Get Personal. It Pays.

Five years ago you most probably did not imagine that today millions of people would be walking around with the power of the iPhone in their pocket. Now we are to have the iPad. What will be next?

Think five short years into the future. You log on to your trusted information source. Yes, ‘your' personal source with news, entertainment, stocks - and advertising - delivered to you in the format you want, on the device of your choice, at any time, anywhere. Not only that, it is exactly the information that you wanted to receive. Time is money. You no longer have the time to browse through lots of information to find what you want. You need alerts if things change. You want to get on with your life.

You love this source of really relevant information - you are therefore a loyal subscriber.

Every one of the millions of mobile devices used today - and there will be millions more in the future - is used by an individual, someone like you or me. Someone with purchasing power.

Imagine being presented first thing in the morning with a traffic report for your commute that morning, last night's sports results, weather for tomorrow, headline news - and an ad for something that was on offer at your local store, which I, as the publisher, knew would be of particular interest to you, personally.

Get engaged

Fact. You don't have to wait five years. You could provide this type of customer engaging experience today. It's not hard - it just takes effort. You would know where I live (because I am a subscriber), know which team I support (because I had bought tickets to the game through your website) and know that I would be interested in baby clothing (because I had posted a Birth announcement in your newspaper). These are just a few small examples of audience ‘touch points' with a newspaper. There are many more. Start collecting this, and other data, now. The need is urgent.

Today, more than ever, information is essential in sustaining a successful business. Personalisation will be the new power that builds loyal communities. It will again make newspapers the dominant and preferred source of information - and once again make them highly relevant.

How much would an advertiser pay you for ‘personally' delivering their message to someone you knew was a ‘hot prospect' for their product or service?

I suggest that they would probably pay you a percentage of the almost inevitable sale, whatever that amount might be.

It is, I believe, this knowledge about the individuals within your audiences that will monetize the Web for you, their trusted source of highly relevant information, ‘personally' delivered. It will provide a rapidly growing and profitable part of your future business.

Once you intimately know about the individuals that go to make up your audience they can be enticed to buy anything, either by your advertisers, or by you.

Targeting pays. Google has proved that. Personalisation is now the key to growing revenues. The growth and results achieved in personalized direct marketing has proved that, beyond doubt. For you there is an added bonus. When you deliver targeted ads yourself, you keep 100% of the revenue!

Rich audience information provides the power that enables you to flick your revenue switch from Stop to Go. It's really important that you start collating the data today, and then use it to get personal with your audiences - before someone else does.

Reader Comments

Previous | Next

* = Required information