An easy to read explanation of the essential components of a personalized marketing solution.

1. Insights from a Conversant Executive
Scott Eagle, Chief Marketing Officer
WHAT THE
%!X&! DOES
“PERSONALIZED
MARKETING”
REALLY MEAN?

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Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION
THE SEVEN ESSENTIALS OF PERSONALIZED MARKETING
CONCLUSION
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT CONVERSANT

3. These days, there are a lot of companies buzzing
about personalized marketing.
In fact, a recent survey conducted by Ad Perceptions and Conversant highlighted
that 73% of agency and brand-side marketers agree that personalization represents
the future of digital. So it seems that everyone is jumping on the one-to-one train.
But if you look at the definitions of personalization that are being touted by vendors
for marketers, it’s evident there are as many interpretations of “personalized
marketing” as there are companies who claim to deliver on it. Unfortunately, most
companies fall short of creating genuine individual relationships with people; many
companies only scratch the surface of what a comprehensive personalized program
can really offer clients and consumers. In order to get personalization right for a
brand, we need to first define what it needs to have. So, here’s a “no compromises”
definition of personalized marketing – one that gets to the heart of what marketers
really want:
Personalized Marketing: A comprehensive and ongoing one-to-one
communication approach that individually calibrates brand messages
and media based upon known facts and predictions about the needs,
interests and behaviors of each person in a target audience.
I’ll admit, there’s a lot going on in that statement, and that’s because true
personalized marketing has many critical components. In my view,
“personalized marketing” has 7 “must haves.”
INTRODUCTION
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THE SEVEN ESSENTIALS OF
PERSONALIZED MARKETING
• Ongoing 1:1 Relationships
• 360° Customer View
• Genuine Personalized Creative
• Individualized Delivery
• Omni-Channel Reach
• Individualized Media Investment
• Individual User Profiles & Insight

4. INDIVIDUAL USER
PROFILES & INSIGHT1
THE SEVEN
ESSENTIALS OF
PERSONALIZED
MARKETING
One-to-one or personalized marketing is not possible
without a rich user profile that helps you understand, reflect
and anticipate consumer needs. Personalized marketing is
empowered by rich insight at the individual level.
Which means, all of your customer data – purchases,
loyalty programs, web browsing, site visitation and more –
need to get associated to anonymized profiles. You need
to turn all that big data into big profiles for each prospect
and customer.
As a consumer profile for each individual is being developed,
it needs to be informed by both online and offline transactions
and behaviors. This is particularly true for retail, where a
customer may make some of their purchases online and
others offline. Without understanding both sets of behaviors,
we can’t glean the level of user insight necessary to create
personalized moments of advertising serendipity that put the
right product in front of each individual at the ideal time.
360°
CUSTOMER VIEW2
All of your customer data – purchases,
loyalty programs, web browsing, site
visitation and more – needs to get
associated to anonymized profiles.
Video View
Site Visits
Product Search
Display Click Through
Network Web Match
First-Party Cookie Present
Third-Party Cookie Present
Mobile App Usage
Location
Ecosystem IDs
Direct and Indirect Matching
Household ID Matching
Conversion Matching
Mobile Device ID
Site Login
DevicePurchase Data
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5. Personalized marketing is powered by creative messages that are tightly aligned to individual user
insights. Sticking someone’s first name in a mass email isn’t personalized marketing. Ditto a retargeting
ad that shows someone a picture of the last item they viewed on a website. Rather, it’s about messages
in which many aspects of communication are precisely calibrated to a user. Imagery, products, offers
and response mechanisms all need to be attuned to the particular needs and habits of an individual.
Thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of creative versions may be necessary to
deliver the appropriate personalized message to all of your customers and prospects. By contrast,
three different ads for three audience segments is not personalized marketing. That is basic
audience segmentation, and while valuable, it falls short of the personalization standard.
Thousands, hundreds of thousands
or even millions of creative versions
may be necessary to deliver the
appropriate personalized message to
all of your customers and prospects.
FALL FASHION
LAUNCH
FALL FASHION
EVENT
FEATURED
PRODUCTS
FALL
PROMOTION
“NEXT BEST”
OPPORTUNITY
Female/Age: 39
• Income: $130K
• Oakbrook, IL
• Married, Presence of
Children
• Multichannel Shopper
• Value Shopper
• Outdoor Fitness/Yoga
• Buying for Man
• Purchased In-Store Last
Month: Jeans, Tops
• Recently Purchased Online:
Sweater, Blouse
Female/Age: 28
• Income: $85K
• Oakbrook, IL
• Single
• Redeemed Shopper Points
within last 3 months
• Urban Style
• Fashionista
• Multichannel Shopper
• Recently Purchased Online:
Gown, Couture Pants
PERSONALIZED ONLINE ADVERTISING CREATIVE JOURNEY BASED ON REAL-TIME RICH PROFILES
GENUINE
PERSONALIZED CREATIVE3
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6. Once you’ve created a personalized creative message,
it’s critical that you have the technology and visibility
to deliver that message to the ideal individual on the
appropriate device. It’s become progressively easier to reach
millions of users across digital. But it’s far more difficult to
reach particular individuals – and do so on a timely basis and
at the scale necessary to move the needle for a major brand.
Today’s consumer lives in a multi-device world. And in order
to create truly personalized marketing, we need to be able
to reach an individual wherever and however they spend
their digital time. This means we need to be able to deliver
personalized messages on any device at the most opportune
times for the individual. While connecting all of the devices an
individual uses to one anonymized consumer profile can be
challenging, it is absolutely essential for “no compromises”
personalized marketing.
THE CONVERSANT PLATFORM CAN
DELIVER MESSAGES TO SPECIFIC
INDIVIDUALS ANYWHERE ACROSS
ITS MASSIVE MEDIA FOOTPRINT.
OUR POTENTIAL REACH INCLUDES:
»» Facebook
»» Twitter
»» 6K+ web publishers
»» 20K+ Android and iOS apps
»» 25 major media exchanges:
• Display
• Mobile
• Video
• Vertical
Display
Site
Video
Email
Mobile Affiliate
In-Store
Tablet
INDIVIDUALIZED
DELIVERY
OMNI-CHANNEL
REACH4 5
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7. True personalized marketing is about creating ongoing
relationships between each person and a brand. While making
a sale to someone today is a beautiful thing, the true value of
personalization is in not only pleasing someone today, but also
anticipating their changing needs and attitudes over time.
This is one of the key ways personalization delivers better results
– it’s through this long-term understanding that we can unlock
the true value of personalized marketing.
INDIVIDUALIZED
MEDIA INVESTMENT6
The power behind personalized marketing is the ability to
create profitable relationships with individuals. To do that
effectively, a brand needs to invest the appropriate amount of
money in each individual. Since every individual offers different
annual potential revenue value for a business, the amount of
money invested to market to them should also vary. Thanks
to exchange-based media, brands can do just that. They can
purchase the optimal mix and quantity of ads to reflect
each person’s potential business value.
The amount of money invested in marketing to
each individual should vary based upon their
potential value to the business.
The true value of personalization is not
only pleasing someone today, but also
anticipating and their changing needs
and attitudes over time.
ONGOING 1:1
RELATIONSHIPS7
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8. CONCLUSION
In the coming months, you’ll probably hear even more people talking about personalized marketing. Make
sure they’re using a definition that you agree with – one that ensures your brand creates an ongoing personal
relationship with every person in your vast target audience. Even more important, make sure that
their solutions live up to YOUR definition.
I welcome your comments and ideas on this topic. Please write to me at: ScottEagle@conversantmedia.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Eagle leads Conversant’s global marketing function, including strategy and the integration of marketing
programs across our solutions groups. An accomplished senior executive with a strong background in client-
side digital marketing and consumer brand management, Mr. Eagle has over 25 years of experience as a
marketing leader managing major Fortune 500 brands and building successful new companies. Mr. Eagle has
served as CMO for Empowered Careers, eHarmony and Claria Corporation, and he has held management
positions at Concentric Network Corporation, MFS Communications and P&G. Mr. Eagle holds a B.S. in
economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and serves on the board of Akademos, Inc.
ABOUT CONVERSANT
Conversant, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNVR) is the leader in personalized digital marketing. Conversant helps the
world’s biggest companies grow by creating personalized experiences that deliver higher returns for brands
and greater satisfaction for people. We offer a fully integrated personalization platform, personalized media
programs and the world’s largest affiliate marketing network – all fueled by a deep understanding of what
motivates people to engage, connect and buy.
For more information, please visit www.conversantmedia.com.
Thanks to DMNews for publishing a version of this content first.
Copyright 2014, Conversant, Inc. All rights reserved. Conversant is a trademark of Conversant, Inc.
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