The New Trend In Story: Hyper-Personalization
When the message really is designed just for you
Imagine listening to a speaker and swearing they were talking directly to and for you and you alone. Or a time you thought, “Wow, it's like this presenter knows me and my world so well!” Typically that kind of deep, direct connection is accidental, like a horoscope or fortune cookie that randomly hits its mark. As the saying goes, even a broken clock is accurate twice a day. But what if that connection was intentional and practiced? What if the story really was, in fact, designed just for you?
Hyper-personalized communication makes every message feel like it’s been crafted specifically for the person we're speaking with. It adds precision, with a human touch that makes each individual in our audience or on our team feel like they’re the most important person in that room, and doing the most important job in the world. Hyper-personalization isn't just a trend; it’s becoming a must-have for differentiation and success in the new workplace and the new marketplace.
70% of our audiences expect a hyper-personalized message
Back in the early 90s I was in a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame helmed by a director who was a hyper-personalization expert, making each actor feel we were in the most original, powerful piece of theater ever created. We weren't, but his remarkable ability to connect with each individual member of the cast and crew inspired us to perform at our best.
As a professional communicator, I strive for that same personal approach, impact, and outcome in every talk I deliver.
Fast Simon sites studies showing that over 70% of customers expect personalized interactions and are likelier to finalize purchases when they experience a customized experience. The faster our society digitizes and focuses on technology to perform tasks, the more important and empowering personalized communication becomes as a driver of performance, revenue growth, and key differentiation.
Deliberate segmentation
Adding value-based personalization into our story from the stage, camera, and conference room boils down to effective segmentation built on practical audience data. Successful #CorporateStorytelling always starts with data because the right insights allow us to better segment our audience in order to give them what they need at the moment they most need it.
Data collection for message personalization requires a deep dive into our team's or listener's explicit challenges and goals, the obstacles they face daily, their personal experiences, organizational realities, stresses and pressures, visions of success, hopes and dreams. When we add those insights to our story it instantly feels more engaging and personalized.
Next we take another deep dive, this time into their implicit data; personal work habits, thought patterns, status quo processes, priorities, and engagement methods. Add those to the mix and the now message feels hyper-personalized for that particular group of listeners.
But personalizing for 300 strangers?
Of course the more people we speak with at one time, the harder it is to hyper-personalize. Scheduling a meeting with one or two colleagues makes personalizing our content easier in order to meet them on their terms, create a level playing field, and inspire them to try something new. Delivering a keynote to 300 strangers makes a personalized story far more difficult.
But not impossible. Hyper-personalization is about awareness, recognition, and creating value. As Deloitte says, “We live in an era where customers expect us to understand their wants and needs.” Businesses are expected to not just meet the needs of customers, but anticipate and exceed them; as speakers for our businesses, this is our core directive as well.
Authentic interactions demand that our message meets the current, immediate needs of the person we're speaking to, anticipates their wants in that specific moment, and exceeds their expectations with our value-driven communication.
Bottom Line
Regurgitating website-based or copy-paste statistics isn't enough. It's impersonal and ineffective, not storytelling, and it undermines human connection. Even when facing a room of 300, we have to include our own hyper-personal experiences in the story we share. Information is important, but only when we balance it with inspiration that helps people see us and our story in themselves.
