Personalization increases the response rates for both print and digital communication methods. Integrating your personalized cross media marketing channels enables you, as a marketer, to reach your customers and prospects on multiple levels and with relevant content.

An eStrategy study showed that almost half of marketers “Strongly” believe personalization is highly measurable and successful.  But, that same study proved it is important to have the right data and the right tools in order for your personalized messages to be successful.  In fact, the study showed that 45 percent of marketers said that their personalized campaigns could have been more successful if they had more relevant data and analyzed their databases more in-depth.  Furthermore, the eStrategy study showed that 68 percent of marketers plan to use personalization in the future.

To create personalized content for both print and digital media you must start by segmenting your target audience into smaller, more precise subgroups — doing so will allow you to create a message for each group that’s more relevant and more likely to entice that specific group to respond to your call-to-action.  By maintaining an accurate database and organizing your database information, you’re ensuring that your customized messages, both print and digital, will be relevant to each segment of your target audience.

Just as it is important to create unique, relevant messages, it is also important to integrate each of your brand’s communication channels with one another.  For example, your print messages should correlate in timing and content with your digital messages.  By using pURLs and QR codes it is increasingly easier to connect your offline message and your online message — offering an easy way to connect the two mediums allows you to secure a higher engagement rate with your target audience.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association