The pandemic forced us to stop everything, which has given us the space to analyze how we want to live our lives, identify what we want moving forward and learn what is really important to us. All of this is reflected in the way we approach and conduct business.
Human-centric marketing is not a new concept, however, companies and marketers have started paying more attention to it in recent years.
What exactly is human-centric marketing?
Human-centric marketing is placing humans rather than customers at the centre of your marketing campaign. It is about understanding their perspective, language, values, beliefs, goals, needs and challenges and tailoring your marketing accordingly.
Now let’s translate this into three simple steps :
1. Have a conversation
The best way to get to know and understand someone is by having a conversation with them. That means asking questions, active listening, sharing your own experiences in return and ultimately asking additional questions. It is about sharing different experiences and trying different approaches and again listening to the customer’s response. You can see it as a dance. Let the customer’s answer guide the next question or topic of conversation.
When you are having a conversation, you are learning about the other party, and the more time you spend chatting, the more you learn about one another and the deeper the relationship becomes.
This will enable you, as a company, to connect with the customers that share your values and the sales become a natural next step instead of a hassle.
Make sure you are not just hearing them, but also understanding them. Being heard and understood are two different things. The main difference is empathy. When you understand, it means you see from their point of view which includes their biases, their life experiences, their expectations, values, and goals.
2. Analyze and adapt accordingly
When you have a small business with a handful of clients, it is easier to establish a personal relationship with all of them. However, when your business starts to grow, maintaining the same personal connection becomes harder and you will find you do not have time for that.
At this point, you need to start paying even more attention to the data and see how your visitors interact with your site:
- Where do they go first?
- What content do they prefer? Do they engage with the content and share it with their own network?
- On what page are they leaving the site?
- What message resonates most with them?
3. You, as a brand, need to act more “human”
A relationship needs two sides. In the first two points above, we focused on one side; now is time to talk about us, the company. To have a real and lasting long-term relationship, you need to truly connect with the other side. That means your customer also needs to connect with you, the brand. To have a real connection you need to be authentic: share the good with the “not so good.”
Regardless if it’s your own personal life or business, things do not always go as we want. In a human-centric approach, that means you can be vulnerable and honest with your clients and let them know something is not going well.
For example, if their order is delayed, just send them an email and let them know, together with the reason why the order is delayed. Being honest, vulnerable and creative has helped businesses during the pandemic. It is not a secret that the small businesses, especially in the hotel and restaurant industry, were the most impacted. These businesses started delivering, taught people how to cook or do things at home via live streaming or posted other videos online. And because of that, customers wanted to help!
These are three simple steps you can start implementing today in your business and start creating a deeper, more human relationship with your audience and customers. I am curious to hear if you are already implementing any of these elements and if so, how these strategies are working for you.