The challenge of creating personalised B2B marketing campaigns often feels like a double-edged sword. Dive too deeply into understanding buyers’ needs, and scalability becomes a nightmare; skim the surface, and messages lose their relevance and fail to connect. Yet, with personality data at the core, marketers are finding a way to break this paradox. Enter the 65/75 rule, a game-changing approach to scalable personalisation that aligns marketing strategies with human behaviour.
Cracking the Code: The 65/75 Rule
The 65/75 rule is based on a simple yet profound insight: birds of a feather flock together. People with similar personality traits gravitate towards specific industries, roles, and organisations. Years of research profiling tens of thousands of buyers revealed that 65% to 75% of individuals in many industries share just two dominant personality types, as defined by the DISC personality model.
For instance, more than half of Fortune 500 CEOs possess the same personality type. Similarly, 65% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in financial services share similar traits. This discovery offers profound implications: personality types influence not just job roles but how individuals learn, shop, and make decisions.
“Your personality often determines your career path,” explains Gillum. “If you’re unhappy in your role, it might not just be the job—it could be that your personality doesn’t align with it.”
Applying Personality Insights to B2B Marketing
Understanding personality traits goes beyond surface-level targeting. It unlocks insights into how buyers prefer to consume information. For example:
- Influencers (the “I” in DISC) gravitate towards quick, visual formats like infographics and animated videos, driven by a desire to share information.
- Conscientious types (the “C”), or sceptics, favour data-rich, research-backed content delivered in an analytical tone.
By aligning marketing content to these preferences, brands can ensure their messaging resonates with target audiences. This approach is akin to fishing: marketers can tailor their “bait” (content) to the “fish” (personality types) in the right “body of water” (industries).
The Mobiliser Challenge: Targeting High-Value Buyers
Years ago, identifying high-value buyers, or “mobilisers,” was a daunting task. These individuals—key players in group buying decisions—often initiate or lead the purchasing journey. However, traditional tools lacked the precision to target them effectively.
Today, predictive and generative AI provides a solution. By analysing personality data, marketers can identify mobilisers by their traits, industries, and roles. This insight enables the creation of tailored content that speaks directly to their motivations, at scale.
For example:
- In targeting CISOs in financial services, marketers can use AI to generate research-backed content in an analytical tone. While engagement isn’t guaranteed, the approach significantly increases the likelihood of interaction without risking credibility.
Scalability Through AI and Personality Data
Personality-driven marketing doesn’t just personalise campaigns—it makes them scalable. AI tools can now analyse engagement data to determine buyers’ preferred content formats and delivery methods at every stage of the journey.
In professional services, for example, the 65/75 rule applies throughout the buying process:
- Early-stage buyers are predominantly two DISC types (DI).
- Mid- and late-stage buyers, including sceptics, emerge with distinct preferences.
This insight allows marketers to “fish” where the buyers are most likely to engage, ensuring resources are deployed effectively.
Transforming B2B Marketing with Personality Data
The 65/75 rule bridges the gap between personalisation and scalability, offering marketers a practical framework for navigating the complexities of B2B campaigns. With AI enabling precise targeting and tailored content creation, brands can finally crack the code of scalable personalisation.
“Teaching marketers to fish using personality-based strategies doesn’t just scale campaigns—it feeds the salesforce for a year,” says Gillum.
In a competitive marketplace, understanding and leveraging personality data isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity for businesses looking to connect meaningfully and drive results at scale.
Source: https://martech.org/why-personality-data-is-key-to-scalable-b2b-marketing/
