The Role of Personalization

Personalized Marketing Personalization Dynamic Pricing Strategy Online retail and offline retailing marketing strategy Marketing Communication Internationalization Personalization Personalized marketing is the process of creating pitches and messages for individual consumers and is often considered as the ultimate model of targeted marketing. It is also defined as one-to-one marketing exercise of strategy where the companies make use of analysis of personal data and digital technology to create and to develop individualized messages and offerings of products to existing as well as prospective customers.

The personalized messages are created based on personalized data that is collected through a number of methods and use of analytics and digital electronics and digital economics. Personalized marketing helps marketers to create and deploy enhanced and real-time as well as prolonged better customer experience through personalization tactics ("Executive summary of "Recommendations as personalized marketing: insights from customer experiences," 2014).

Personalized marketing also involves the personalization and customization of the products themselves were customers are able to choose individual specifications in relation to the products that they're interested in using some form of a configuration system. This personalization of marketing and product offer technique has been shown to result in more sale conversions.

Furthermore, personalized marketing also comprises of personalized advertisements and are a perfect option to replace product promotions and advertisements that are general in nature and customers are not able to relate to the product offers as they do not have any link to the personal needs. This is enough to convince companies to gauge the importance of personalization in marketing (Saucier, 2008).

Personalization of advertisements for products and services can also help firms get more in return for their investments made in this field and the customers on the other hand receive product information that is helpful and related to the individual needs. Therefore netting of customers becomes easier and the chances of improving customer base increases. Personalization of advertisements and marketing messages helps companies to make the customers feel appreciated and as if they have been singled out by companies (Saucier, 2008).

This is similar to getting appreciated individualized service when one goes to a store. The conversion rate from advertising is helped enhanced by personalization. Sending personal e-mails is an example. Generalized content for marketing and advertisements on every perceivable platform is often ignored by a customer and hence the conversion rate is low. Personalization also helps in the improvement of customer retention. Personalization helps build a relationship with customers.

It is more likely that customers would respond to personalized offers when loyalty programs and other offers contain offers that are personalized. This is so because it is more likely that customers have a more positive feeling about a company for having taken the extra effort to personalize its messages (Walters, n.d.). The personalized messages that are also created in this process help companies and firms to stand out in the crowd of an overloaded marketplace of content and products and services.

Therefore personalization of messages also helps in the development and creation of better messages. Therefore, the quality of the content and messages gets improved from the perspective of the consumer and can have a greater impact. The primary step to developing a personalized marketing strategy is to gather information about customers. This can be done in a number of ways -- through direct contact, through surveys, and data collected during the sale.

This data would be analyzed and converted to personal traits through special software which also helps in the creation of personalized messages for marketing. Dynamic Pricing Strategy Personalized or dynamic pricing is a good idea as far as personalized marketing is concerned. The price is generally not firmly set in dynamic pricing. Changing circumstances, most often determine the price of a product or a service.

Such circumstances can be increased in demand at any point in time, or the type of the targeted customer, the paying ability, and history of previous purchases of the targeted customer and changing market conditions (Nahata, Kokovin, & Zhelobodko, n.d.).

This pricing strategy is useful for personalized marketing as it would provide the best possible price to an individual customer that a firm can offer and would be made keeping in mind the ability of the customer to pay or the degree of need of the customer for the product. Therefore, such a pricing strategy obviously has a good chance of succeeding as the customer would feel comfortable with the price and the pitch would have a greater chance of conversion instead of a fixed pricing strategy (Csorba, n.d.).

For personalized marketing strategies it is most advisable that marketers and firms resort to second-degree price discrimination that is strategized by leaving it to the customers to choose a deal. For customers who have the capability to meet certain conditions, or customers who are looking out for certain special qualities are the target of this second-degree price discrimination strategy. In this strategy, customers are typically offered special deals and prices (Csorba, n.d.).

Examples of this second-degree pricing strategy and promotions include offers like buy two and get one for free, or special price of customers who would buy in bulk or premium packages. In a study by Sarah Spiekermann of the Institute of Information Systems, Humboldt University Berlin did in 2006 titled "Individual Price Discrimination -- An impossibility?," the author claims: "customers typically appreciate these opportunities as long as the rewards are obtainable and they do not accompany price increases to compensate" (Spiekermann, 2006).

This pricing strategy is best suited for personalized marketing efforts because it allows the business or a firm to offer and enable savings for targeted customers. However, this strategy can only be appealing to such customers who value "deals" and look forward to getting rewarded for showing loyalty.

Such customers can be budget customers or high spending customers, but they need to be those who make frequent purchases and are part of loyalty programs of companies and seek to increase the margin on premium or rare products and services (Nahata, Kokovin, & Zhelobodko, n.d.). Online retail and offline retailing marketing strategy For online retailers, promotions and advertisements on the online platforms are very important.

While offline stores have the opportunity to engage in a number of advertisements that include advertising and product promotion and even personalized marketing at the stores itself, online retailers do not have such a choice. Hence it is important that the online retailer makes use of the very platform where they do business.

To stand out against the offline stores, extensive general personalized marketing efforts need to be concentrated on the internet and the various online platforms like the social media and various targeted websites believed to be frequented by the targeted customers. Moreover, it is relatively easier for online retailers to gather personal information and get ideas about buying habits of customers. This information gathering would help in creait5ng personalized marketing strategies online. This would help online retailers distinguish themselves from offline stores (Larsen & Korneliussen, 2012).

The offline brick and mortar firms that plan to also go online with their business need to draw up a well thought out strategy that includes the platform choice, the technology of choice and the product promotion and marketing strategy, which would be very different from the offline store strategies. While shifting of a business online doesn't always require an arduous process, entrepreneurs, and firms, however, need to follow a strategy to convert from offline to online business or opening up a parallel sale platform online (Lewis & Reiley, 2014).

Before embarking on an e-commerce project, an entrepreneur needs to know, consider and decide everything before making the jump and this is done in the planning process. A firm or an entrepreneur has to first consider whether moving to the web for business help in enhancing sale and revenues. It needs to be considered whether a product would be suitable to be sold online.

For example, certain business and services like theaters, theme and amusement parks, etc., require that customers are present on the spot and hence would make little sense shifting such a business online as such products cannot be delivered to a far-flung client. An online shift also requires taking into consideration the resources that would be required by the business. Since an online store has to keep open 24/7, one of the primary requirements is to hire personnel to take care of customer queries and needs at all times.

Then there are considerations for storage and warehousing in the areas and regions that one wants to do business and offer products as well as manage the delivery of products (Larsen & Korneliussen, 2012). Another important aspect of an online store is to select the target audience for the products or services of a firm that is being offered to a new market. The geographic, socio-economic and demographic factors need to be considered which would help determine the approach to be taken for the consumer.

It is also important to consider the geographic extent that the online business would go as various other expenses like warehousing, transportation and delivering are associated with online retailing. The development of an appropriate marketing strategy is necessary at the planning stage which can be changed later on according to the response from customers and business goals. Appropriate technology is another important consideration for the online business set up as it often is critical in relation to the ease of surfing and searching from the consumers' end (Lewis & Reiley, 2014).

Seamless integration of online and offline channel is possible by drawing out a common strategy and offering online facilities in areas and regions where offline stores are not present. This would help in enhancing the reach of the firm and help in targeting customers. For the promotional part, since the products are likely to be the same online as those offered offline, a common marketing strategy for both online and offline promotions can be drawn up. This would complement both the channels of business.

All these are a direct result of globalization that has significantly influenced marketing trends (Herhausen, Binder, Schoegel, & Herrmann, 2015). The physical boundaries have been brought down by globalization and newer markets have opened up for firms and companies. Hence companies now have to cater to different customer bases with varying needs and values. Therefore the marketing trends have changed and global companies or multinationals need to now draw up marketing strategies separately for separate countries and even for separate regions within a country.

The internet has significantly enhanced reach and globalization has helped products reach every nook and corner of the globe. Therefore online promotion has become a very important trend in business in a globalized economy. Marketing Communication A business cannot excel without effective communication with a number of stakeholders which include the customers, the investors and shareholders, the supplier and the regulators. Hence to efficiently deliver the relevant messages to every stakeholder, business needs communicate through effective communication strategies which are often defined as a marketing communication.

Such communications help business in the development of a strategic vision. Marketing communication aims to continuously find out ways to grow company's revenues through the lookout for new opportunities and the creation of strategies to take advantage of them. Communicating with consumers in existing markets as well as new markets is made possible through marketing communication. Brand awareness creation is another important role of marketing communication in business (Parente, 2006).

Consumers most often need to have trust in a brand to make a purchase and this trust can be developed by communicating the good points about a brand. A good brand image serves as a competitive advantage for business which can translate into an enhanced sale. Brand awareness and brand image can be created by the repetition of marketing communication messages to the relevant target audience. Positioning the company at a desired position among competitors is also possible through effective marketing communications.

This can help create a competitive advantage for companies and business. Company goodwill is also created among various stakeholders through effective marketing communications. Other roles played by this form of business communication include attracting talent for the company and informing the investment community. Effective communication can be developed by first selecting a target audience, understanding the communication needs of the target, developing strategic and adequate messages to be delivered to the target audience and choosing the right media to deliver the messages.

Since the target audiences and the needs and demands, as well as the ways and means to reach out to them, vary from every business and every business could require simultaneous communication with more than one target audience, therefore integrating the various communications strategies is necessary to develop an overall marketing communication strategy. While the traditional or direct marketing communications can be helpful in reaching one segment, interactive marketing could be the key to getting close to another.

This is also dependent on the nature of the product being promoted and the demographics of the target audience and target consumers (Volkov, 2005). Therefore to gain and maintain competitive advantage, it is important to create an efficient mix of direct and interactive marketing. In the modern world of business, interpersonal communications between and among consumers on the internet have commercial implications as such communication act as a means to gain personal experience about a product or a brand before buying it.

More of positive interpersonal communications between and among consumers can help enhance the acceptability and desirability of a product and help enhance sale and revenues as well as build on company brand image and enhance consumer loyalty. It also brings out the wants and desires in consumers which can be analyzed and incorporated into the product development process to deliver the product or services that are most desired by the largest section of consumers.

To gain a maximum competitive advantage, companies need to align their 5Ps -- product, price, place, promotion and profit, in a manner that each one complements the other. Companies need to produce the right product at the most appropriate price possible and make it available to the consumers in a manner that it is easy for them to get hold of, create product and brand awareness and communicate effectively with consumers through adequate promotional strategies to make the largest potential profits from the business activities (Parente, 2006).

Internationalization Firms need to go international to gain the first movers advantage and enter new markets before competitors do, enhance the potential for growth by entering and exploiting the new markets and the consumers therein, serves as a way to find growth in case of stagnation.