People form connections, build relationships, and establish trust with one another. It’s a no-brainer that someone who doesn’t trust you wouldn’t do business with you. This is precisely why showcasing the people behind your brand, with their faces and names, is crucial – it’s about more than just profits. Some businesses excel at this, linking their brand to their people, making them relatable and easily remembered. Others, however, stick to an impersonal, cold, and corporate image, using a single, monotonous brand voice everywhere. A chilling thought…

Think about your favorite brands. What makes them stand out? For me, it’s brands like Rent the Runway, Charity Water, Wistia, and HubSpot – all masters of humanization. Granted, some industries, like retail or charities, might find this easier than, say, software or insurance companies. But companies like HubSpot prove that even seemingly “boring” brands can be humanized. Why do marketing messages sometimes feel robotic when brands are created by humans? The difference between memorable and forgettable marketing lies in crafting a relatable, humanized brand that resonates with the audience. As marketers, we aim to drive traffic, generate leads, convert them into loyal customers, and boost revenue. But let’s step away from that money-making mindset for a moment. How do you feel when you interact with your company online, whether it’s your website, social media, or email campaigns? Is everything overly promotional? Consider this: your brand could be significantly more successful if you shifted from purely sales-driven content to marketing that sounds like it comes from a REAL PERSON. Hopefully, by now, I’ve highlighted the importance of humanizing your brand for sustained growth. Let’s explore seven ways to reveal the vibrant personalities behind your brand to your audience.

#1: Showcase Your Team

Don’t hide your team (unless they’re truly hard on the eyes – just kidding!). Your audience is curious to see them! You don’t need to showcase every introvert or intern, but feature some of your team’s personalities in your marketing efforts. Showing the real people behind the scenes builds trust with potential customers and strengthens existing client relationships. The simple act of seeing a team behind the brand speaks volumes.

Use Genuine Photos of Your Actual Team

Ditch the stock photos. If you’re not a photographer and can’t afford one, find someone in-house. There’s bound to be someone with at least decent iPhone photography skills! Showcase your team on your website’s “About Us” and “Careers” pages. You can even sprinkle them throughout your content, including your homepage. Clearly identify the author of each blog post with their picture. Share photo albums on your company’s Facebook page – outings, events, or even funny office moments. Create an Instagram hashtag showcasing daily office life. The possibilities are endless when it comes to introducing your wonderful team to the world. HubSpot consistently excels at this. Their homepage even features a picture of employees at work. Check out their about section below, a well-produced video showcasing their workspace while narrating HubSpot’s compelling story. “One of the things that makes HubSpot special is our people, both within the company and those who support us,” says Brian Halligan, co-founder & CEO. They’ve mastered the art of transforming a potentially dry industry into an engaging and relatable narrative that attracts and retains a broad customer base.

Reveal the Fun and Relatable Side of Your Team

Show the world that your company isn’t composed of rigid, corporate robots, but rather a group of relatable, fun, intelligent people who genuinely want to help. Take a look at Quinn Popcorns team page for inspiration – they showcase their team in short videos, using humor and facial expressions to reveal the interesting people behind their brand.

#2: Empower Employees as Brand Ambassadors

We live in a social media-driven world. Most of your employees likely have active accounts on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and maybe even Periscope. They have connections - friends, family, or even complete strangers. Encourage your employees to leverage their networks to spread the word about your brand, demonstrating their pride in being the face of your company.

Of course, there are potential pitfalls. What if an employee has strong political or religious views that you’d rather not associate with your brand? To prevent conflicts, establish guidelines for employees regarding brand-related posts. While you can’t restrict freedom of speech, you can encourage them to add disclaimers stating their views don’t necessarily reflect those of their employer (see the example below).

Not every employee will be comfortable being a brand ambassador, and that’s perfectly fine. However, sending emails encouraging them to share company content, or even forming a thought-leadership team, can significantly humanize your brand in a positive and impactful way.

#3: Employ a Social/Community Manager (or Team)

Brands that excel at humanization often have a dedicated employee or team focused on building that aspect of their company. This person should be a skilled listener, engager, and responder. The ideal candidate is creative, social, a natural problem solver, and passionate about helping others. Their responsibilities might include:

• Organizing local events: For example, the Startup Institute has a community manager who organizes regular events, one of which I recently attended. They partnered with a local rock-climbing gym for a “Ladies Night.” Attendees enjoyed presentations from young female entrepreneurs followed by discounted climbing. This is an excellent way to introduce your brand to a wider audience in a fun and interactive setting while demonstrating your company’s involvement in the local community.

• Building an online community: Not all your customers will be local, which is where online communities come in. These can significantly enhance the human element of your brand, providing a space for leads, customers, and employees to interact and connect. Social media platforms can also host these communities. For instance, the restaurant review site, Infatuation, created an online community by popularizing the hashtag #EEEEEATS for food pictures on social media.
• Leveraging user-generated content: This not only humanizes your brand but also excites your customers. Imagine being featured in a Nike ad! Infatuation does this with their #EEEEEASTS hashtag by featuring the best food photos of the week on their social media accounts as “#EEEEEATS of the week.”

#4: Infuse Your Automated Marketing with Personalization

Truly humanizing your brand requires ensuring that every interaction a lead or customer has with you feels personalized. Whether it’s using their name in an email or employing direct language like “you” instead of “we” or “I,” these small touches matter. Implement remarketing strategies with personalized messaging. Automate email sequences based on where leads are in the sales funnel. For those in the early stages, send helpful, non-promotional content aligned with their previous browsing or search history. There are numerous automated tools available today that allow you to create personalized experiences for your audience. At MozCon in Seattle, I had the pleasure of learning about personalized marketing from Optimizely’s Cara Harshman. She shared a fantastic example of personalized marketing done right. While redecorating her apartment, she found the perfect acrylic media console on CB2. However, she decided to explore other options on Craigslist and other sites to ensure she was getting the best deal. A week later, she received an email from CB2 with a picture of that exact media console and the subject line “Still Deciding?” Cara admitted she was still considering her options, but that well-timed email nudge convinced her to purchase from CB2. She raved about how CB2 seemed to be reading her mind, genuinely understanding her needs.

Building these personal connections will make your audience feel the human element of your brand. “Foster trust by establishing a strong emotional connection and appealing to people’s sense of self,” advises Janet Choi, Chief Creative Officer at iDoneThis. “Remember, they want to feel confident and empowered, and they want you to be approachable and trustworthy.”

#5: Send Swag and Welcome/Appreciation Letters

While sending a gift to every new customer might not be feasible for all businesses, particularly retailers or those selling high-value items, there are other ways to express appreciation. Consider personalized thank-you letters with special offers for repeat customers. For B2B companies with longer sales cycles and contracts, a personalized onboarding experience can be impactful. A welcoming letter from their dedicated account manager, making them feel like part of “the family,” adds a personal touch. At nexus-security, we recently implemented welcome postcards and T-shirts, and our clients love it. Check out the example below – just a glimpse of the positive feedback we’ve received on Twitter.

#6: Inject Personality into Your Writing

Have you ever read a blog post so dull it nearly put you to sleep? Probably not, because you likely abandoned it after the first few sentences. That’s the effect of writing in a monotone, formal voice filled with “big words” that are inaccessible and difficult to understand. Readers can sense when you’re trying too hard to sound intelligent, and they’re not interested in your jargon. “Business and industry-specific jargon is simply a way of talking over people’s heads. You might think you sound incredibly clever and important, but in reality, you’re just being inaccessible,” states HubSpot’s Corey Eridon. All your website content should exude personality – incorporate wit, humor, and emotion. The specific tone will vary based on each writer’s style, and that’s perfectly acceptable! Your brand doesn’t need to adhere to a single voice. Make sure your homepage copy isn’t generic – if a competitor could easily adopt your tagline, it’s time for a revamp. Embrace uniqueness in your writing. I once worked for a company where my first assignment was writing a blog post. I poured my personality into it, only to discover that it wasn’t welcome. The post went through countless revisions until it was stripped of all personality, reduced to a monotonous piece. Unsurprisingly, the company never garnered a large readership.

#7: Share Stories of Setbacks

Often, your audience will connect more deeply when you share your failures instead of just your successes. This doesn’t mean revealing every software bug or sharing gossip about an employee’s lack of punctuality. Don’t air your dirty laundry. Instead, share personal stories or life lessons learned. Tell your blog readers about overcoming obstacles or how your business helped a client overcome theirs. Take a look at this post on medium.com titled, “How quitting my corporate job for my startup dream f*cked my life up.” According to BuzzSumo, this post garnered 14.4K shares since its publication in September 2014. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Infusing your brand with human elements will earn you a more loyal customer base. This post was originally published on Search Engine Journal