Personalizing Your Brand: Essential Guidelines for Successful Branding
You’ve heard of B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) marketing, but is your business effectively using H2H (human-to-human) marketing? Even in a world of rapidly growing AI, whether you’re an owner, employee, partner, or customer, we all have one thing in common – we’re human (so far). So why is it difficult for businesses to showcase their humanity in their marketing efforts?
Some may fear showing biases that could deter potential leads. Others may believe they need to present themselves as strictly professional. Some may prioritize keywords over tone in their content marketing, not realizing how robotic their brand’s voice has become.
However, the truth is clear – personalizing brands is not an optional, it’s necessary. People crave connections and want to invest in brands they can relate to. In today’s highly competitive world, every business needs to make an emotional connection with its customers and build brand authenticity.
Brand authenticity refers to being transparent and consistent in your communication and behavior. It means creating a brand image that represents you rather than relying on idealized marketing tactics. Consistency, transparency, customer-centricity, storytelling, purpose, quality, and differentiation are key elements of building customer trust and credibility.
We’ve seen first-hand how our Invite Them Home clients have seen their business boom by intentionally showing their human side, and addressing human needs. So, what does this all mean, and how can you start building an authentic brand image? Read on to see the do’s and don’ts of humanizing and building brand authenticity.
Table of Contents
What does it mean to humanize your brand?
Humanizing your brand is about personability and meaningful connections with your audience. It’s about creating a brand personality that resonates with prospects, leads, and customers. By crafting personalized messages on social media, email campaigns, online advertising, and your website, you can build a strong connection with your audience and avoid appearing cold or indifferent.
It’s about creating a brand personality that directly impacts your customers. Customers want more than just the basics from a company. They want a positive experience throughout the buying process. That’s why brands that embrace humanization go beyond the basics and prioritize the needs of their users at every stage of the sales funnel.
Why is humanizing your brand important?
64% of clients say that shared values influence where they turn for products and services.
Your company values help increase relatability and foster brand loyalty.
72% of customers only engage with personalized messages instead of automated ones.
Marketing messages reach 561% more people when shared directly by employees than the brand itself.
People are more likely to trust a person over a faceless company.
90% of social media users have communicated with a brand due to its presence on social media.
How to Humanize Your Brand: The Do’s
DO: Make sure your brand IS human
Take a look in the mirror before trying to humanize your brand for your customers. Are your employees happy? Do you have a positive company culture? Building a vibrant company culture permeates your entire organization and captures the hearts of your team. An engaged and equipped staff will deliver the care and empathy your customers and prospects want.
Company culture profoundly impacts your internal systems and customer experience with your brand. It acts as the social operating system that shapes how people work and how your organization interacts with employees, customers, and the wider community. It is the heartbeat of your organization, encompassing your corporate values, the purpose of your organization, the work environment, and the overall employee experience.
Your company culture defines your organization and is absolutely crucial to its success. As a healthy nervous system contributes to overall well-being, a great culture attracts and retains top talent, fuels innovation, and cultivates strong leaders. On the other hand, companies with toxic cultures struggle to keep employees and lack the foundation for sustainable growth. To thrive, your employees must thrive first, and that all begins with a solid company culture.
When your followers and website visitors witness your amazing workplace culture, they’ll have confidence in your integrity and competence.
DO: Write with personality
Showcasing your brand’s personality and values is essential for making a lasting impression on your audience. One powerful way to achieve this is by telling captivating stories that resonate emotionally and intellectually. By sharing stories highlighting your brand’s core values and beliefs, you can connect with your audience on a deeper level. An example of this is sharing “Success Stories” in which you share actual cases of your staff helping customers solve real-world problems with your product or service.
Injecting humor and fun into your content marketing strategy can help you stand out from your competitors and create a positive association with your brand. Memes, quizzes, or games can bring a playful touch to your brand image. Additionally, sharing behind-the-scenes insights into your brand can demonstrate transparency, authenticity, and pride. You can establish a stronger connection with your audience by revealing how your brand works, its culture, and the people behind it.
Ultimately, consistently expressing your brand’s voice and tone across your content helps you create a recognizable and distinctive brand identity. By using consistent language, visuals, and messaging, your brand will become familiar and easily recognizable to your audience. Invite Them Home has a team of expert content marketers to help you develop content that is not only effective but shows off your brand’s authentic personality.
DO: Give your staff a face
It’s important to show the real people behind your brand to build trust with potential customers and extend client loyalty. Stock photos won’t cut it, so use real photos of your employees throughout your website, social media, and content. Show off your team on your About Us and Careers pages, and even include the author’s image in each piece of content. Share fun moments and outings on social media, and create an Instagram hashtag for day-to-day office moments.
Employees can infuse emotion into your brand by sharing positive experiences and ideas. They can also monitor feedback on social media to ensure any customer issues are quickly resolved. Use employee advocates to strengthen ties with your external community and inspire others to join in.
Make sure your customers know that your business is run by real people, not robots. Use your employees in your marketing efforts to create a relatable and trustworthy brand.
DO: Keep an active blog on your website
To build an authentic brand personality, businesses must establish their presence and connect with potential customers. Blogging is an excellent tool for accomplishing this, allowing you to introduce your brand, strengthen relationships with existing clients, and share relevant information about your business. Starting a blog is a quick and easy way to benefit your organization, regardless of your industry.
Another benefit of business blogging is giving your target audience insight into your company and its operations. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your day-to-day activities, discuss your sourcing methods, introduce your team, and highlight memorable experiences you want your customers to know about. You can also delve into the reasons behind your chosen industry and discuss your goals for the future.
Blogs provide a personal touch to your business, enabling readers to get to know you better. They can learn about your values, dedication to quality products and services, and commitment to providing top-notch customer support. This familiarity creates a positive connection and encourages customers to feel confident in choosing your brand.
If you need more convincing about why your business needs a blog, check out our (blog!) post here.
DO: Engage with your customers
Customer engagement connects with your audience through various channels and strengthens your relationship. It involves all customer communication throughout their journey with your brand, starting from the first interaction and continuing after a purchase.
Creating a positive customer experience is crucial for attracting people to your company. User-generated content is a great way to ensure it’s relevant to your target market. Inspire them, encourage discussions, and show that you genuinely care about their interests and opinions. By providing value beyond just selling products or driving traffic, you’ll build a strong connection with your audience and earn their loyalty. Listen to their feedback, learn from their conversations, and empower them to share their own stories and viewpoints.
DO: Be available
Your efforts to make your brand authentic will fall flat if you’re not there when your customers need you. In today’s fast-paced business world, the speed of your customer service response can make or break your success. Most consumers turn to the internet to seek help for products or services and expect quick, usually immediate, assistance.
Providing 24/7 customer service can give you a clear advantage over your competitors. If you offer services that your clients could use around the clock, but they can’t get ahold of you in their time of need, you miss out on an opportunity for valuable human connection. You will lose business to a competitor who is available when they need it.
By prioritizing customer service, you can ensure that you are always available to assist your customers when they need you the most, which they’ll remember when they need your services again in the future.
DO: Showcase projects
You can make all the claims you want about your business, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding. What better way to build brand authenticity than through the experiences of satisfied customers? Customer testimonials, case studies, and success stories are powerful tools that can help you showcase the impact of your services, build credibility, and ultimately drive more sales.
When purchasing, consumers and customers want reassurance that others have had a positive experience with a product or service. That’s where customer testimonials come in. They provide real-life perspectives, instilling trust and credibility in the minds of potential customers.
On the flip side, if no testimonials are available or the ones you find are negative, it’s natural to have doubts and look for alternatives. By showcasing positive experiences from others, businesses can increase their chances of making a sale.
Similarly, case studies play a vital role in building trust and credibility. These detailed examinations give real-life examples of how a product or service successfully solved a problem or met a specific need. When potential customers read these case studies, they can visually witness the tangible benefits that others have experienced. This helps build brand authenticity and credibility, as customers can see the product or service’s proven effective first-hand.
Our copywriters at ITH have written many success stories for our clients to show off their brand story. If you have a recent project to tell the world about, contact us to see how to make it an effective marketing tool.
The DON’Ts of Brand Authenticity
Now that you know what you SHOULD do, let‘s go over what you need to avoid.
DO: Showcase projects
You can make all the claims you want about your business, but as they say, the proof is in the pudding. What better way to build brand authenticity than through the experiences of satisfied customers? Customer testimonials, case studies, and success stories are powerful tools that can help you showcase the impact of your services, build credibility, and ultimately drive more sales.
When purchasing, consumers and customers want reassurance that others have had a positive experience with a product or service. That’s where customer testimonials come in. They provide real-life perspectives, instilling trust and credibility in the minds of potential customers.
On the flip side, if no testimonials are available or the ones you find are negative, it’s natural to have doubts and look for alternatives. By showcasing positive experiences from others, businesses can increase their chances of making a sale.
Similarly, case studies play a vital role in building trust and credibility. These detailed examinations give real-life examples of how a product or service successfully solved a problem or met a specific need. When potential customers read these case studies, they can visually witness the tangible benefits that others have experienced. This helps build brand authenticity and credibility, as customers can see the product or service’s proven effective first-hand.
Our copywriters at ITH have written many success stories for our clients to show off their brand story. If you have a recent project to tell the world about, contact us to see how to make it an effective marketing tool.
DON’T: Resort to the exclusive use of stock photography
Ditch those stock photos and feature the real people who work at your company. Even if you’re not a professional photographer, you can still capture great shots that are better at building brand authenticity. Feature your employees on your website, including clear author or participant images with each piece of content. If Ashley did a great job solving a customer problem, then feature a picture of her, and let the world know how great she is. Share albums of office outings and events on your company’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, or create an Instagram hashtag to document day-to-day moments in the office.
Don’t forget about incorporating images of your customers as well. Sharing their stories can inspire potential clients to convert. And if you’re short on time, consider reposting images featuring your brand that others have already shared, with their permission, of course.
Save yourself the licensing fees and use original images that capture your brand’s personality.
DON’T: Hide mistakes and failures
To humanize your brand, it’s crucial to demonstrate human qualities. There’s nothing more human than mistakes and failure! Being an authentic brand means acknowledging and being transparent about your mistakes.
Admitting a mistake, especially when customers were involved, is a powerful way to display your humanity. By doing so, you can build trust with your audience. At the same time, share details of the changes in product or procedure that you have implemented as a result of the problem.
Avoid using generic templates to respond to customer complaints. Take the time to write personalized messages that show you truly listen to their concerns.
Sharing failures can make your brand more relatable to people. This doesn’t mean sharing technical bugs or software issues. Instead, focus on sharing life lessons and how you’ve overcome failures.
For instance, if your company recently launched a new product or documentation that was poorly received, address this openly. In an email announcing an update, acknowledge the rocky start, express gratitude for customer feedback, and share your changes to address the issue and make it right to your customers. Assure them that you’ve made improvements based on their input.
By admitting your initial failure and showing transparency, you demonstrate that you’re human and willing to learn from your mistakes. Your customers will appreciate your honesty and trust that you won’t hide any future mishaps.
DON’T: Neglect your social media platforms
As a business owner or marketing director, you know having a presence on social media is crucial. Social media marketing opens up a whole new world of communication for businesses. You can interact with customers on various topics, whether providing support, sharing the latest news about your company, or showcasing recent projects.
Just because you’re on social media doesn’t mean your accounts are helping your brand’s authenticity. Are all your posts focused on direct sales pitches? That comes across as robotic and isn’t what people want to see as they scroll through their social media feed. Social media is all about connection, so make an effort to engage with local communities and causes your business is passionate about.
Just as your friends and family worry when you go silent, your followers will wonder if something’s wrong if you disappear from social media. In today’s world, consistent posting is essential to show that your business is active and thriving. Going inactive will leave your followers with unanswered questions, and your brand will be forgotten. With social media marketing, regular content scheduling keeps your audience engaged and ensures ongoing contact.
For more guidance on social media marketing, check out this page that explains the importance of social media and how Invite Them Home can help your business make the most of it.
DON’T: Forget about your competition
In a competitive business world, simply existing as a brand is not enough. A brand must have a distinct and engaging personality to stand out from your competition. By offering thought leadership content from key employees, you can ensure your brand stands apart from your competitors. This not only helps the audience connect with the brand, but also builds trust over time.
Moreover, understanding why customers buy from competitors and how they market their products can improve a company’s marketing efforts. Additionally, competitive research can reveal market gaps and identify underserved segments of the population, presenting unique opportunities for a business to reach those customers. Competitor research is often beyond the scope of many of our clients, especially since effective research requires access to professional tools most businesses don’t have. Learn more about the tools we use for competitor research at Invite Them Home and how they can reveal weak points you never knew you had.
DON’T: Talk over your customers’ heads.
Make your brand more approachable and relatable by using conversational language. Avoid technical or formal language and prioritize a genuine and personable approach. Speak directly to your customers in terms they understand and relate to. You can keep your content down to earth while maintaining a professional tone.
Corporate writing can be dull and boring. To humanize your brand, ditch the formal and jargon-filled language for a simple, clear, and engaging tone that your customers will love. Use words, tone, and rhythm that your audience can easily understand. When writing, imagine you’re talking to a friend or someone close to you who is interested in buying your product or using your service. This will help make your content and style clearer.
Since you’re an expert in your field and your products or services, you may struggle with writing for your audience. Talk to ITH about our copywriting services that turn your expertise into words that speak to your target market.
Make your business flourish through human connection
If you haven’t shown your human side to the world, it’s time to start. Contact our team (of real people!) at Invite Them Home for a free consultation today!
