WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR BRAND

We are well aware that brands aren’t people. However, people want to do business with other people that they can build a relationship with and ultimately trust. Humanising your brand and its content is one of the best ways to remind potential consumers that the people behind your brand are real and that they can be trusted. 

Of course, as most other things are, this is much easier said than done. Never fear, we are here with a few tips to help your brand tap into its human nature. As a Brand Design Agency in Brisbane, we’re clued up on how to humanise your brand and gain your customer’s trust. 

Share your brand values

We know we mention your brand’s values a lot, but that is because they are just so gosh darn important. A strong brand begins with a strong brand heart, if you don’t know what we mean by that, let us enlighten you in our recently wrapped up branding series.  

In summary, your brand heart encompasses your purpose, vision, mission, and values. The better your brand is at communicating these, the more likely it is for consumers to understand and support your business.

Be more vulnerable 

Trust is everything. Providing transparency and honesty is really what helps everyone form relationships so it should be no surprise it’s vital even for brand and consumer relationships. The more open you make your brand (and brand design), the more consumers will be able to view you as human and build respect and a mutual understanding. 

However, there needs to be a clear distinction between vulnerability and oversharing. Always be sure to take a step back while deciding if something should or shouldn’t be discussed or disclosed by your brand. Ask yourself; is it providing value? Is it in your lane? And perhaps most importantly, is there a reason to say something? If you’re confidently able to respond yes to all three then go ahead. If not, maybe reconsider. It’s about being real with your consumers, not sharing every tiny detail (that includes what you ate for brunch on Sunday two weeks ago, or the colour of your third cousins’ favourite hat). 

Have your customer at the centre 

Create content that fills a need. Consider what your consumer wants to hear, see and learn. Just because you want to write a whole blog post or dedicate a series of photos to your beautiful new pup, Daisy, doesn’t necessarily mean your consumers will feel the same (we would though). 

Engagement marketing is where it is at. Ensuring your customer’s best interests and wants are kept at the forefront of all decisions will allow you to provide them with what they both want and need. When you humanise your brand, your goal is to build connections. And how do we do that? By asking people about themselves, engaging with them, discussing what they care about and listening to what they’re interested in. 

Add value, but don’t expect anything in return 

You should always be looking to add value to the lives of your consumers. When it boils down to it, you need them more than they need you — there are plenty of other fish in the sea (or companies to choose from). So make sure the content you create gives them the value they desire. 

More importantly, don’t get mad if you feel like your relationship with customers isn’t a completely equal give and take. You should never expect anything in return — nobody likes a buddy who is tit-for-tat. Much less a business that demands something in return from their consumers just for providing quality content. 

Use your human voice

Everybody loves to bust out their robot voice, or robot moves, every now and then, but to humanise your brand, you’ll need to keep your voice as, well, human as you can. Write how you would talk, but not in the sense that you just write down the first thing that comes to mind and roll with it. If we followed that rule, Chris Hemsworth would have been mentioned in every second paragraph by now. And nobody (or at least not everyone) wants that (or do they?). 

What we mean is, write how you would talk to your consumer if they were there in front of you. Don’t use unnecessary or confusing jargon. Don’t overwhelm them with unrelated facts or underwhelm them with things they already know. Use a tone of voice that fits with your brand strategy and — we cannot stress this enough — BE CONSISTENT. 

Ultimately we think it’s safe to say most people would prefer having a conversation with another human rather than Siri or Alexa (unless you want to know how far it is to the next galaxy). So at the end of the day, it’s up to you and your brand to open that conversation, build that relationship and establish trust with your consumers. All of which can be achieved by being a little bit more human. 

If you are pondering how exactly to humanise your brand and aren’t quite sure where to start, feel free to get in contact with us, your local brand design team in Brisbane.