Personalization Part II: Connecting with Content

Everyday millions of us receive emails that are marked as spam or tossed in the trash. Often time these emails aren’t personalized, however, personalization can improve clickthrough rates and increase trust and connection with members. If you want to learn more about personalization, check out my blog from last week, “The Perks of Personalization”. In short, personalization is rather simple but its benefits are plentiful. By personalizing a message, members are more likely to open and engage with emails, even if just out of curiosity. After all, it should be a no brainer for your platform to pull an individual’s name and insert it into an email. Along with personalization, creating compelling content is also important as it engages members and furthers them through the buyer’s journey.

Content Connection

“Organizations have plenty of content to share, but knowing its purpose, place, and intended audience can help shape a strategic content marketing plan that helps you deliver on member needs and build deeper relationships.” -Kristin Clarke, CAE

While “many organizations have yet to strategically integrate content marketing into their traditional renew-now-register-today barrage of messages to members” it is important as more and more inboxes are being flooded with irrelevant messages, causing users to unsubscribe and be disengaged. In order for an organization to create content that connects with its members, they must fully understand their audience. This means providing content that caters to the wants and needs of members and sharing relevant info that is both personal and intentional. Sharing personal and intentional content to members will unveil an understanding and level of trust, keeping them engaged for longer periods of time. “According to Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi, developing a solid content marketing plan starts with at least seven initial questions:

1. What is the business goal?
2. What is the hypothesis behind the program?
3. Who exactly is the audience?
4. What's the differentiated story, and how will you tell it?
5. What assets do you have to work with before you start creating new content (e.g., member experts, white papers, conference sessions)?
6. What platform makes the most sense to launch the initiative?
7. What's the execution plan, and who's in charge of it?”

*Information courtesy of Creating Content That Clicks With Members