One to Any: When Personalization Fails

Marketers have been talking about One to One marketing for as long as I've been in tech marketing. Which is a while. Peppers and Rogers' "The One to One Future" came out in 1993, and one could argue that that future is now, with the advances of interactive media.

I remember first printing client names and personalized offers based on buying history onto the front of our catalog(paper) in 1993. We thought we were the bomb. And for that time, we really kind of were. Most of our competition was all about why you should want what everyone else had. We were afraid to abandon that approach but determined to move ahead and give customers MORE and what THEY wanted.

Most marketers can mimic the mantra: IDENTIFY; DIFFERENTIATE; INTERACT and CUSTOMIZE.but few still get it right.

Perhaps they/we sometimes get worn down from having the shotgun blast vs. precision pistol argument with our sales team. I have this discussion so many times a day, I believe our sales team must think I'm about to go postal on them at any minute. No, I've never brought in firearms to demonstrate my point. But now that I think about it, it might be a way to not have to repeat the discussion.

So, why this rant? why today?

A senior VP in our company forwarded an email to the entire executive team lauding an email from a sales person at a company trying to sell us something. It's not something we would likely use if you knew anything about our business, which means it was a waste. But no one complains about wasteful emails at pennies a send. Even if they should!

See if you can figure out the offense. The salesperson called him by his name. Said she remembered meeting him at a particular conference, and wanted to see if he was still interested in her wares. She remembered how interested and excited he was about x,y and z and she'd love to refresh his memory. One of two major problems: He was, nor was anyone from our company, at that conference, nor were we registered and didn't show. there was no reason we should be on that list.

So, poor list management. Happens every day.

The real error here is the perception by one of my colleagues that this was "smart marketing." His argument was that HE knew he wasn't at that conference and therefore knew he never met her, but many people who were there might "think they met her and feel guilty and take the meeting (and buy her software?) because they were too dumb to remember if they met her or not."

This #fails on so many levels. Remember IDENTIFY; DIFFERENTIATE; INTERACT and CUSTOMIZE? well if you are selling to idiots, great. But don't assume you are selling to idiots. What does assuming do? Yep. ass. you. me.

Don't market to the lowest faction of your audience. Don't assume your customers are dumber than you are. If you do, you are asking dumb people to make a smart choice. Doesn't sound like a sound marketing strategy to me.

I know I try and fail. I have to remember the exercise is the exercise often. BUT I do, in earnest, talk to my customers like they are as smart or smarter than me. I don't assume they know what I do and I don't try to trick them.

We're in a trust business. Lying up front isn't a good way to start a relationship based on trust- anywhere. So why would it be good here?

My marketing mantras may not be sophisticated. And this certainly isn't new media. But I see ever growing trends, and the more methods you have for lying and trying to sound smarter than you are? Well, the more people are able to figure it out.

So, here it is, plain and simply. Treat your potential and existing customers with respect. Don't try and sound smarter than them. Get to know them. Listen to them. Then solve their problem or show them someone else who can. Build the relationship.

No good relationship starts with a lie.