However, technological advances have been frighteningly fast! For years, brands have invested in automating processes, from data processing to customer support.

And we customers don’t mind! We even appreciate it when a supermarket cash machine is available on those days when we don’t feel like talking to anyone.

However, when automation doesn’t fulfill its purpose, and even ends up making simple tasks more difficult, that’s when we miss human contact.

Have you ever tried to resolve a complaint using only chatbots or automated telephone support? I have… and honestly, nothing replaces a human on the other end!

Source: Freepik

 

The emergence of a new paradigm

Human-to-human (or simply H2H) marketing is the latest marketing paradigm. 

Unlike strategies focused on the end consumer (Business-to-Consumer) or other businesses (Business-to-Business), H2H marketing is focused on humanizing the process of brand communication with the public.

The main objective is to build a solid relationship with the customer, fostering their loyalty and providing a consistent experience throughout the entire journey.

In H2H marketing, it’s people communicating with other people. No beating around the bush. No expensive words. Brands that implement an H2H strategy communicate empathetically with their audience, recognize their flaws, and, above all, are authentic!

The importance of H2H marketing

In recent years, consumer behavior has changed. 

Between the constant shadow of the “next” financial crisis, a global pandemic, and what could become World War III, there are many reasons that have changed our perception as customers.

There’s also another factor: we’re getting older and our needs and desires are changing. 

If, until recently, it was the Baby Boomers and Millennials who led the largest consumer groups, now it’s Generation Z. For those born between 1996 and 2010, buying habits are influenced by a brand’s moral values, its authenticity, and the way it communicates with its audience. 

What Generation Z is looking for is a more humanized, personalized service that is close to their needs.

Thus, by adopting an H2H strategy, brands have the opportunity to create a lasting relationship with the customer, appealing to their emotions and influencing the decision-making process.

Brands that address their customers by treating them as people, rather than “personas”, create a sense of mutual respect and shared values that extend the customer lifecycle.

What are the advantages of H2H marketing?

Brands that successfully adopt a humanized marketing strategy set themselves apart from the competition in a positive way. When a brand presents itself without the technical jargon and polish that makes it perfect, the public responds with empathy.

The relationship that is built from this fosters loyalty, creates greater proximity, and, above all, the customer feels listened to. For product/service development teams, this is the key moment to respond to the public’s needs.

In addition, personalizing and humanizing the service provides a positive shopping experience at every stage of the customer journey.

Finally, by shifting the focus to the relationship with the customer (rather than “forcing” the sale), brands end up selling more and improving their bottom line.

Shall we move on from words to action?

Adopting an H2H marketing strategy often involves changing the company’s organizational culture.

Yes, it’s a lot of work, and there are numerous consequences and obstacles. That’s why this kind of change shouldn’t be taken lightly, or just for the sake of improving sales.

In addition to resistance to change and the impact of an organizational change on employees and the company, customers also feel the difference and can interpret it as not genuine. When this happens, it doesn’t matter how much effort you put in. The customer will always look askance at the brand.

Despite the risk that a change of this magnitude entails, the advantages of this approach are clear to see and only those who fail to take advantage of them will lose out.

How to implement an H2H strategy?

Being authentic

There’s no point in trying to be something we’re not. 

It’s the same with brands. 

Customers see beyond actions and notice when what you say doesn’t match what you do. 

There is no better example of this than greenwashing. In an age when everyone claims to be environmentally friendly, very few are. One such case is Shein, the Chinese fast fashion colossus that claims to be eco-friendly but whose practices reveal the opposite.

On the other hand, there’s Nike. 

Constantly associated with the greatness of top-level sport, the American brand has maintained its authenticity by focusing on ordinary people, who face daily challenges, to demonstrate that greatness is in all of us.

Focus on the customer

You’ve already seen that, in H2H marketing, people are the priority. However, it cannot be stressed enough.

Adopting a customer-focused strategy can mean many things, including changing the entire business strategy. In practice, the aim is to value the customer, understand what they are looking for, and use all available resources to meet their needs and desires.

Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign took the focus away from selling its products to promote the concept of natural beauty and self-esteem. By telling real stories, with real customers, Dove gets closer to the public and generates empathy.

Forming the teams

Honesty is the basis of the brand-customer relationship in an H2H marketing strategy. That’s why it’s essential to train teams so that communication with the customer is simple and authentic.

After all, the aim is to treat others as we would like to be treated.

Simplify communication

For years, we considered formal speech to be respectful and professional.

Nowadays, brands realize that it is possible to maintain respect and professionalism and talk to the customer without that kind of robotic, emotionless speech.

By eliminating formality and bureaucracy from the language, brands establish a friendly relationship, leading the customer to let their guard down and feel more comfortable sharing information that they wouldn’t otherwise.

Cognism is an excellent example.

The brand developed an email marketing campaign aimed at recovering lost customers. The discourse couldn’t have been simpler and so close to our daily lives that it makes us want to subscribe to the mailing list again.

Source: Literal Humans

Use storytelling

By taking the focus off the sale and using storytelling, brands help customers feel empowered. To feel that they are the ones who decide on the purchase. In essence, the brand isn’t forcing the sale, it’s just telling a story.

By developing content that the customer can relate to, the brand establishes an emotional connection. Let’s look at the Maxmat campaign.

The idea behind this campaign is very simple! Someone who hasn’t mastered DIY but needs help. Who hasn’t gone into a DIY store looking for “that thing that fits the thing”?

By telling this story, Maxmat reveals the day-to-day life of stores and customers throughout Portugal. This is something that the public can easily relate to.

At the end of the day, people will remember how they felt about “that” campaign or “that” ad and not whether brand A or B is wonderful.

Recognize our imperfections

Nobody is perfect. We already know that. Even so, there’s nothing stopping us from trying. And the first step is to recognize what’s not so good.

That’s precisely what Pepsi did with its “Is Pepsi ok?” campaign, mentioning the name of its main competitor in the ad and admitting that it is the customer’s second choice. In this case, self-awareness was the success of the whole campaign.

Invest in an omnichannel service

If you’ve read this far, you may have gotten the idea that H2H marketing rejects technology. Well, the opposite is true!

An H2H strategy uses technology to humanize customer communication. Thus, through an omnichannel service, brands provide a consistent customer experience.

In other words, if we contact a company by email, then by phone, and, a few days later, we use Instagram chat, the brand will collect all the information we provide so that, in the next contact, we don’t have to do it all over again.

Use customer relationship management software (CRM)

Omnichannel is a very powerful tool these days. However, for it to fulfill its purpose, it is necessary to use CRM. 

In short, this software collects the data provided by the customer to help the brand respond to their needs and desires. CRM thus facilitates team collaboration, personalizes the customer experience, and promotes efficient customer service.

The impact of omnichannel CRM on the success of an H2H strategy

Brands that adopt human-to-human marketing want to communicate with customers in the same way that we talk to the people closest to us.

Unless it’s a corner store, this kind of closeness is virtually impossible these days. Today’s brands have too many customers and too few resources to deal with each customer individually. They are therefore forced to find technological solutions.

When we talk to a friend, they’ll certainly remember the conversation we had (unless they’re the human version of Dori!).

So why can’t brands do the same? Why do brands make us repeat everything we’ve said over and over again?

Omnichannel CRM highlights the advantages of the H2H strategy.

By using the information collected through CRM software, it is possible to improve the quality of customer service through the brand’s various communication channels. In this sense, omnichannel CRM makes it possible to achieve a near-perfect shopping experience at every stage of the journey.

All this can be summed up in one word: consistency!

The customer knows that they have several channels of communication with the brand at their disposal. And what they expect is the same type of language, availability, and quality of service in each of them.

Omnichannel CRM at the service of an H2H marketing strategy makes it possible to maintain consistency in the quality of service, improving the customer experience.

Back to the basic element: the human relationship

The human-to-human concept aims to return to the past and take human relationships back to the way they always were. With emotion. With empathy.

However, now we have technology on our side. We can take advantage of the enormous technological advances of recent decades to do something that machines will never be able to do for us: develop an emotional relationship.

Can you now visualize everything you can do for your brand?