As a business owner, you have two options – standardisation and customisation. If you want a one-size-fits-all solution, go with standardisation of your business process.
On the other hand, if you want to leave an impression on your customers, create an exceptional user experience, send a personalised message to your clients, or have a unique software developed just for you – start customising your products, services, and communications as soon as possible.
If you are constantly hearing about the importance of personalisation and customisation, but still wondering how that might help your business go sky-high, read on. You’ll find out what types of customisation can help your company grow.
Customise Your Offer
You could say that you want everyone to be your customer, but pointing out to „everyone“ as your target audience is not such a good idea. As Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb says, you should „build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like”.
So, define your audience more profoundly. Be specific. Get into details. Imagine your ideal client and create a buyer persona out of it. Is it a teenager thinking about their college education? Or a manager who needs a masterful project management tool? Or, perhaps, a senior who is thinking about settling in a retirement home?
Once you define a target group of people, go out there and talk to them. What are their needs? What kind of problems do they face? Can your product or service solve them? Yes? Great! Customise your offers accordingly.
Customise the Client Onboarding Process
Starting a new project with a client you have never worked before can be a challenging experience for both of you. What is this client like? Should you sign a non-disclosure agreement? Will they pay you on time? Will you be able to develop a long-term relationship with them?
The best way to stop playing the guessing game and start nurturing a trustworthy relationship right from the start is to have a customised onboarding pack.
You can prepare templates upfront and fill in the blanks when a new project arises. Make sure to include your work process, approximate timeline, cost estimate, payment requirements, NDA outline, project documentation, and your terms of use, all packed up and ready to be customised for every new customer you acquire.
Customise Your Business Relationships
Building a strong relationship with your customers will help you gain loyal clients in the long run. It will drive sales, bring growth, and make your business sustainable.
In order to develop such a strong partnership with your clients, you need to have a personalised approach to sales. What does that mean? It means you need to handle your customers with great care. Because “the best marketing strategy ever is CARE“, as a renowned entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk likes to say.
Every one of your customers is unique. So, treat them with respect and make them feel special. Nurture the relationship with your audience through social media profiles.
Answer every given question, share your knowledge, create giveaway contests, start a meaningful discussion, and try to personalise posts as much as you can.
Having Custom Software Designed For You
Let’s say you have a specific requirement for your business which is not solvable by any existing app.
Perhaps you want to create an innovative booking system, or you need a special kind of scheduling software that will create team shifts automatically, or you may want specifically tailored content management system to help you run your news portal.
Hiring software engineers and having a custom application designed and developed for you can easily solve the problem you are facing. If done right, such technology could level up your business and help it stand out among competitors.
Customise Your Brand’s Style
Your brand has its own personality. It can be bold and dramatic, calm and sensitive, fun and playful, elegant and sophisticated… Capture the uniqueness of your brand and have a tailor-made style guide written for your organisation.
Develop and nurture the unique voice and tone, and make your brand become instantly recognisable.
That said, you should start customising everything written for your website, sales pages, landing pages, portfolio, brochures, catalogues, apps, social media profiles, business cards, letterheads, greeting cards, and everything in between.
Customise Your Email Newsletters
Nowadays, having an email newsletter as part of a digital marketing strategy is almost imperative for all kinds of businesses. But, what kind of newsletter should you make?
Should it be with plain text, or should you go with a specific template? Our advice: go for a custom design and keep it consistent from volume to volume.
By using simple design tools like Canva, for instance, you can easily create a newsletter from template or use custom images, fonts, colours, and background. Either way, you can take a look at Really Good Emails to find inspiration in the curated list of best-designed newsletters from around the world.
Conclusion
No matter if you own a beauty salon, restaurant, travel agency, or a FinTech start-up, you get to work with people, for people. So, always try to put your users/clients/buyers in the centre of everything you do.
Listen to your customers carefully, try to empathise with them and understand their problems. Then craft your brand guidelines, personalise your communications, and tailor the offers to suit your clients’ needs.