I was rewatching Minority Report this weekend and this scene of Tom Cruise in in a ““modern mall”” made me think about the rise hyper-personalization marketing and how invasive it can seem. If you had the ability to market in a hyper personalized manner, would you? Does access to this level of data scare you as a professional and/or as a consumer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bXJ_obaiYQ --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
I’m going through the Inbound Marketing Cert videos right now, and they advocate for personalized emails, but you bring up a good point here. I think there is definitely a point where the personalization is a bit too personal, especially if it brings up data that you did not necessarily know you willingly provided (website behavior, for example). I did like the example of the one company that made their emails sound like they were coming from their account executive and went without all of the bells and whistles of traditional marketing emails (headers, footers, etc.) although that requires the AEs to know the content of the messages/when they’re sent in order to respond appropriately if the customer follows up. --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
Excellent point, Victor. That clip feels like a glimpse into a future that I find unsettling but likely. Plus, it seems like there’s no need to scan eyes; faces will do. Check out this episode https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/podcasts/breaking-bard-who-owns-your-face-gamer-news.html Devin, you’re spot on. We’re already at a place where marketers (especially outside of Europe) know more than the average buyer expects. We know website behavior, LinkedIn activity, and (if you are willing pay for and/or integrate with external tools) buyer intent and SO much more. That presents two challenges for the average marketer: 1) gather as much information about prospects as possible and 2) create a tailored message that uses that information but doesn’t reveal enough to seem invasive. Tricky times, my friends! --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
There is always the danger in the abilities we gain from the tech we develop. Even generic messages, to me, can feel invasive, albeit in a superficial way. Hyper-personalization can be acceptable, but only once you’ve earned trust and ensured it doesn’t make people uncomfortable. We used to find this technology creepy, but if there’s transparency, consent, and it’s used judiciously, I believe it can significantly strengthen relationships. It all comes down to truly focusing on customer needs and respecting your relationship with them. I would ask to be in a relationship and get personal if there is a mutual fit and once we’ve both earned trust. --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
Haha! Been thinking about this concept since that movie launched and figured it would have made it to the stores much sooner given the super early adoption of facial recognition used in Vegas casinos to keep out cheaters. Naturally, we don’t have everyone’s most current image on file…yet. Having just gone through customs in two countries, your picture gets taken A LOT without you realizing it, and that’s outside of security cameras. We are already inundated with ads that ‘target’ us online based on our surfing habits. As marketers what do we say? Personalization is king. Well, why be so shy now? All we’re talking about is a real-world version of ad targeting rather than it only being an online mechanic. Much like people in the movie weren’t bothered by it, I don’t believe we will either. If we were bothered by it, we wouldn’t have personalization tokens which allow a computer system to pretend to be a human that is personally contacting another human. --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.
I think to back when there was a big discussion in Germany on how much information was being collected and cross-referenced and collated, pointing out that we were becoming effectively “glass consumers” (gläserne Konsumenten), where our consumption-related activities were being statistically analysed and correlations identified. People were largely horrified by the idea. Look where we are now. While there are clear lines between marketing and propaganda, the potential for misuse here is large: imagine, if you will, a country that targets the citizens of another country via social media, constantly tossing in propaganda amongst the videos of cute girls and puppies. With the right correlation matrices you can target very specific messages to highly segmented groups in order to undermine the society of the targeted country. Now that is worrisome. It bothers the heck out of me. --- This post was migrated from connect.com and was originally published at an earlier date.