The Power Of Personalisation

A personal greeting is at the very heart of all human interaction. Think of how you feel when you are met by a hearty handshake and a greeting such as “Great to see you again, Gerry. How are all the family?”.

Now contrast that with just getting a lukewarm nod and a greeting such as “Hello”.

The difference is personalisation. It’s about the feeling you get when you believe that you are being treated as an individual – that someone has made an extra effort to recognize your uniqueness.

And if the principal of personalisation is valid in our private lives, it’s even more important in business. The use of personalisation with any printed marketing material is a proven method of getting your message read – which is more than half the battle.

Personalisation can come in many different formats – and needn’t be at all expensive. Here are a few tips for making use of this most powerful marketing tool.

1) It’s taken as read that you’ll address your covering letter as “Dear Gerry”, but you should also try to introduce personalisation at other points in the correspondence. This could be as simple as using the name again in your closing line, e.g. “If you need any more information, Gerry, please feel free to contact me at any time.”

2) Prove that this is not just a mass-produced mailing by handwriting a compliment slip, ideally with a personal message such as “Thought this might be of interest to you, Gerry.”

3) If you know some personal details about your client, use them. If he’s got young children, for example, he might prefer a corporate hospitality event such as a special preview of the new Harry Potter movie (with his kids), rather than a stuffy night at the opera.

4) Digital printing means that it’s very cost-effective to print personal messages on the envelope or even on an individual brochure. Think of how powerful it would be to get an envelope with a message such as “A surefire way for ABC Ltd. To save big money”