11 Ways to Create a More Human Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

11 Ways to Create a More Human Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Act  More  Human Businesses have a reputation for being callous and soulless, and this is because they do things that,  were a  human  to do  the same, would be perceived as sociopathic. Allow yourself and your committee to make decisions that dont directly impact the monetary bottom line. Consider it a  brand-building exercise if that helps, but recognize that being good in the  human  sense will also be good for your profits down the line. Colin Wright,  Asymmetrical Press 2. Use Humor Create  humorous articles and post them on your blog or social media accounts. Make light of a recent mistake you made and write about how you overcame it. Find funny content on the Internet and use it as part of your content marketing strategy. People always love a good laugh, and youll make your  brand  more  human  as a result. Andrew Schrage,  Money Crashers Personal Finance 3. Show You Care If our customers take the time to give us their feedback we take it seriously. We make sure our customer service team responds to everyone.  Furthermore, we log all comments (both positive and negative) and when we see patterns in our feedback we are sure to act. Oisin Hanrahan,  Handybook 4. Tell Stories Apple,  the most valuable company in the world, tells a story with every product they sell. From their famous  1984 Super Bowl ad  to  Heres to the crazy ones  to  selling  their latest iPad, Apple creates an emotional connection  with stories that are at the core of being  human. Mike McGee,  The Starter League 5. Add Employee Photos to Your Site Put your people front and center. Use photos of your team. Online, text-based bios of your team are great, but photos bring people to life. Phil Dumontet,  DASHED 6. Take People Inside Your Office The simplest adjustment a company can make to  create  a  more  human  brand  is to show its  human  side! Tell customers about the people behind the company. Ditch the jargon and the veil and let people inside (you can do so literally with a video office tour). Who is the leadership behind the company? What do they believe in? A good example of a company that does this is  Mind Valley. They have photos and bios for all of their key staff.  Sean Kelly,  HUMAN 7. Connect Employees to Customers There is a big push right now around creating employee  brand  ambassador programs. One way to have a  more  human  brand  experience is to connect the employees with the customers. Think about where you would automate or provide some soulless interaction and replace it with a live  human  being (you can have different people rotate). Have some of your product creators available for QAs. Mike Ambassador Bruny,  Ambassador Bruny Dot Com 8. Put a Face to Your Company Make a specific person or group of people identifiable to give your company a face. Make their presence consistent, and let people know they can communicate with these real people and not just the company as an entity. Daniel Wesley,  DebtConsolidation.com 9. Reply to Comments on Social Media Replying to all comments on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other social platforms where your  brand  has a presence is a great way to give consumers a meaningful connection to your  brand. For example, if a consumer is taking time out of his or her day to send a message to your  brands Twitter page, its imperative that you reply to let them know that your  brand  cares about their satisfaction.  A tweet might be all it takes to  create  lifelong loyalty. Doreen Bloch,  Poshly Inc. 10. Cut the Legalese Do not speak to your customers like they are a liability. Instead treat them like  human  beings that deserve dignity and respect, especially because theyll be paying you for your product or service. Even if theres no cash exchanged, remember that they can easily turn to another provider to fulfill their needs. So make sure you offer a bit of personality instead of coming off as  distant and unapproachable. Firas Kittaneh,  Amerisleep 11. Establish an Emotional Connection Establish an emotional connection with  your audience.  You can do so by caring about what they care about just as much (if not  morethan) they do. Trust is a trait  best built on common ground. Ashley Mady,  Brandberry Featured Photo