The Most Effective Ways to Humanize Your Brand

Branding your business demands a thorough marketing plan that will be implemented every day, in every situation. It’s a long-lasting process that requires devotion and patience. One of the most important aspects of branding is the humanizing factor. People conceive of corporations as mere profiteers without a soul and a face, and to be fair, they’re often right. They’ve been flooded with tons of commercials every day for the last several decades and they’ve become completely insensitive to typical, obtrusive, obvious and in-your-face advertisements and messages they’re trying to send.

Thus, a good way to stand out is to give your brand a human face. This way you’re not just building your customer base, you’re building a community. You’re putting yourself on the same level as people who buy your stuff, proving that your business also consists of human beings not any different from your customers. Here are a few tips on how to manage to look more like people’s actual friend or advisor and less like a faceless corporation whose only message is “buy our products” and whose only aim is to make piles of money.

Personal brand voice

First of all, to leave a humane impression on people, you need to use a consistent language and tone across all promotional channels and create an illusion of an actual person addressing them, instead of a cold, detached corporation. Of course, you’ll need to know your target audience very well and try using their slang, their common phrases and deal with problems they’re interested in. You can go a step further and design a mascot or pick a face that’ll speak for your brand. However, you should be careful with this, especially if you’re trying to build a reputation as a highly serious business.

Your brand should stick to specific values and define a mission, so that you can tell authentic stories from everyday life that support and promote your message. You can start off with a character that’s more neutral and try experimenting with what works with your audience. Once you have the feedback, you’ll know which approach is the most respected among your audience and then you can focus on building a more specific and more detailed personality of your brand.

Jokes and humor

Nietzsche defines human beings as “animals that laugh”, and undoubtedly, there is something innately humane in laughter and joking. Showing that you’re ready to crack an occasional, spontaneous joke can build closer ties with your customers. Moreover, it proves that you don’t take yourself too seriously, which will in general provoke some positive emotions among your audience.

Reconsider scheduling social media posts

Overall, scheduling posts on social networks can save you a world of effort and substantially simplify your community management. Automation tools do help you a lot in this respect, but there’s a negative effect to it. When people see that you post always at the same time and that you’re generally following an established pattern, they might have a feeling they’re dealing with a robot rather than a human. Therefore, don’t overuse scheduling, no matter how useful it can be sometimes.

Show that you care about the community

If you want to show people you’re not all about profits, then you’ll simply have to stop being all about profits and start practicing what you preach. Show your customers you’re aware that it’s necessary to give something back to the community and that you care about its prosperity and well-being. People can exist only in society, and if your brand wants to put on a human face you’ll have to demonstrate that its life is not separate and independent from the life of its surroundings.

You don’t have to put too much effort into this. A small-scale humanitarian campaign, if well designed, can attract a lot of attention. For instance, you can choose not to charge services that actually cost you nothing and take little of your time, but instead suggest that people put some money in the box located somewhere in your shop. You can later donate the contents of the box to someone in need. If you want to go large-scale, a good idea is to turn to companies and organizations such as Leafcutter. They can help you develop web platforms that would support your idea and even give you a hand with designing an overall digital strategy.

Give your brand a human face – literally

Shedding some light on actual people behind your brand, whether they’re employees, management or influencers that fancy your brand, is also a great idea. If you’re posting stories and photos involving your employees, they should avoid leaving the impression like they’re posing for a cheap stock photo. Try to make them and their stories seem authentic and spontaneous. As for influencers, associating a well-known face to your brand is a great strategy. Just make sure you find the right one, in terms of credibility, field of expertise and target audience.

The process of humanizing your business may seem like a lot of work, but it’s a great way to build a community around your brand, instead of simply attracting a bunch of consumers who blindly and occasionally buy your products. This way you’re actually developing a specific relationship between your brand and the customers. A relationship built in such a manner has a good potential to become solid, long-lasting and at the end of the day, highly profitable.

Author Bio:

Lauren Wiseman is a contributor to bizzmarkblog.com a marketing specialist and an entrepreneur. She helps clients grow their personal and professional brands in fast-changing and demanding markets, strongly believing in a holistic approach to business.

 

 

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