In a modern business world, it’s important for brands to stand out from competitors. With half of all businesses failing within five years, differentiating your company can make or break your success. Because of a high level of competition, humanizing your brand has become an effective tactic.
Far too often, business owners employ marketing tactics that evoke corporate coldness. Suddenly, your messaging seems robotic and empty. Today, the snake oil salesman and cold caller rarely hit the mark. The modern consumer doesn’t want to be sold a product; they want to be sold an experience.
Without sensing a human element, it becomes difficult for consumers to relate to or care about a company. This is especially true for small businesses and start-ups; these budding businesses often need to connect with their consumers on a much deeper level to gain their loyalty. With that in mind, here’s how you can humanize your brand and build better customer relationships:
Tell your story
Humans have always used storytelling as a tool to communicate and grow. Who are the people behind your business? Why did your business get started? An effective brand story details the events that led to the launch of your business. Creating a compelling brand story makes it much easier for customers to empathize with and care about you.
As you craft your story, which you can publish on your website as “Our Story” or “About Us,” think about the driving forces that encouraged you to start your company. Be open about any adversities you faced along the way. Many businesses fear openly discussing flaws, but it’s precisely these conflicts and resolutions that allow us to be more relatable to one another.
Don’t forget influencer marketing
Influencer marketing has become synonymous with digital marketing, and there’s a reason for this. Consumers trust recommendations from people that they know and/or follow.
Influencers are great investments because they’ve already built trust with their followers and know how to exert influence over them. Ideally, you’ll work with local influencers to help you communicate your products and services. Take time to build relationships with your influencers and they’ll come to act as brand ambassadors outside of social media.
Work with an agency
If you’re not adept at marketing, it may be wise to research local digital marketing services. Being a human comes naturally to you, but giving an entity human elements is easier said than done. Reach out to marketing agencies and let them know that your goal is to humanize your brand and boost authentic engagement with your market.
From here, they’ll create data-backed solutions that make a difference. With fresh eyes and a diverse set of marketing skills, they’ll be able to evaluate your business objectively to come up with creative solutions that are catered to your brand, target audience, and goals.
Copywriting talent is especially important here. When it comes to humanizing your brand, the messaging has to be conveyed in a relatable way. Grammar, syntax, personality, voice, and style are all important elements of your content. Consider this: if your brand had a human voice, what would it sound like? An agency can help you hone these key areas.
Highlight your team
Humans connect with other humans. One of the easiest ways to humanize a brand is to put the team running the business in the spotlight. What are their hobbies and what roles do they play in your organization?
Creating employee bios can act as a springboard to achieving this, and is very simple to do. Be fun and creative with your “About Us” and bio pages by adding funny pictures, asking employees to talk about their hobbies, and revealing elements of their character.
Show customer appreciation
Customer appreciation should be an integral part of your strategy. When a customer feels valued, they’re much more likely to return.
Create segmented email campaigns thanking your customers and clients for their business. You might even consider sending handwritten thank you letters, which can work wonders for retention.
Conclusion
Transparency has become an invaluable part of the customer-company relationship. If you note the trends, you’ll see that more people than ever want to know where their products are sourced from, care more about sustainability, and are more likely to be loyal to companies that have demonstrated that they are valued as customers.
Transparency, which is a keystone trait when it comes to humanizing your brand, is so important that one study found that customers were more likely to be loyal to a company that admitted its mistakes than if they didn’t.
Why? Because humans make mistakes. Brands make mistakes. We can relate to flaws and misunderstandings, but only when those incidences are communicated. Humanizing your brand is about so much more than telling your story and responding to comments—it’s about connecting on a personal level and showing the authentic side of the people that run your company.
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— Keap (@KeapGrowing) July 28, 2020
