How marketers can finally bring the 'personal' to personalization

When you hear the word "personalization," what comes to mind? Perhaps words like customer, one-to-one, targeted, customized and conversions. According to TechTarget, the marketing definition of personalization is "a means of meeting the customer's needs more effectively and efficiently, making interactions faster and easier and, consequently, increasing customer satisfaction and the likelihood of repeat visits." It cites the core technologies behind personalization as cookies, collaborative filtering, user profiling and data analysis. For years, marketers have had the technical capability to reach an individual in any context, on any channel, at any time.