Hyper-personalization in marketing – the next big thing or retargeting in disguise?

Most marketing jargon is nonsense. I’ll die on that hill. Marketers are often guilty of making a song-and-dance about the next big thing. It’ll revolutionise how campaigns are delivered. Clients will benefit. Businesses will reap the rewards etc.

But, if you can filter through all the hype, often what’s being pitched already exists. It’s just been given a shiny new coat of paint.

A case in point – hyper-personalization. It’s emerged as the newest game changer in marketing. As a concept, it’s solid. Real-time data, machine learning, AI, and predictive analytics are combined in perfect harmony to create the best picture possible of a customer and their needs.

Promotional content as a result is not only relevant, but tailored. An advert, offer, or message is delivered to that one person, and them alone. I have no problem with this, and where hyper-personalization tactics are used properly, I’m sure it’ll lead to great results.

But, I think some will be tempted to take advantage of all the buzzwords. Take a bog-standard marketing strategy, say it’s hyper-personalized, and hope no one looks into the details.

The details are always important though. From what I’ve seen, hyper-personalization still needs existing data from marketing contacts. They’re then targeted with new, supposedly real-time messages.

You know what this sounds like to me? Retargeting. The temptation may be there to pitch advanced retargeting disguised as a breakthrough. Granted, there is more data that we can use now, but it's essentially the same thing.

I’ve urged caution on trendy marketing trends before. Artificial Intelligence, arguably, isn’t dependable enough yet, and can’t be trusted entirely with all our data. Purpose-driven marketing risks backfiring dramatically, and may actually push consumers away. Marketing output in general can, I’m sad to say, be too much for audiences to absorb sometimes.

What’s new is exciting. I get that. But exciting doesn’t always equate to success. Crystal Pepsi got off to a great start, but it was discontinued within a year or so. Nobody wears Google Glasses anymore. When was the last time you got to work on a segway?

Sometimes, it’s best to focus on what’s timeless. The needle doesn’t always need to be moved. Working hard on a campaign, thinking about what a consumer needs, designing a product with the wider market in mind – these things have proven to work time and again.

I will always look for ways to enhance what my team and I produce. But I think what’s really important is an ability to identify what’s worth listening to, and what’s just noise. I’ll have my ear to the ground on what’s the next big thing in marketing, while keeping a close eye on what actually works for my audience.