Personalization has become an essential part of marketing strategy and the more specific you can be without making a prospect uncomfortable, the better.  Being able to tailor outreach campaigns and individual conversations to the pain points and personality of your contacts will make your marketing efforts more effective and efficient.  In order to do this, you need to learn about your prospects and customers.

Website

A company’s website contains a treasure trove of valuable insights that can help you to better personalize your marketing campaigns.  On the company level you’ll want to take a look into the about us page, service and product pages, event/news release pages and their company blog.  The about us page can give you details on the history of the company, their hierarchy and who they do business with.  Their service and product pages will let you know what they’re selling and who their target audience is.  Their event and news release pages will give insight into the future of the company and how to connect with them in person.  Each of these sections can help you to mold a targeted outreach.

Social Media

Social media can help you gather intelligence on your customers at the personal level as well as the company level.  Social media pages give insight into the personality of the brand you’re targeting and can help you to find common interests with specific contacts.  Through social listening you can also determine some of the key pain points a customer may be experiencing.  When gathering intelligence on specific contacts you’ll want to like and share some of their posts, join common discussion groups and then connect with them with a personal message.  This will make it so any personal information you bring up in later conversations can be traced back to an actual interaction.  This makes it look less like “stalking” and more like building a relationship.

Teleprospecting

One of the best ways to build a relationship, determine decision makers and network with influencers is to pick up the phone.  Speaking with gate keepers and lower level employees can help you determine those that have true decision-making abilities.  Additionally, being able to let that contact know that you were referred to them by a specific individual can help break the ice and establish credibility.  When doing any type of calling campaign you should have clear goals and objectives as well as survey like questions that will help you to gather business intelligence.  Learning the hierarchy and who controls the budget within a company is vital to the sales process.

Events

Despite all of the digital channels available, the best way to get to know someone is with a face to face conversation.  Identifying the events that your target company attends and hosts will give you the opportunity to meet them in person.  While you cannot expect to make a sale at a trade show, even the smallest interaction with your prospects can help to establish a working relationship.  Come armed with questions that can be worked into each conversation to help you gather the information you’re looking for.  Be direct and honest about your intentions and be sure to show a true interest in building a real connection, as that is the goal.