It used to be that marketing campaigns only needed to use strategies and tactics to attract paying customers. Today, however, with consumers exposed to many different kinds of marketing efforts at all times, a certain numbness has set in. Consumers experience a connection to the companies that they deal with when they see that they have a human face. The question is, how do you make your marketing campaigns appear more human? Below, we share six tips to help put a face to your marketing efforts.
Use natural sounding language
Whether you’re creating an email newsletter, an advertisement, or a post for your company’s blog, you need to make sure that you apply the conversational language style that people actually use, rather than corporate speak:
Observe your audience: Find out what kind of language the people who make up your audience use in real life in reference to your product. You will need to bring the same kind of language, tone and feel to your writing.
Leave out the jargon: Using jargon and industry lingo usually only alienates people. Replace complex jargon with user-friendly language.
Be funny: Lightheartedness always gets your point across better than stiff sounding language. As long as you maintain a voice that’s appropriate for your business, humor always works well.
Tell a story
Making your point through an illustrative story is a far better way to express yourself than merely stating facts. “When you tell a story, your audience members place themselves in your narrative and experience an emotional connection,” suggested Neal Kwatra, founder and CEO of Metropolitan Public Strategies. You can tell a story through any content, and often, a single image is all it takes.
When you make mistakes, admit to them
Admitting your mistakes is a distinctly vulnerable and human quality. When you own up to your mistakes and apologize, it makes you look both mature and approachable. It’s important not to waste opportunities to display your human side to your audience.
Introduce your employees to your audience
Your employees are your company. You should let your audience see who they are and understand who makes up your company. Every time you publish a blog post by an employee, include a photo and short bio. When your company puts out videos, make sure that you feature an employee in them. It’s important for your audience to think of human faces when they think of your company.
Include your customers in your campaigns
Feature user-generated content in your marketing campaigns; it is one of the easiest ways to include your customers in your marketing. When you put your customers front and center in your advertising, it can show your audience how much you care about them. User-generated content can include testimonials, reviews, and images that customers send in, of themselves.
Show the world how hard you work
When you only let your audience see your products in finished form, you let them assume that the product doesn’t take much effort to create. Instead, you need to pull back the curtain and give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at how hard your team must work each time they create a product. They will feel a connection to your company when they see how much effort you put into the products that you present to them.
As effective as regular marketing campaigns can be, a human face can often be the missing ingredient. It’s important to realize that clever or flashy marketing simply isn’t as effective as showing your audience that you’re human too.