Why Your Brand Should be Human


 

April 2, 2014 | By:

People are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of marketing messages per day. Between online ads, company tweets, billboards and television commercials, it’s no surprise that many of these advertisements go unnoticed. As a consumer, it makes no difference to you; as a business, it’s a waste of invested resources.

So, how does your business stand out and grab the attention of potential buyers? Take on the buyer characteristic of being human. Implement a more personal approach and give your brand a human identity. Here are a few things you can incorporate into your marketing strategy to make your brand more human.

Value

We don’t mean giving consumers the most bang for their buck. We mean adding a genuine purpose to your brand that your target market will respect and hold in high regard. If you have a favorite charity, for example, set up a campaign where a portion of your proceeds go to that cause. Your consumers already know you want them to buy your products / services; show them that this is not all you are about as a brand.

Some brands’ entire strategies revolve around giving back. TOMS is a great example of a big brand succeeding with this concept. Their One for One Movement provides shoes, sight and water for those that need it when you buy their shoes, eyeglasses and coffee, respectively.

TOMS One for One

How do you win by giving away some of your profits?

  1. You give to a good cause.
  2. You get more consumers willing to buy during your campaign
  3. You gain loyal customers once they know buying from your brand has an added value.

Humor

This way of humanizing your brand definitely varies by industry. You don’t want to target serious professionals with 24/7 memes on your brand’s Twitter page. The humor you direct at your brand’s audience online should be tasteful and targeted to them, not just anyone.

Old Spice and Taco Bell tweet jokes at each other – like real humans! Let your audience know it’s not a robot behind that screen.

Old Spice Taco Bell Tweet

Relatability

The best way to be relateable is to be genuine. Your audience should be aware that there’s a whole human team working for your great brand – not a bunch of computers in an office with automated functions. If you have negative reviews on Yelp, for example, give polite responses unique to each review. It’s more time consuming than copying and pasting, we know, but it makes a huge difference.

Your content, whether it be on your blog or social media, shouldn’t read as a non-stop advertisement. You don’t end every single face-to-face conversation with a sales pitch. Think of your content the same way. Ask yourself, “Is this benefiting my audience?” before sharing it online.

Have another tip to add? Tweet us @TECKpert and let us know.



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