How to Humanize Your Brand

According to a recent study, 10 out of 10 of your customers are humans.

So why would you still treat them like robots? Humans are not designed to absorb generic marketing messages and corporate offers. Being seen as a unique individual is a basic human need. Yet, a lot of companies are still failing to really see customers as humans and market to them as such.

Here are 8 tips that are sure to help you to humanize your brand and get closer to your customers.

1. Share stories, don’t just sell products

People are more likely to show an interest in connecting with another person than with a company. You can give your business some personality if you show a lighter side to your company and tell stories that relate to your audience. And that’s the whole point of humanizing your brand – helping your customers see your business as a person.

2. Engage with your customers on social media

Create a Twitter account and Facebook page for your company, and use them to reach out to your customers. Try to get them to talk to you. And when they do, be sure to reply promptly! Post things that are relevant to your field, but throw in something fun from time to time.

3. Use video

Video is by far the best tool for capturing and retaining attention. A great way to show you care about your customers and their problem is to create an explainer video for them. You can create one that explains your service or product, and you can even create one that focuses on you – the people behind the brand. You can put them on your “About Us” page, you can post them on Facebook, tweet them on Twitter, or share them anywhere you feel your customers could see them.

4. Treat your audience like your friends

When writing anything, write as if you were talking to someone you know. Imagine addressing your buyer persona. This will show in your content. Another thing you could do is to picture yourself talking to a family member interested in buying your product.

5. Build an emotional connection

Here’s the thing. People connect to humans – not logos. You can create a killer “About Us” page that tells your story. You can post photos of your team being themselves, write the company’s story, or even put a video there. If you build an emotional connection, you are likely to gain more trust.

6. Share content in real time

Share your content when it is relevant and still fresh. Not to say that sharing an older piece of content is bad, but you do want to stay current. Your customers want to see that you’re keeping up with the trends.

7. Avoid corporate speak

I think I’ve mentioned something similar already – speak as if you were speaking to someone you know. Avoid frankenspeak, buzzwords and business lingo. Talking about business is fine, but you want to come across as someone who’s down to earth and has the answers. You can still establish yourself as a credible authority even if you use layman’s terms. Your customers will definitely appreciate that.

8. Have a plan

Spend some time understanding what humanizing your brand would mean for your company. Set realistic goals, figure out a way to measure what you have achieved, and when you’re ready put your plan into action. If you humanize your brand, your company will seem more like a person than a product. You should work hard to make it impossible for people to tell the difference.

Marketing has evolved in such a way that companies are expected to know their target audience, develop buyer personas, maintain an active social media presence, and be genuinely helpful to their leads and customers. Why is that? Well, the reality is that in this day and age we are not working on separating our personal from our work lives, but we are instead moving to integrating them into one another.

This article was written with love for learning and constant improvement. If you enjoyed it, please share, like, and give comments and feedback.

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