In May, I attended the Silverpop Client Summit in Atlanta where I was particularly intrigued by a new/old concept: Get to know your customers.

In describing the new rules of marketing in the digital landscape, one of the speakers compared engagement marketing to the good old days when people would shop at their local independently owned grocery or hardware store.

The owner knew you, and over time would learn what you liked and didn’t like based on what you bought and the feedback you gave him on those products.  The more you grew to trust the shopkeeper, the more you shared with him important details about your life – your anniversary, your kids’ birthdays, your secret desire for a new convertible, etc. Then, when he received new inventory and saw you come back into the store, he could take all of this knowledge about you and suggest a new item that he knew was relevant to you.

Just about every breakout seminar I attended at the conference touched on this concept in one way or another.  Essentially it was this: You know things about your customers – now use that information to deliver content and offers that are relevant to them.  Now for many reading this post, this is old news.  But how many marketers actually put it into practice?

Ever since the conference I’ve noticed how many emails I get that are just generic blasts.  They follow the same principles of broadcast, print, mass media in general: one fine-tuned message sent out to a massive group of people (even if that group of people is a targeted demographic).

It’s understandable – creating multiple versions of an email based on interests and needs of customers is time consuming and at some point probably does have diminishing returns in terms of the level of segmentation.  But as people’s inboxes grow and their attention spans shrink, those companies that take the time not only to get to know their customers’ needs and wants – and then in turn use that information responsibly to provide them with relevant products – will succeed.