ARE WE HUMAN OR ARE WE ROBOTS?

With ever-increasing technological advancements, especially through automation, organisations are risking falling into the trap of presenting themselves as robots rather than humans. Social media, in particular, is flooded with content, making it increasingly difficult to stand out and connect to a target audience. Covid 19 especially has made us more distant than ever, with endless Zoom calls replacing face to face meetings and events, businesses may have started to lose the ‘human touch’ and now is the time to embrace a more personal experience to reconnect with their target audience.

Are digital and online platforms hindering your marketing?

Even though the digital world has helped businesses to reach new audiences, rapidly grow and develop, being human and adopting a more personalised approach can have a more meaningful impact and help a business to be seen as approachable and trustworthy.

How to make your marketing more human?

1. Use emotional marketing – emotional strategies can help a business differentiate themselves and stand out, this can apply in a B2B setting, as well as B2C. Focus on how your services can help someone on a personal level, not just professionally, such as freeing up more time to spend at home or reducing costs to save money to invest in other areas of the business.
2. Be open and honest – providing transparency can help people to see you as a human. Use your marketing through social media to show honesty, such as lessons learnt, decisions to pivot, valuing downtime – the more open you are, the more trustworthy you become.
3. Showcase your people – a day in the life or a live video of behind the scenes of a business, including any CSR activities, can humanise your brand. Another alternative is providing a thought leadership podcast from experts in your team, talking through a particular technical challenge or case study. Making it informal and fun will resonate with people and is a great recruitment tool, making people think ‘I would like to work there’.
4. Nurture existing clients – don’t forget your loyal and existing customers. It can be easy to concentrate on attracting new opportunities and clients, but it is always important to maintain and nurture your existing relationships as well! Sharing a client’s business success, sending a special offer or sharing a technically useful piece of content in a ‘saw this and thought of you’ gesture, will add to a long-lasting relationship.
5. Don’t just rely on digital – we rely so much on digital marketing and social media platforms these days that we can forget about using other forms of communication. Picking up the phone for a catch-up call instead of an email or sending something in the post can add that extra personal touch. As restrictions lift, face to face meetings, having a coffee or lunch and attending networking events are finally now becoming a possibility.

At the end of the day, we are all humans and people buy from people they trust. Humanising a brand should always be central to any marketing strategy, something that shouldn’t be forgotten as businesses emerge from the Pandemic.

Cal Partners is an award-winning agency often working as an outsourced and multi-disciplinary marketing department for its clients in the professional services, healthcare and consultancy sectors.