People buy from people.
This statement is truer than ever today, with so many customers looking to engage with the humans behind businesses, not faceless brands.
In the age of the Internet, stuffy, impersonal brands unable to step out from behind the logo are likely to lag behind the competition.
“What does it mean, exactly, to humanise a brand?”. I’ve been asked this question dozens of times.
It’s often followed up by questions such as, “Why would I want to show off the human side of my brand?”, “How can I be sure that brand humanisation isn’t just a buzzword?” and “What are the benefits of humanising my business?”
So, let’s dive deep into brand humanisation – What it is, how it can help you achieve long-term success, and what you can do to show the human side of your business.
Table of contents:
- Why do you need to show off the human side of your brand?
- 11 easy ways to humanise your brand and win big
1. Why Do You Need to Show Off the Human Side of Your Brand?
Before exploring some quick and easy ways to humanise your brand, let’s start with the why.
Humanising your business means putting people first – it’s that simple.
A people-first approach has become extremely important in an era where every customer has a journey to go through when interacting with a brand.
Customers react to emotional triggers. If you interpret the act of selling your products as a purely transactional experience, you risk losing business to your competitors.
Here is where brand humanisation comes into play.
Creating emotional connections with your customers goes hand-in-hand with showcasing the human side of your brand.
When you put a face on your brand, you respond to customers’ needs to build authentic relationships and grip on to something genuine in the face of an impersonal technology tsunami.
Here are the main reasons why brand humanisation has become a vital part of building and growing a thriving business:
- Showing off your human side helps you share your brand’s story
Humanising your brand provides you with more opportunities to share your story. Remember, stories create purpose and increase customer engagement. They allow customers to get a deeper understanding of what makes your business unique.
Neil Patel says that sharing your brand’s story is like a vitamin. When it gets into your customers, it permeates them and removes every barrier that might stop them from becoming life-long brand advocates.
- Humanising your brand enables you to build and maintain customer loyalty
Humans want to connect with other humans. Plain and simple. Customers steer away from impersonal, one-way mass communications or marketing gimmicks.
Remember, the world has drastically changed since the pandemic outbreak, and deep human connections have become more important than ever.
You may gain one-time customers even without putting a face on your brand. But if you want to convert customers into recurring ones, you need to build genuine connections. Brand humanisation is your trump card that converts customers and keeps them loyal.
So, to create a memorable brand and build long-lasting client relationships, you’ve got to be human.
- Showcasing your human side helps you build trust
Let’s face it; consumers increasingly distrust brands and advertising. According to Marketing Charts, 81% of Australians find it harder to trust companies.
As the digital revolution has made consumers more granular targets for marketers using sneaky tricks to make them spend more online, most customers see brands as faceless enemies looking to persuade them to buy and make money.
That’s why you need to redouble your efforts to show your customers that you care and gain their trust. To do so, your brand needs a more human face.
Let your audience get to know you and your team so that you can inspire more trust and prove that you care about more than just a sale.
2. 11 Easy Ways to Humanise Your Brand and Win Big
Especially when you operate remotely, humanising your brand can make the difference between a personalised customer experience that helps you gain lifelong brand advocates and a dull brand experience that chases customers away.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can step out from behind the logo and show the human side of your business to your audience.
- Put a spotlight on your team
Your customers want to learn more about the people behind your brand. Creating a “Meet the Team” page with photos and profiles of yourself and your team members and adding it to your website is a quick and effective way to give your brand an accessible face and show off your culture.
- Have real humans respond to customer reviews and posts
Customers want to be heard and can easily tell when a response is genuine. Responding to positive and negative reviews in a timely manner helps you build trust and shows customers your business is made of humans who value their opinions.
- Give your customer service a human touch
While customers typically appreciate emerging technologies such as website chatbots, the human touch is still in high demand. Even if you operate remotely, the friendly voice of a virtual receptionist can go a long way when it comes to humanising your business.
- Find your unique brand voice
Voice reflects your brand’s core values, and it impacts how consumers perceive your brand. Unleashing your authentic brand voice when marketing your business will convey your humanity and help you talk with customers with a dash of personality.
- Share content that engages, not sells
Modern marketers know that hard-sell tactics are doomed to fail. Sure, a low-pressure, soft-sell approach can be a lot more effective than a hard-sell approach. However, a no-sell strategy in which helpful and engaging content is the cornerstone of your marketing efforts can help you step out from behind your logo and make your brand more human-centred.
- Show your funny bone
“Why was the hot air balloon business not doing well? Because it did not take off.” Ok, that might be a corny joke, but hopefully, it grabbed your attention. Spice up your content with a bit of humour to unleash your human side. People love humour, and your customers are no different. Don’t be afraid to make your audience laugh and get a standing ovation.
- Post photos and videos to give customers a behind-the-scenes look at your business
Have professional videos and photographs and give your audience a peek at what your business is really like. This is a great opportunity to create a deep level of engagement and bring in a human element to your marketing strategy.
One caveat, though – You need to make sure you strike the right balance between the human side of your business and professionalism. If you are operating remotely, you may want to consider getting a virtual office to give your business a professional appearance.
- Engage in conversations
To showcase the human side of your brand, you need to make conversations with customers part of your everyday life. Be sure your social media posts spark engaging social discussions. By doing this, you will easily build and nurture relationships with your followers and trigger word-of-mouth for your business.
- Tell authentic stories
Sharing authentic stories about your business and team members will give your brand an extra human element and a more personal touch. Tell your audience meaningful and genuine stories they can relate to. Humanise your message across all content, whether it’s a blog post, email newsletter, video, case study, or another type of content.
- Meet your customers face-to-face
We live in the age of remote communication. When running a remote business, face-to-face meetings with customers don’t seem to matter. But truth is, in-person meetings can go a long way towards humanising your brand. Whether you take your customers for a day out, invite them to trial new products, or engage them using professional meeting rooms, in-person meetings help you give your brand a human touch in a digital world.
- Avoid overly formal, corporate language
Let’s admit it; formal, humdrum corporate language is boring the life out of people. To humanise your brand, you need to speak in your customers’ language. Conventional business language is sheer puffery that lacks excitement. Instead, use simple, clear, crisp language that grabs attention and engages your audience.
Conclusion: As cliché as it may sound, people want to do business with people they know and trust.
Would you want to hand over your money to a cold, faceless corporation? Most likely not.
As long as you do not put a human face on your brand and communications are not genuine and natural, your audience will find it hard to engage with your business. And that also means that consumers are less likely to buy from you.
Use the simple tips in this post to engage your customers with a human touch! They will immensely benefit your remote business and help you stay ahead of the pack.
Are you looking for ways to keep the human touch in the digital era? B2B HQ can provide your remote business with the right tools and services to tap into your human voice and speak to your customers in a way that is authentic and professional. In a world where everything is digital, keeping a human touch with your customers is paramount to success. Do not hesitate to contact us for further details!
