With all these revolutionary tactics and ideas, we still question is your company business to business (B2B) or business to customer (B2C)? The truth is whether you are looking to sell kitchen gadgets to Pinterest enthusiasts, or a sophisticated data processing software to a Fortune 500 company, your consumer is a human being, speak to them as such.
In our overly complicated, digital world, here are a few suggestions to reignite that human connection in your marketing efforts.
Humanize Your Brand
In the words of Brian Kramer, father of Human2Human (H2H), “Businesses do not have emotion. People do.” (source) Simply because we have all been consumed by our devices doesn't mean we are not still looking for human connection. Consumers will never make that emotional connection to your brand if you don’t give it a little bit of soul. The personality of your brand should reflect the perfect member of your team: friendly, helpful and smart. Make your brand someone you would want to hangout with and carry that over it to all aspects of your business. For more on the future of the humanized brand, check out our last blog post.
Personalization as Segmentation
Segmentation can still be extremely effective in communicating with consumers and prospects, but we need to change the way we think about segmentation. Instead of segmenting B2B or B2C, personalize your approach and message per each community you\ are trying to reach. No one wants to read an email generically speaking to CMO’s of B2B companies. Snore. Identify the community you are trying to connect with, see where they are engaging and provide them with value. This also goes for your existing customers, they are a powerful community all their own, who have more influence over the perception of your brand than you do. Continue to nurture and attend to your current customers and their satisfaction trickles outward.
A Little LOL Doesn’t Hurt
Don’t be afraid to be funny! As marketers, we want the content we produce to provoke an emotion. Laughing is a reaction that helps to strengthen a human connection. Humor can be a fantastic outlet to showcase your company culture and strengthen the humanization of the brand. You don’t have to add the latest meme to the top of your email campaign, but post a funny video of office hijinx, or just on the virality of social media sensations like the #MannequinChallenge.
Hopping on a social trend and doing something funny can be a risk, but whatever it is that your company may be doing you’re showing that you are human - which is what we all want, a company that talks to us, the consumer, as a person and not another “customer”. Opening up your company and showing the “behind the scenes” can make you appear vulnerable to your audience, nevertheless, building both trust, intimacy and loyalty.
Perhaps the most important take away of all is to be authentic. Tell your story, engage with individuals and maybe have a little fun.
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