How to Define Your Brand’s Human Relationship

You may have already heard about defining your persona/avatar and being able to “niche” down so that you can rise above the throng. However, what powerful brands actually do is define not the unique human being that they’re serving but the unique human relationship they’re developing. It’s going beyond the functional need that you’re solving and down to what is the meaning or value of the relationship.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, your digital marketing acts as a crockpot that lets you connect with new people while maintaining the relationships that you’ve already cultivated. It’ll feel like your own little corner of the internet or personal digital networking room where you are hosting a series of conversations in your community. 

The core is the one human connecting to another human and that is part of the power of your brand. If you’re able to build the relationship well then you will gain your customer’s trust. Not only will they trust to purchase from you but will stay loyal to you through hard times like a recession or a pandemic.

So how do you define that intentional relationship you’re cultivating with your customer?

There are three key parts we’ll be breaking down:

• Who is your happy human you’re talking to?
• How are you showing up as a happy human?
• What is the end intention and goal you want to have as you’re building the relationship with them?

Define your ideal happy human

Let’s start with defining who is the ideal happy human you are serving in your community. Your community makes up of a variety of people including: 

• Customers
• Employees
• Influencers
• Referral partners/business partners and vendors
• Nonprofits and community members and organizations
• Press

All of these people are going to be interacting with your business in person and online. Your digital marketing is a space to continue reminding them of the experience that they had with you and deepen the conversation that you’re cultivating within the community. When you deepen the conversation, you’re building trust and inspiring action towards the impact that you ultimately want to create.

Let’s paint a picture of who your ideal audience is because when you have figured out who they are you’ll naturally attract the other people in the list that I mentioned above.

Think about your favorite customers:

• How do they act walk and talk?
• Why do you love working with them?
• What’s their personality like?
• What do they really need and why did working with you solved that need?
• At the end of the day beyond the functional thing are you solving inside?
• What do they value when working with you?
• What are they passionate about that you are equally passionate about?

What they truly value and how you’re solving a need to what they value is lies the key in how you’ll develop a unique relationship with your customer. If you connect to a larger impact that your product or service is working towards then there is a higher chance that your customers will choose to stay loyal. A larger impact doesn’t always mean a social cause that you need to stand by, sometimes it’s about setting a standard in the way your industry operates.

Who are you as a happy human?

Once you have created your happy human that you’re talking to online, how are you showing up to talk to them as a brand? 

Each Brand is a Human Being that is a collective of the team members in it. How do they show up in the world?

• How do they act, walk and talk?
• When they walk into a room what’s their personality like? Are they star, wallflower, or prefer 1-to-1 conversations?
• What do they like to do for fun? What’s their dress style like?
• How are you actively showing up to solve the problem of your clients in your unique way?

How would you describe yourself as a person? 

• What are three words that would describe who you are: 
  • For example apple: innovate, inspire, dream // red bull: adventure, try, adrenaline 
  • Each word has a different meaning for each other because we as humans interpret words differently.
    • We are professional but not stiff
    • We are thought leaders but never in a patronizing way 
• What do they do in the world that is uniquely you and how you’re building that purpose to a greater cause?

What you’re uncovering is the way you are uniquely showing up in the world from who you are to how you act. We want to be on the same page as a brand so that each team member whether it’s the creative creating the content or the manager who’s approving the content is aligned in how the brand’s relationship and experience are portrayed. So when you’re doing this exercise you’re not only talking about the physical ways that you’re showing up and interacting with your customer but also how you are serving them in your own unique way. 

What is the intentional relationship you’re setting up?

Now that we’ve defined who is the happy human you are serving and who you are as a fellow happy human. Let’s talk about how you would be interacting and building a trusting relationship together. 

Remember there are two parts to building the relationships: 

• Tactical: Who and where you’re going to communicate with them
• Emotional: What is the final experience that you want them to feel

Tactically shows up in the full customer journey map like below where you’re guiding them through the journey and by seeing the full picture it’ll let you know how to optimize each area better.

But the main part is understanding their mindset as they go through these tactical pieces towards making a final purchase decision.

These emotions are where we gain trust with our audience.

We are social creatures and make our decisions through our emotions. People may not remember the exact details but they’ll always remember how they felt during an experience.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

So when we’re trying to understand our audience further and how we’re helping them along the way it’s about noticing where their mindset is along the way. 

Most importantly, what is the larger impact that both you as a brand and the customer is working towards?

Large question to answer right? Let me explain. Inside every human and in turn the brand overall is a larger movement and purpose that we want to be a part of. We each play a unique role in how we show up in the world to serve this larger purpose.

• So what are you passionate about that may have led to the creation of your service and product in the first place?
• Does your service help answer a larger problem or help lead the way to answer a larger problem?
• How are you able to track the larger impact that you’re making

By connecting with them on a larger mission, you’re creating a loyalty stronger than normal brand relationships because people want to feel like they’re a part of something larger and like be your biggest advocate for it.

Now let’s build a plan 

Remember a goal without a plan is simply a wish. You may not be able to do everything overnight but it’s about defining what the next best steps are. 

• Where are you in the mindset journey with your audience?
• What do you notice that you want to adjust in the whole marketing process that can help you cultivate better relationships?

If you’re interested in creating your next sales pitch feel free to sign up for my newsletter and get the Define Your Voice workbook where I help you walk through the process to find your person.