When it comes to attracting and retaining your customers nowadays, well, most people want and appreciate a little humanity from the companies they deal with. Social media has enabled businesses to efficiently reach out and respond directly to people who comment or send direct messages. Over time, it has become the new normal—not even going above and beyond. Customer satisfaction has always been important, but the expectation of approachability now changes the game in business. Therefore, prioritizing this humanity in your marketing strategy is necessary to succeed. Here are four crucial ways to humanize your business model so you won’t fall short amongst your competition.
Take them behind the scenes
Gone are the days of mystique for businesses. If you want to be successful and appeal to the masses, you have to personalize your company and level with your customers. Although it can be daunting to be completely transparent, it begs the question, what do you have to hide? Companies who resist or altogether avoid being forthcoming and peeling back the layers might just elicit red flags. On the other hand, letting your customers in on your business processes, product assembly—or even the personal lives of your executives and other employees—can bring an important human quality and drum up interest from customers and prospects.
Bring back the blog
While social media has certainly risen in the ranks of helping businesses attract more business, you shouldn’t underestimate the ongoing power of a good website. And that actually continues to include blogging! That’s because many pages on a company website remain static and unchanging, but keeping an active blog allows for an infusion of new content. A blog lets you comment on current issues affecting your industry and your customers, subsequently humanizing you and your business. Suddenly, you seem willing to engage and take part in new discussions. You attract new prospects with your insight and ability to offer helpful tips or tricks.
Remove the cookie-cutter corporate vibes
Incorporating a sense of humour into your branding, your tone—and even your executive and employee biographies and photos—can certainly give you a human edge. We’ve all read enough typical business jargon and templated bios. And we’ve seen more than our fair share of arms-crossed posed individual photos and stiff team photos in front of neutral backgrounds. By lightening up the way you communicate, as well as your appearance to customers, you will create a more casual business identity that draws in more people.
Focus on good customer service
Ultimately, the best service to your customers begins with listening to them. Own up to your mistakes and apologize when you (or your product or service) is at fault. Take into account complaints, comments, suggestions, and even their positive feedback. Engage with them in general—particularly by responding to social media posts and product or service reviews, which other people can see. These moves can only help your image. Even simply responding to emails in a timely and cordial (as well as casual) fashion is another simple, but important, way to offer some goodwill to your customers and humanize your business.
Humanizing your business model
Over the past several years, there has been a changing wave in the importance of prioritizing your business’ approachability. Two years of hunkering down with our smartphones during the pandemic seemed to accelerate this shift, but it was likely inevitable anyway. In any case, companies must now put a strong focus on humanizing themselves in order to stay relevant and competitive. It’s not enough just to offer a good product or service anymore—you add much-needed clout with customers if you make them feel like an appreciated addition to your roster.
Robyn Karmazyn | Contributing Writer
