonal to highly personal.

Personalized marketing has been around for a while – people who advertise on TV select the shows that match their demographic; others take advantage of digital printing and personalize mail with the person’s name, or even complex photograph or text changes based on their demographic information. You can now take the personalized printing one step further and personalize Web pages to deliver highly targeted marketing while also capturing valuable customer information.

Personal URLs are changing the marketing landscape. By placing the person’s name before the Web address, you are directing them to a Web page that is built on a template and personalizes based on rules from the database. An example of a PURL is: http://JohnDoe.MyCompanyOffer.com. It’s always important to know your customer base and now you can become personal with them. ■

Donna Kaplan and the team at Curley Direct help clients with marketing, graphic design, digital printing and direct mail campaigns. She can be reached at (508) 398-4580 or dkaplan@curleydirect.com.

Published in Cape & Plymouth Business October 2009