Why You Should Focus on Humanised Marketing in 2023

In case you haven’t seen it plastered all over our website and socials, we’re all about doing things ‘The human way’ – we’ve even gone and trademarked it; it’s that important to us!

A big part of our approach, for our own brand and for clients, is creating more human marketing strategies that deliver incredible results, not just in sales but in brand engagement and loyalty.

So what is humanised marketing, and why should you invest in it for 2023?

Keep reading to find out!

What is Humanised Marketing?

Humanised marketing is an approach that focuses on creating a more personal connection with customers and prospects. It’s about understanding their wants and needs and then creating personalised content and memorable experiences that meet those needs.

One of the main goals of humanised marketing is to build trust with new and existing customers.

In today’s hyper-competitive landscape, businesses need to stand out by being authentic and trustworthy. Being more human with your marketing can help you do just that.

Check out one of our previous articles, where we touch more on the depths and principles of humanised marketing.

Why should businesses focus on Humanised Marketing?

So now you know what humanised marketing is, why should you be prioritising it?

With more digital technologies, AI tools, and automation processes emerging, there’s one important thing you can’t lose sight of… people!

No matter what new technologies and tactics emerge or what platforms and trends rise and fall, there’s one constant at the heart of every marketing campaign – the people you’re trying to reach.

If your marketing is void of any personality or humanity, then you’re not going to leave a lasting impression on your prospects, and you’re not going to build trust with your audience.

Here are the main reasons you should be focusing on humanising your marketing.

It creates a more personalised experience

People are tired of being bombarded with impersonal, one-size-fits-all marketing messages.

Humanised marketing is about providing a more personal and tailored approach that is much more likely to resonate with your audience.

But what does a personalised experience look like?

Obviously, you can’t tailor your site to each visitor, but you can do some research, narrow down the issues and needs of your audience, and create content that addresses those needs in a relevant and helpful way.

You can then present this content as:

• Blogs posts
• Videos – on your website or YouTube
• Free tools – like our Free SEO Audit Tool (shameless plug)
• Downloadable PDF guides and templates
• Social Media Posts – videos, graphics, sliders, or just plain-text posts
• Infographics – place on your website (great for backlinks) or shared on social media

Tailoring your content to your audience’s experiences and problems helps to create a connection with them and helps establish you as a trusted source of information.

It helps build trust and confidence

Humanised marketing can help build trust with potential and current customers.

In today’s climate, it’s more important than ever for businesses to be trustworthy, especially when consumers and other companies are more hesitant to make purchasing decisions due to the recession.

So many businesses fill their websites with lifeless copy that doesn’t do anything to engage their audience or gain their trust.

People will easily easily easily place their trust in you if you come across as more human and friendly in your content rather than stiff and corporate.

Inject some personality into your website copy (as long as it’s consistent with your brand) and make it relatable.

Here are a couple of lines we’ve lifted from two websites in the IT support sector – one sounds engaging and relatable, and the other is just generic copy that doesn’t stand out.

Example 1: Our team is passionate and focused on delivering outstanding service throughout a wide range of industries – all of which benefit from our decades of experience guiding businesses to powerful solutions that transform the way they work

The first example is pretty standard. ‘Passionate and focused on delivering outstanding service throughout a wide range of industries isn’t very specific. What services do they offer? What industries do they work in?

‘All of which benefit from our decades of experience guiding businesses to powerful solutions that transform the way they work.’; this still doesn’t mention what ‘powerful solutions’ they offer, or in which way it transforms their customer’s way of working.

Example 2: Our IT support team delivers exceptional service, so you can focus on running your business. We believe a healthy, functional IT system is the backbone of a growing company, and we work hard to deliver the IT support London companies need.

The second example starts by highlighting a key issue for business owners; their lack of free time and knowledge to focus on IT support themselves.

‘We believe a healthy, functional IT system is the backbone of a growing company’ – this second part highlights some more benefits of their service, keeping your IT system healthy and functional so that you can grow your business.

And finally, ‘we work hard to deliver the IT support London companies need.’ lets people know that the company specifically services the London area.

Although the second example isn’t 100% perfect, it gives you a good idea of how you can make your copy more human and build more trust in your services by addressing your audience’s needs and concerns.

It provides a better customer experience

Humanised marketing can lead to better experiences for your customers too.

It’s a no-brainer, really.

If you’re focused on creating a more personal connection with your audience and providing value through your content across the board, it’s no surprise that it can lead to a more enjoyable experience for your existing customers and prospects.

That means better customer retention and smoother customer acquisition.

If your website is your primary focus, creating more human-focused user experiences can lead to a better overall customer experience.

It can grow your bottom line

Humanised marketing can increase sales and higher customer lifetime value when done correctly.

That’s not a surprise, though. If you’re providing better and more personalised customer experiences and building more trust with your prospects, it will lead to more sales and stronger client relationships!

With the current financial situation in the UK, generating as much profit as possible is essential for keeping your business in a strong position throughout the recession.

So can you afford not to be humanising your marketing?

How to make your marketing more human

So now you know what humanised marketing is and why you should focus on it, here are a few points that cover how to make your marketing more human.

Get to know your audience

Understanding what your audience wants and needs is essential, not just for humanised marketing, but for any marketing campaign.

But, when you’re focusing on the human aspect of your marketing, you need to consider your customers’ needs and create engaging and valuable content and experiences that strike an emotional cord with them.

Getting to know your audiences takes time, research, and a bit of trial and error with your content.

But here’s a short list of areas to research that’ll help you get to know your audience and create more human content for them.

• What key industries do your audience members work in?
• What are their biggest challenges?
• How can you help them overcome those challenges?
• What platforms are they reachable on?
• What formats of content do they typically consume?

This should give you a good starting point of who your audience is, what you can offer them, and where to position your brand online.

Be authentic

Being authentic is a big part of humanising your marketing.

To put it bluntly, your customers can often smell bullsh*t a mile away.

So promising the world with your services only to fall short, or trying to promote your business as something it clearly isn’t, will only damage your customer retention and your brand’s reputation.

Always be authentic with your audience. Being honest and realistic about what your business can deliver is a much better way to build relationships with your customers.

Don’t buy into the whole ‘fake it ’til you make it’ ethos – be honest and human with your audience.

Be helpful

Being helpful to your audience is a big part of humanised marketing.

So many companies post promotional content across their website and social media, but that does nothing to provide value to their audience.

Providing value and being helpful to your audience will show them that you’re about more than making a quick sale; you’re there to support them, and if that’s not a surefire way to build brand loyalty, I don’t know what is!

Focus on creating content and experiences that are genuinely helpful to your audience. If you can help them solve a problem or improve their life in some way, they’ll appreciate it.

Also, after Google’s Helpful Content Update back in August, it’ll help with your SEO too!

Tell stories

Stories are a powerful way to connect with people on a human level.

Start sharing stories that your audience can relate to.

Whether it’s about how you started your business, the challenges you’ve faced, the successes you’ve achieved, people you’ve met, conversations you’ve had … or just anything you think they can relate to or find useful.

Just look at this post by Adam Smith, Damteq’s founder and director, about reaching the milestone of running the business full-time for 10 years.

In the post, Adam talks about being unhappy and unmotivated working for another company, not having the proper commercial experience, and wanting to turn his side hustle into something big – that’s something many small business owners and entrepreneurs can relate to!

He then talks about taking the leap and shows his and the business’s progress over the last decade.

Overall, the post is motivational and inspiring, and teaches his target audience (small business/start-up owners or aspiring entrepreneurs) that taking the leap and putting in the work pays off.

Off the back of that post, he’s had 3 direct messages about Damteq’s services and someone booking in for our free 1-2-1 Growth Marketing Workshop … so clearly telling stories about challenges and successes that people can relate to works!

Start looking at what expertise and experiences you can turn into valuable stories that will help connect you with your audience.

Focus on great customer experience

Every touchpoint with your business should be a positive experience for your customers. From how they interact with your website to how they’re treated.

Making these touchpoints as human as possible is vital for keeping your customers engaged and feeling valued.

The issue is, with automation becoming more and more prevalent in different areas of marketing, that personal, human feeling can get a little bit lost.

But you don’t have to go back to doing everything manually to make things ‘personal’ again. Just tweak your copy.

If you’re using automated tools and functions like an AI-powered web chat on your website or automatic emails for lead nurturing, review gathering, product updates, or abandoned cart reminders, make sure you personalise and humanise them as much as possible.

Using a tone of voice that makes your customers feel like they’re speaking with a real person, use customer data to populate first names, company names, and any other relevant personalisation fields, and keep it consistent across all of your channels and platforms.

Making your customer experience more human, especially your automated touchpoints, is a really important part of humanising your marketing.

Need help from the humanised marketing experts?

Hopefully, this blog post has given you a good insight into humanised marketing and why and how you should use it!

But, if you need a hand with humanising your marketing strategy, get in touch!

Our experienced design and growth marketing specialists deliver high-performing, human experiences that turn users into followers and customers into brand advocates.

Book a 15-minute discovery call with one of our specialists to explore your options and kick 2023 off with a bang!