Brands are losing touch with their humanity amid their fixation on metrics, and in so doing they’re losing touch with their buyers, as well.
Companies analyze clicks, downloads, page views, and a host of other data points looking for insight into buyer behavior. But there is a critical problem relying too much on that approach: The metrics are fallible because people aren’t robots. What influences their behavior isn’t always discernible because people are emotional, and emotion can sway what they do or buy at any moment.
Data can serve as a signpost toward tracking customer behavior behind a conversion, but just how connected a customer feels toward a brand is more difficult to identify.
To connect with buyers beyond a fleeting moment in time, brands must connect with them on an emotional level. This hinges on being creative in what they do and transparent about who they are. Companies need to humanize their brand.
Show Your Own Humanity
What is your company like? No, not its product or services — its people. Let your customers know your company has a heart. Be relational, not transactional.
Show through your marketing efforts that there are people behind your brand’s products and services, people who, like your customers, put thought and consideration into what they do.
Show your true self by taking risks. It’s OK to be vulnerable and fallible. Showing your own vulnerability builds trust, and to err is human, right?
Tell Your Buyer’s Story
Where to start? Let your creativity breathe. Marketers are at risk of being so busy counting metrics, they’re not connecting with people.
The human emotions that creativity evokes are impossible to quantify. Buying patterns can be erratic and unpredictable. If you only value what is measurable, creativity and the positivity it fosters gets overlooked.
Marketers have skewed too far toward metrics and need to rebalance with creativity in mind. Consumers are overloaded with mundane, mediocre messaging, so to break through that wall of banality, marketers need to hook consumers’ hearts and minds.
In terms of digital marketing, lean on interactive content to help build a brand identity and experience that is geared toward actual people. Digital marketing isn’t just about touting a product. It’s about telling a compelling story.
The character at the center of that story is your buyer, so trust your intuition and creativity in how you make the buyer the hero of that story.
The author, Jamie Gier is CMO of Ceros, a cloud-based design platform that powers the web’s most exceptional interactive content.
