Hey, how’s your marketing going?

Do you come across as a faceless entity pushing promotional messages out into the void? Do you sound like a robot?

Is there a human element to your digital marketing and advertising? If not, it's time for a change. Humanizing your marketing will help consumers relate to and understand your business, and that will make them want to purchase from you.

Ready to get started? Read on for a few tips that will help humanize your marketing!

Sound Human

You’re not a robot, and you’re not marketing to robots. So market like a human who’s talking to other humans.

Whether you’re creating an ad, a social media post or your website's about page, it’s important to sound human. If your customers can relate to you and understand what you’re saying, you’re one step closer to a sale.

Here’s how to sound human:

• Avoid confusing language and industry jargon (Are you really trying to trick people into purchasing from you?)
• Write how you’d talk (or at least read what you write aloud to make sure it makes sense)
• Know your audience and use terms and language they understand
• Use humor – try not to be wild or offensive, but a pun or two won’t kill you or your audience

Be Transparent

Consumers today are used to seeing the ins and outs of businesses they follow online. And lack of transparency will make you look bad (and make those consumers turn to a competitor who is more honest about business practices).

How can you be more transparent?

Give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Show them the people behind the brand. And, let them get to know your human side. Introduce employees on social media, your website or in videos.

Talk about your values and your business's mission. This kind of transparency will give your marketing a human touch that stirs emotion and makes consumers feel like they can relate to you.

Don’t Just Talk About How Great Your Business Is on Social Media

There’s nothing spammier than pushing out promotional messages wherever you go.

That’s why you shouldn't just talk about how great you are. Instead, use social media channels to humanize your brand. Share industry news with a personalized comment and curate social media content that others have created.

And don’t forget about those behind the scenes videos and social posts. Those will put a face to your brand.

While behind-the-scenes content is still you talking about yourself, it isn't purely promotional, which means it's a great way to market your business without seeming overly salesy!

Tell Your Business’s Story

Along the same lines, one of the best ways to humanize your brand is to tell your story.

Whether it’s through your blog, your website, videos, social posts or however you decide to tell it, tell your story.

It’s so important for customers to know how you started as well as your trials and roadblocks along the way. It will make them feel more connected to you and remember you in the future. Telling your story is a great way to turn casual one-time buyers into loyal customers!

Along the same lines, share customer stories (with the customer’s permission). Your customers are probably talking about you online, in reviews or on social media. So ask permission to share their stories so that others can see how great your business is.

This doubles as social proof (the idea that if someone else likes your business, it's okay for other people to like it, too), giving the social post even more marketing power!

Reply to Your Feedback

Along the same lines, don’t forget to reply to what people are saying to/about you (and again, reply like a human). There’s nothing more robotic than a business that never replies to reviews or messages.

As a consumer, if I comment on a social post or message a business on Facebook and they never reply to me, it makes me wonder how they operate or if the business is still open.

If someone talked to you in person, would you ignore them? I hope not. So don’t just leave your online feedback unmanaged either. It’s your business, but the customers are sometimes right. So even if you don’t always agree with them, at least make sure to validate what the customer is saying.

Reply to all your reviews. You’d want them to do the same for you.

And don’t just reply with some templated response. Engage them in conversation. Show your human side. Whether the feedback is good or bad, your response will determine how the conversation ends. Keep that in mind when you’re replying to customers.

Let’s recap.

Here’s how to humanize your brand:

1. Sound human
2. Be transparent
3. Don’t just talk about yourself
4. Tell your story
5. Reply to feedback