smart marketing strategies to humanize your tech brand

One of the biggest bummers in B2B marketing–especially SaaS–is the lack of humanity. While B2C marketing is about creating creative content that cultivates emotional connections, tech has held on to the myth that B2B should not be emotional. It’s not surprising that most of the content is generic, uninspiring, and impersonal. With the rise of AI, it’s likely that we will see more marketing strategies created by bots for bots.

But there is hope. You have an opportunity to stand out if everyone else in your field is producing impersonal content, which doesn’t speak to or center people.

Justin Rands is the Director of Brand Design for Oyster HR. We discussed this theme in our Best Story Wins Podcast. Oyster HR, a global platform for employment, makes it simple to hire, pay and care of team members from anywhere in the globe. Although they’re a SaaS firm, unlike most SaaS firms, their tech solution was built for humans only. Rands’ team believes that a human-centric approach is key to marketing success. Your brand should also be human-centric.

We have all the tips and tricks you need to create marketing strategies that are appealing to humans.

Five Marketing Strategies for Connecting with Your Audience

Your marketing may seem like it’s made for people, but that’s not the case. How human are your posts? How engaging are you articles? How engaging is your buyer’s journey? You can change your entire marketing strategy by adding a bit more personality and fun to your marketing. This will help you convert more customers than ever before. Here are five ideas for campaigns that will tap into your audience’s emotions, empathy and interests.

1. Tell stories about the beliefs of your brand.

Brands in the tech industry can often blend together. It’s difficult to distinguish between a marketing platform and a financial platform when they use the same language, branding, and site design. In your marketing campaigns, you can make your brand stand out by sharing your values, your vision, your mission and your purpose. People are drawn to those who share the same beliefs as them. Today, people expect brands and companies to be more open about their values and beliefs.

Rands said that great brands and stories always speak to the heart.

You will gain more trust and work from others if you show them who you are.

Tip: Divide your company values into story-pillars and then brainstorm content around them. Think of creative and unique ways to demonstrate your company’s value of “embracing innovation”: behind-the scenes tour of the laboratory, unique brainstorming methods of your team, etc.

Slack has empathy as one of its core values. Home/Free is a documentary which shares the stories of 3 individuals, including a Slack Software Engineer, who had to re-enter society after being incarcerated. This piece of unique content is an excellent way for a company to promote a cause that they are passionate about.

Focus on your people

People are what make your brand tick. They are the ones who bring the magic to life. Too often, these people are hidden in the shadows and overshadowed by talking about features and packages. Remember that leading with humanity is more than a feel-good gimmick. Every B2B purchase is dependent on the approval of an astonishing number of decision makers. These people want to know that they’re dealing with people they trust, who they can depend on, and who are experts in their field.

Showing your people authentically, and allowing them the freedom to be themselves, is a great way of putting a human face on your brand. Rands, for example, says that he’s more than just the Director of Brand Design. “I am a father, and I play basketball. I draw. Rands: “I ride my bicycle.” The Oyster team believes that adding a layer of personality to photography is a great way to showcase the team as more than just employees.

This approach has the advantage of putting your people in front of everything. You can skip all of the early stage marketing nonsense. They can learn about the people behind the brand right away, their interests, perspectives and expertise.

You can do it in many different ways.

• 
  Social media is a great way to highlight your employees.
  
• 
  Turn your team into content creators.
  
• Show them what your day is like, or how you celebrate the unique culture of your country.

Showing off your employer brand can be a great way to show who you are, and also attract new employees that will drive your success.

Tip: Using people-centric images is a great way to inject your personality into your content. Add more faces on your website and social media channels to make your brand come alive.

Ex: When we redesigned VideoAmp’s website, it was important to include people-centric images. Our research showed that, although their platform is data-driven, site visitors are more interested in the faces behind the brand.

3) Create campaigns that are based on real customers.

When people make purchases, they want to see social proof. As humans, we also want to be validated by others. Customer success stories can be a great way to show how technology can help people. Tech marketers tend to use dry, boring case study that isn’t engaging or interesting.

Remember that a case-study is really a story about how you helped someone. It’s crucial to create a compelling story.

• 
  Identify your customer’s issue.
  
• 
  Explain to the client why they chose you.
  
• 
  Tell us what you did to fix the problem.
  
• 
  Highlight your impact on business.
  

When you are telling your story, consider how to incorporate the emotional and value benefits of your product or service. You’re selling the future ideal state of your customer, and that is a story rife with emotion.

Tip: Let the customer tell his or her own story. Making your customers the center of attention makes you and your brand seem more human and strengthens the community that you are creating.

Mailchimp makes their customers the stars of their success story. They let their customers explain what they do and how Mailchimp can help them in short, energetic, and snappy videos.

Create content together with your community.

Tech brands are notorious for underutilizing their communities. Many Silicon Valley “innovators”, in fact, focus on the product rather than the community who needs it. But, hey, this is a different podcast. )

This is a missed marketing opportunity. Just as much as your brand’s people are an incredible source of information, the same is true for the people who will (or have) purchased your product. It’s important to find ways to engage your audience, and making content together with them or inspired by them is a great place to start.

• 
  Engage with your audience on social media by using opinion polls.
  
• 
  You can ask people to send in their best hacks and tricks for a round-up.
  
• 
  Contact an industry expert to get their predictions on trends.
  

Here are 11 ideas for incorporating UGC into your content strategies.

Ex: This article was inspired by the conversation we had about Best Story Wins. We created this podcast to better engage our community. Conversations with peers in the industry allow us to gain wisdom and, most importantly, turn it into useful content for our audience. It’s win-win.

5) Share your lessons learned.

Too many brands fear to show any weakness. This not only closes you off from your audience, but also means that you and your community miss out on valuable learning opportunities.

All of us take risks that do not pay off. All of us learn the hard way. It is an enormous service to your community if you can turn these difficult moments into content. It shows that you are willing to suffer for them. It shows you are always pushing yourself to do better and grow. It creates a greater sense of empathy between you, your audience and yourself.

Make your failures into a collection of lessons to be learned or mistakes that should be avoided. You can also encourage others in your community to share lessons or successes.

Mailchimp, for example, created the Going Through It Podcast to show how difficult it is to know when to stop and when to continue. This topic is relatable for their audience, and creates a sense of community.

Create more connections with your audience

Brands often struggle to connect with audiences because they do not know themselves. Our guide on how to build a strong brand will help you ensure that every piece of content communicates the personality and brand of your business. As you evolve your content strategies, continue to look for ways to inject your humanity into the buyer journey.

• Be a customer-first company. Many brands are too focused on themselves and not their customers. Use these tips to ensure that you are putting your audience first.
• Inspire themspan font-weight=”400 ;”>. Check out our tips for creating marketing that is innovative.
• Display your sense of humor. Learn how to create marketing that’s not boring.

Look to experts in your field to learn how they capture hearts, minds and market share. If you want to learn more about B2B storytelling and how to bring your content to life then subscribe to the Best Story Wins Podcast. If you’d like to begin your search with us, please take a peek at our FAQs.

Remember that marketing’s human side is all about experimentation and evolution. Track the results and make adjustments accordingly. Good luck!

The article 5 Smart marketing strategies to humanize your tech brand first appeared on column five.

Author: Katy French