Human Element - Difference Between Successful Brands and Failures

The world around us is constantly changing. New technologies are emerging every day.

But one thing hasn’t changed - and it never will.

And that’s the psychology of how people buy.

In the era of automation, VR, and AI, we as consumers often forget that behind other companies are also human beings, like ourselves.

I mean for the God’s sake, the word “Company” means a “group of people”.

As I said above, the psychology of how people buy will never change.

And people buy from people.

That’s why I think there’s one thing that differentiates successful brands from the ones that will hit a plateau or fail in the near future.

And that thing is a human element.

For example, take two 100% same products.

Both of them deliver the same results to the potential buyers in the exact same timeframe.

But what do you think, which product will have more sales?

The one that has better engagement and relationship with the potential customers.

Naturally, people will build trust and affinity towards the brand that’s “more human”.

And that’s the brand that wins. Every single time.

So, how do use the human element in business?

The human element essentially helps us build an affinity and trust with our audience.

And obviously, we’re doing that by being “as human as possible”

Oftentimes, it’s unscalable. But that’s okay!

Unscalable wins the long game (read “This won’t scale” by the Drift team).

Here’re some things you can do to unleash the human element and build an affinity with your market:

• Use images of you and your team members - wherever you can (preferably on every visual you create)
• Use the videos - wherever you can (It doesn’t matter that videos are not “preferred” content type for some platforms, still use it with the combination of text)

For example, the “Our Process” page on our website is full of videos:

Additionally, I’m also aggressively using videos on my LinkedIn:

Videos help our potential customers to connect our brand with our voice and image.

• Send personalized videos (in outbound sales, welcome new subscribers)

For example, we at Contenthorse, when doing outbound sales, we're sending our prospects personalized videos outlining the ROI-led content marketing strategies we would like to execute for them.

And what's the response we usually get from people?

And even if we don't close this particular deal, we have set a foundation for a great relationship.

Eventually, six or even 12 months from now, that relationship might evolve into a paid engagement.

• Be vulnerable. Be real. Talk about both your failures and successes.
• Engage in real conversations on social - don’t try to gamify and grow hack algorithms. Real and meaningful conversations always win.
• And at the end of the day - be human all the time.

Do this, and believe me, in the long-term game, you will be the #1 choice in your customer's mind.