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2023 has become the year of disruptive technology. As ChatGPT gained public attention, companies scrambled to bring the best AI business tools to a market eager to learn how to use AI to make their operations more efficient. This year, I graduated from a graduate program in communications studying human-machine communication in industry, and somehow ended up in digital marketing.
Just as businesses review their finances at the end of the year, it’s also the perfect time to reset your marketing strategy. In my own marketing strategy, I prefer to use a strategy that combines both leveraging technology and creating content designed for humans. A focus on human-centered content is especially important right now.
Over the past year, I’ve seen numerous advertisements for various AI products that claim to completely improve parts of your daily life through calendar management, content creation, and even ad generation. With tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E, we can now let machines create almost anything we want.
You need to be careful here. AI can help, but it can never replace the effort you put into your team and strategy. And next year, being human will be even more important.
What is human-centered marketing?
First, I would say that while marketers will not be replaced by AI, it is very likely that they will be replaced by marketers who know how to make AI work to their advantage.
We are flooded with ads for various products that use AI to solve common problems. There are lots of great tools out there that use technology and machine learning to help with various business functions. Automate your calendar, social media posts, and SEO strategies. And while it’s absolutely necessary to start adding some tools to your repertoire, first let’s talk about reaching your audience without buying anything new.
We interact with algorithms every day. Our music streaming service predicts new songs based on what we’ve listened to before (kids content ruined automatic playlists). Search engines make recommendations based on algorithms that determine the trustworthiness of sites on the web, and social media pages know exactly what users are most likely to buy next and advertise that. Display.
So while it’s tempting to exhaust and purchase various machine learning-powered applications in hopes of helping you automate your marketing strategy, let’s stop here. Humans clearly prefer content that is created by humans and for humans. So, while AI can definitely assist in this process, we need to ensure that the human part is prioritized.
Building blocks of human-centered marketing
I created the acronym “REAL” to help you remember the components of a human-centered marketing campaign. The best marketing is Rfun, Eeducational, aauthoritative and LThat works.
- Relevant: Putting yourself in your customer’s shoes is a great way to connect with your audience. This can be done by naming the problem (e.g. “My feet always get wet in my winter boots”) and highlighting the problem.
- education: We receive a lot of pushback from clients regarding the creation of educational content. They fear (1) that their competitors will find and steal their content, and (2) that their clients will learn how to solve problems on their own. The truth is: Buyers who read helpful content are more likely to convert, and search engines are specifically designed to prioritize helpful content.
- Authoritative: Every customer who finds your company finds you because they want to solve a specific pain point. Authoritative content establishes you as a thought leader and leverages your expertise in your field.
- Likeable: One of the first things you learn in sales training is that people are more likely to buy from people they like. Marketing must be authentic and trustworthy.
Whatever combination of marketing channels you use, make sure it meets these guidelines.
Email Marketing: Stop Spam
Email marketing is a source of frustration for many business owners. Either the email hits the spam folder instead of the target, or the recipient simply doesn’t open the email. The last thing I want to do is explain to my clients, “Yes, we are definitely sending spam.” Spam, by definition, is simply sending a large amount of unsolicited email.
One of my marketing clients uses ZoomInfo, a very powerful client relationship manager (CRM). This CRM finds leads quickly and can send thousands of emails a day. However, modern email clients have become accustomed to the look of marketing emails, and some servers will reject these emails entirely.
When my clients receive emails that their messages were not delivered because they were flagged and rejected by spam filters, they want to know how to get these emails past this virtual gatekeeper. I was thinking.
I said, “If you’re a good prospect, why don’t you send me a personal email?”
Great marketers know how to work with AI, but they also know how and when to intervene and make decisions with human judgment. While a powerful CRM is a great tool, the reality is that many people hate being on the receiving end of mass email campaigns (including myself, the designer of mass email campaigns). hand).
It’s not enough to step back and let automation do the work. When sending emails through your CRM or mailing list, make sure the wording is personable and friendly, and doesn’t read too much like a sales email. I like to include useful content in my emails and it seems to increase open rates.
This also applies to advertising campaigns and social media strategies. It’s great to put out regular content! But does your regular content humanize your brand? I recommend a social media calendar that prioritizes humans: your customers, your staff, yourself, whatever you call it. is to create.
As I review the analytics of the many social media pages I run, one thing is consistent across the companies I work with. The most popular content is simple content that shows your brand’s leadership and that your employees are just people. I’ve seen photos of employees just sitting in their offices get four times the engagement rate of carefully designed Canva graphics.
So if your employees attended a service day or met in person for the first time in months, take a photo and share it.
It also helps to not take yourself too seriously. It might not be on brand to get as wild as Wendy’s girlfriend’s Facebook page, but show some levity and a sense of humor in your ads. Encourage your staff to dress up so their headshots look more approachable.
Search Engine Marketing: Leveraging Talking Algorithms
These algorithms are also constantly changing, so the strategies you used to reach potential customers last year may not be as easy to reach next year.
Google and Microsoft are both rolling out their own versions of AI search, and SEO experts are upset about the potential loss of rankings and click-throughs. You can now test Google’s AI-powered search experience (SGE) to see how it changes your search.
With AI search, AI responses are displayed before all other search results. This application summarizes what we believe to be the best answers to your search queries based on information currently available on the Internet.
The big concern is that no one will click on the page anymore. However, SGE cites primary sources right near the summary. Therefore, SEOs need to pivot from traditional keyword and content strategies and create clear, authoritative, and modern content with a call to action early in the content. Search also prioritizes results with a better user experience, which typically comes from human-centered marketing.
For humans, by humans is the key
A few years ago, I spent a year copy-editing content from Stanley Tate, owner of TateEsq, a lawyer who specializes in student loan repayment in bankruptcy. His goal was to create content that answered all the student loan questions people might have. After optimizing his blog for his one year, his site ranked very high on his Google.
There are two strategies he utilized. One, we covered all the topics, even ones that may not be business-worthy, like federal student loans, and two, we covered very useful content that people were likely to read and come back to. That’s what I created.
This is the type of search that is likely to do well when AI search is rolled out in earnest because it explains the problem, links to trusted sources, and demonstrates a level of expertise and authority that is appealing to humans. It’s content.
No matter what channel you market to, make sure your content is written for people.
Photo credit: NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock.com
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