Personalization should always be a top priority for business leaders and founders. It's what heightens your competitive advantage and increases your profitability. 

The most effective ways to personalize your business depend on your customers. What do they expect from you and other companies in your market? What kind of experience do they want to have when they engage with your brand? Consumers have always wanted companies to understand and meet their needs and expectations, and to do that requires personalization. This is why 70 percent of consumers now consider personalization a basic requirement for companies.

Consumers want it, and business owners recognize its importance, but some companies still struggle with meeting the mark. If you want to drive your personalization efforts next year, try out one or more of these tactics.

Facial Recognition Technology

More retail stores are implementing facial recognition into their marketing efforts, including big-name companies like Target and Apple. Facial recognition essentially offers businesses a behind-the-scenes look into the reactions and emotions of their customers. The technology can recognize emotions ranging from joy, sadness, surprise, and disgust, but it can also determine age, gender, and race as well.

Reading a person's mood as they engage with a brand, whether it's looking at an ad or browsing a store, can help businesses gauge how someone feels about their company and use that to inform their marketing campaigns, improve pain points, and enhance the overall customer experience.

Collecting Zero-Party Data 

Google has announced its plan to kill off third-party cookies, which companies have previously relied on to help them collect information about their customers. Now, they're starting to entice consumers to willingly provide them with information that can help them personalize their brand.

87 percent of people are comfortable sharing this data because they recognize its purpose, although many people request rewards and perks in exchange for their information. Companies who use the zero-party data they collect from customers experienced 2.9 times more revenue than other brands, while also receiving 1.5 times more cost savings.

Location-Based Marketing

As its name suggests, location-based marketing allows companies to pinpoint potential customers using their smartphones to deliver a unique and personalized experience. This is intended to increase foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores by making your business known whenever a person searches for a specific interest near them. While this may seem like a breach of privacy to some consumers, it turns out that most people actually appreciate this type of marketing because it helps them have control over their experience and provides them with a desired outcome. So it's a win-win for both parties.

There are so many different ways you can personalize your business for the benefit of your customers and your bottom line. Which one are you going to try first?