No longer is it enough for a business to merely be a corporate brand and business entity. The companies that are succeeding in today’s culture are the ones that are learning how to humanize their brand and resonate not just with customers as a whole, but customers as individuals.
No longer is it enough for a brand to merely do business with people. No longer is it enough for brands to merely be social and engage their customers and clients. Now it is important for businesses to do both of the above, as well as humanize themselves and simply, “be real,” with customers today.
Remember, a brand is not just your logo or your business website. It’s not just your tagline or your billboard on the highway. A brand is all of those things and so much more. It’s how you communicate with your customers, it’s the medium you use to communicate with customers, it’s the way you handle problems with customers or reward them for being loyal.
It’s Only Human Nature
Initially, your brand starts with you, and then it flows out into your team and the humans that you employ. It’s no wonder that people say employees are your brand’s best advocates.
That’s why first impressions are so important and why every moment you get to interact with your customer matters, whether it’s an email touchpoint, an office visit touchpoint, or a customer service phone call. One bad experience with your brand can break a potential relationship and create a huge hurdle that may prove difficult to overcome.
How Human is Your Brand?
Does your business care about its customers and clients? Or are they only numbers and revenue? A human brand actually thinks like a human. They care whether their customers are happy and satisfied. They care when their customers are angry and upset. They care about the problems their customers have and want to serve them and help them solve those problems.
Human brands want to offer people true value and not just market their faces off, so they can take people’s money. They care about their fellow man and want to serve the greater good, not just the bottom line. Plus, they surround themselves with team members and employees who share the same values and vision. For human brands, people matter more than anything else.
Humanity 101
Greetings earthlings. Here are some tips to help you appear a little more human and a little less corporate. It makes your brand infinitely more attractive to customers when they feel as though you aren’t that different from them.
- Own your unique voice. Communicate in a way that resonates with people. Don’t be afraid to be a little weird or quirky.
- Showcase your employees. After all, you’re nothing without them.
- Engage with your community. Listen to your customers and clients when they provide valuable feedback.
- Be humble. Human brands know how to own up when they make a mistake and they aren’t afraid to admit that they make mistakes.
- Get cultured. Don’t be stuck in tradition or the old ways. Be constantly evolving and keeping up with what the culture demands.
And finally, while this list is by no means exhaustive, human brands know their tribe. They know their audience and market inside and out. They know what their customers love, what they hate, how to connect with them and build relationships with them, and they know that by helping their audience solve their problems, they will be blessed by the result too. Rising tides lift all boats, to coin an old cliché.
So, we ask you once more… how human is your brand? On a scale from Muggle to Wizard?
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