Ensuring that your brand comes across as “human” is actually much more important than you might think. While sitting in the background and trying to get various systems, funnels, and AI tools to run everything for you can be fun, you still want people in the loop who are visible to your audience. In general, people don’t buy products and services, they buy the promises others make.
So, what can you do to make your brand more human? Let’s have a look:
Tell Authentic Stories
You’ll want to start by telling authentic stories. Letting people know why you do what you do is critical. The more engaging you can make your story, the more likely it is to resonate with your audience.
Telling stories does all sorts of things from highlighting your mission to ensuring you can overcome challenges. Throughout it all, you want to focus on aligning your customers with what you do so that you can thrive in the market in the future.
Show Off Your People
Another thing you want to do is add corporate headshots to your website and your marketing materials so you can show off your people. If there aren’t any faces behind your brand, your audience will wonder who you are and what you have to offer (if anything).
Don’t be one of these companies that makes the entire website all about optimised marketing copy. That’s great and it can work, but you also want some pages where curious minds can go to learn more about you and what you do.
Use Relatable Language
Another pro tip is to use relatable language. When your brand says something, people should be able to understand you.
This issue is particularly acute when it comes to technical companies. Lawyers and software engineers often talk in complex terms.
That’s why being relatable is so critical. You want to ensure you stick to a grade five reading level and avoid technical terms unless absolutely necessary. Anything else risks confusing or alienating your readership.
Be Open
You can also humanise your brand by being transparent and open about what you do. If you can admit mistakes when they happen, that’s a great idea.
When you are open about your failures, it ironically builds more trust. People get to know you better and they see that you’re trying to do the right thing, even if it feels challenging sometimes.
If you can be accountable with your processes, that also helps. For example, if you have supply chain issues, you might offer customers refunds for delays, etc.
Use Social Media
Finally, you should be using as much social media as you can for connection. The more you can share with individuals in real-time, the better off your brand will be.
You’d be surprised by just how many companies have successful social media followings. While a lot of brands can’t break out of their corporate groupthink, you can sometimes hire people outside of the firm to represent you on social media to gain more traction.