Real talk: how to humanise your brand and connect with your audience

Most brands out there are trying to do the same thing, and that’s connecting with their audience. In a world that’s busier than ever, more and more brands are competing for attention from today’s ever-evolving consumers.

So how can you stand out and build an authentic connection with your audience? The answer is simple: be more human.

Humanising your brand is a great way to have real conversations with your customers, speak to them on a level they really understand, and have a true understanding of their day-to-day challenges and opportunities.

Here are a few ways you can create a more human experience with your marketing that will help you connect with your audience.

Speak in your audience’s language

Lots of marketers still get bogged down in the B2C vs B2B debate. They’re right about one thing, business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing does have slightly different requirements, but when it comes to speaking your audience’s language – it’s time we all embraced the H2H process. Human-to-human.

Whether you’re selling trainers, perfume, or software-as-a-service – we can (almost) guaranteed that you’ll be speaking to an actual person. By speaking in your audience’s language and avoiding stuffy jargon you can start to break down the barriers between you and your consumers.

Using slang and not-quite-right grammar is one way to appear more personable, and remind your customers that you’re a person too.

Capture real imagery, don’t use stock photos

Stock imagery has its place in marketing, and we’ve all used it in a pinch when we can’t seem to capture quite the right image, or we don’t have the budget for a new professional photoshoot.

However, we really believe that using real imagery of real people is a great way to humanise your brand. By taking photos and videos of your real customers, or your actual workers, you can start to capture the true essence of your company. It will be much more authentic and your audience will appreciate that.

Embrace reactive marketing

We’ve all followed the usual favourites on Twitter such as McDonald’s, Innocent, Specsavers, and Aldi, and watched as they come up with hilariously witty takes on the latest news or viral memes. Because reactive marketing is a great way to show that your brand is involved in the real world, too.

Whether it’s live-tweeting to Strictly Come Dancing, poking fun at politicians, or just reacting to your customers’ comments – getting involved with interesting topics on social media as they’re happening will help to connect you to your audience.

Inject a sense of humour into your content

Many brands are guilty of losing any sense of humour behind strict protocols and restrictive marketing strategies. Remember that everyone likes a good laugh now and then, and humour is a brilliant way to interact with people and bring your brand to life.

Social media is the obvious place where brands can have a bit of fun and utilise light-hearted content, but micro-copy on your products is another fun way to inject some humour and interest into your marketing. You might need to think outside the box a little, but don’t be afraid to have a laugh with your audience and try not to take yourself oh-so-seriously.

Make yourself available

Instant chats run by robots are one of the quickest ways to de-humanise your brand. We can see why they have their place, and we’re not totally against them, but actually making yourself or your team more available will get you a step closer to really connecting with your consumers.

Humanising your brand involves utilising real humans. Whether this is engaging with followers and people commenting on your socials, responding to queries on your website, or just making sure there’s an actual person at the end of the phone really does make so much difference to your overall brand experience.

Give your team space to be themselves

When getting to know your brand, people love to see the faces behind the company. Try to create an “about” page that’s actually good. Share pictures of your team that show a little personality, rather than just standard headshots. Encourage them to share their uniqueness by chatting about their hobbies as well as their responsibilities.

If your customer service team are churning out automated responses or copying-and-pasting the same replies to everyone on Twitter, it makes the experience much less personable for your audience. Give your team the space to be themselves and to share what makes them special. There’s a reason you hired them after all.

Adopt a tone-of-voice that’s approachable and fun

Finally, to really humanise your brand, don’t be scared to adopt a more casual tone-of-voice in your marketing. Using language that’s approachable and fun makes your brand so much more relatable. Try not to use too much jargon, and there’s no need to be overly professional.

Whatever your business is selling, you can still position yourself as an important industry-leader without falling into the stuffy and boring language trap.

If you have any further ideas on how to humanise your brand – we’d love to hear them! And if you need help tuning down the formality of your branding and creating something that your audience can really connect with, schedule a call with us and let’s chat about how we can help.