Brands today know that the days of single device usage by the customers have gone. An average customer owns more than two devices; they start searching for a product in one device and end up purchasing from another. Hence, it’s crucial to resolve the identities of customers to perform people-based marketing.
Previously, marketers were relying on traditional methods like a cookie-based approach. But now, the trend is such that it is moving towards cookie-less marketing.
Here Are the Topics for Discussion in this Article:
- Shift from Cookie-Based to People-Based Approach
- What is People-Based Marketing?
- What are the challenges of people-based marketing?
- Why Is People-Based Marketing Crucial in Advertising?
- How Does People-Based Marketing Work?
- What are the Benefits of People-Based Marketing?
Shift From Cookie-Based to People-Based Approach
Cookies store information about how a customer engages with a website. But, the drawbacks with this format is, it solely focuses on analyzing the activity of the consumer on the website only.
As a matter of fact, many search engines are now banning the cookies as well.
To know more about cookie-less future, refer this – https://digitalkites.com/blog/cookieless-future/
Therefore, you can’t capture the user behaviour across multiple touchpoints as the ids are different in various devices/platforms.
Thus, in due course of time, when the consumers use various platforms/devices for their actions, the targeting becomes meaningless, aimless and non-contextual.
As a result, you will share the advertisements to an irrelevant audience who may not even convert.
To overcome this, next came the multi-channel marketing. This strategy aims to target consumers across all the channels. But, even this technique fails to capture the holistic view of customers.
The purpose of advertising efficiently is not about reaching out to as many people or channels as possible, but the right person at the right time on the right screen.
It made the next-generation marketers rethink their advertising strategy and execution methods.
Their primary aim was to prioritize the people, in particular behind the digital screens, with a one-on-one personalization appeal.
Here entered the idea of people-based advertising!
What is People-Based Marketing?
In simple terms, person-based marketing is all about understanding the customer (real person) for personalized targeting. It is one of the behavioural marketing strategies which has been a significant hit among marketers these days.
In cookie-based marketing, you are targeting a device rather than understanding consumer habits. But in people-based marketing, you will analyze the user behaviour to understand the needs of your consumer.
Yet, people-based targeting is not a cakewalk for marketers. They face many challenges in the process.
What Are the Challenges of People-Based Marketing?
Data Quality:
Any data-driven marketing strategy deals with the issue of low data quality. Due to this, marketers often end up targeting the wrong set of consumers at the wrong time.
Even in people-based marketing, it’s a challenge for some marketers to gather good-quality data.
Identifying the Right Audience:
Bombarding irrelevant ads to wrong customers increases the ad spend and nothing else. Hence, it’s critical to find the right audience to target your ads.
The real agenda behind the people-based approach is to reach the right people at the right time with the right message.
Unfortunately, many advertisers fail in segmenting and identifying the audience accurately.
Mapping the Customer Journey:
In this digital ad game, you have to accurately trace the customer journey map to be successful in people-based marketing.
Many fail to analyze customer touchpoints and buying journeys precisely. It affects the content and design of ads; resulting in ad spend wastage.
Data Privacy and GDPR:
Data privacy and GDPR is a massive challenge while dealing with people-based marketing because, as per GDPR, the consent of real people should be imminent to collect their personal information.
As a marketer, you need to undertake robust data security measures as well as take permission from your audience to gather complete information.
Providing a Consistent Experience Across Different Channels/Platforms:
One principal element in a people-based approach is maintaining a similar experience for your audience across devices/platforms.
Meaning, targeting customers with a single ad campaign or a single message wherever they are in the online environment. Your audience may divert from your brand in case they don’t connect with your ads.
Hence, it isn’t easy to create a consistent experience for your consumers.
Why Is People-Based Marketing Crucial in Advertising?
People-based marketing is a revolutionary concept, which involves identifying individual customers, understanding their behaviour across the channels and evaluating their needs to drive continuous engagement.
Unlike the traditional ways of advertising, people-based marketing has just evolved the digital advertising landscape over time. It is successful in solving the problem of the conventional device-centric limitations with identity resolution being its core.
When you identify your right audience, the next thing is to target them with ads that are most relevant to them—leading to an increase in conversion rates.
A recent study found people-based marketing as a breakthrough strategy that is going to become imperative for virtually all brands.
And, 92% of marketers say that inclusion of people-based tactics in digital marketing is “vitally important” (source 1).
Connecting the consumer data across the marketing ecosystem is the key.
Suppose, an offline watch brand is running a flash sale.
To reach a vast range of audiences, it plans for display ad campaigns to audience segments in the online environment.
But there will be some customers who have already bought watches from its offline stores.
Now, how will the brand save its ad spend by not targeting these customers who already purchased the watch?
It will be quite a challenging task.
Here comes the role of people-based marketing strategies, which will enable the brand to connect it’s consumer identities across online and offline channels.
Yes, there’s more to it. Let’s dive in to know more about people-based marketing approach!
How Does People-Based Marketing Work?
People-based marketing is about accurate reach and enhanced targeting. So, a marketer or an advertiser will devise all marketing strategies around this thought. From identifying the real customers to reaching them with relevant ads, you have a long way to go.
If you are an online marketer, then you can gather your online customer data through various channels/platforms.
In case you are an offline marketer, then you can perform CRM onboarding to match your offline consumer data with their online identities to perform people-based marketing.
To give a clear picture, check out what we can do:
Onboard Your CRM Data or Historical Data
Upload your CRM data or historical data into the people-based marketing platform.
And bring your offline data into the online environment through data onboarding.
Identity Resolution
Match your offline customer data with their online identities such as ad ids, social logins, browsing history, etc. Get unified ids through which you can get a single view of your customers
Target Your Offline Customers Online
Segment your audience, design ad campaigns and target your audience segments with relevant ads. Now, you will be able to target offline customers online as well. Also, you can target them anywhere and everywhere across the online ecosystem.
Now you are completely into people-based digital marketing.
Thus, by employing people-based marketing strategies, brands can connect with people and better target them in real-time by offering them personalized and relevant deals through in moment advertisements.
Wondering, how people-based marketing approaches can benefit you? Read.
What Are the Benefits of People-Based Marketing?
Increase ROI
One of the main goals of any business is to increase ROI, and people-based marketing helps in improving ROI. Understanding your audience better will support you in developing effective ad campaigns. As a result, ROI will increase.
Regulate Ad Spend Wastage
When you know what exactly your customers are looking for, then you will design the campaigns accordingly.
So, you will create ads that are relevant and necessary for the users. Thereby reducing the cost on the advertisements and also regulating the ad spend wastage.
Understanding Your Customers Better
People-based marketing is about knowing your customers in and out. Hence, it helps you know your customers’ interests and purchase behaviour better.
It will aid you in designing effective ads that bring more conversions like never before and also helps in building better relationships with your customers.
Expand Your Audience
You can perform lookalike modelling and expand the number of audience for targeting. It will push your economic growth and also increase your customer base.
Increasing the Repeat Customers
When you create brand awareness among your customers, you will end up getting repeat consumers. Your consumers will want to come back to your store to make any purchase.
Achieve Single View of the Customers
In people-based marketing, you will not only match the offline identities of your customers with their online attributes but also find them anywhere irrespective of different devices/platforms.
Therefore, you will achieve a single view of your consumers anywhere and everywhere across the online environment.
Conclusion
The most significant advantage of switching to people-based targeting is, brands become sure that their real-time advertisements are getting delivered to the right customers at the right time.
Hyper-targeting is possible as segmentation of customers concerning digital behaviours, purchase history, demographics and brand relationships across whatever device or channel can be done.
In this way, marketers can build the right targeting strategy with a holistic view of their consumers. Reach can be amplified; conversion funnel can be optimized with greater accuracy while protecting their privacy rights.
Also, customers perceive the brand differently; you begin to trust, and they feel that their choices are given more attention.
It is maturing to become the gold standard of marketing in reaching people directly, connecting with them continuously and contextually.
With the emergence of people-based marketing, many businesses are creating exceptional omnichannel experiences with a humanistic approach.
Even advertisers are claiming that after adopting people-based advertising techniques, they have got a higher CTR than cookie-based advertising.
People-based marketing is a journey, not a destination.
So, refresh your marketing strategy by embracing this new change in the industry, to improve your business performance this year.
