Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 185 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast – I’d love to you take a screenshot and share it on your socials and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/185

This week’s episode is sponsored by Melbourne Innovation Centre and their Digital Solutions Programs.  I’ve been involved with Melbourne innovation Centre as one of their mentors and workshop hosts for about 3 or 4 years now, so I was pretty chuffed when they wanted to sponsor my podcast for a few weeks.

So, if you live in Victoria, listen up!  Melbourne Innovation Centre has subsidized programs to help you if you are struggling to reach new customers and struggling with digital marketing.

Join for just $44 and get access to 3 hours of mentoring with a mentor of your choice, access to weekly training, workshops, masterclasses, webinars, online courses and much more.

Like I said, I am a mentor for this excellent program, so you can choose me and we can work together to discuss all your digital marketing needs. 

Sign up today by visiting: courses.melbourneinnovation.com.au or via the link in the show notes.

So, onto today’s episode,

If you’ve hung around me for any length of time, you will know that I talk A LOT about Human to Human marketing – H2H marketing.

Human to Human Marketing is, in essence, about showing up as you, attracting the people who align with your values and giving your community/audience someone to get to know, like and trust in order to build your business.

Simple – yes?

Well, I am afraid that many business owners hide behind their products, their services, their logos – I hope that’s not you – and don’t really give their audience a “person” to get to know.

The businesses that do that, will be finding 2022 even harder to make traction in the busy and overcrowded marketplace we do business in.

Those who start implementing, experimenting and enjoying human to human marketing – well they will be the winners against competitors.

So, as I said, I do a lot of talking about H2H marketing – but what does it mean in reality?  Well, today on this episode, I am going to talk to you about 11 ways to be more human – not just online but offline too – but mostly online, as it is awfully hard to hide from your customers offline – eg/ if you have a shop!

So, let’s get into it

1. Your profile picture – is it you? If I go to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or wherever can I see you?  Do I know instantly who I am talking to and/or whose business I am browsing?  Yes – fabulous – no, then finish listening to this episode and go and change it.  Seriously!
2. Your Bio – if your headline or handle is not your name – then is it at least in your bio (excluding LinkedIn I guess – that’s all about the human name!). If I can’t see your name anywhere in your socials – then while you are updating your profile pic – do this too!  You cannot build trust without knowing who you are building trust with.  You don’t have the marketing budget of Mcdonald’s – so don’t show up like a corporate when you’re you – a small business.
3. Video – you knew it had to come. One of the best, quickest and most amazing ways of putting more human to human marketing in your marketing is video.  Video is king – it’s not going anywhere – please start using more video.  Have you noticed your Instagram feed – it’s FULL of video now – the algorithm is pushing it – so go and create more.
4. Stop worrying about how many people follow you on Instagram or like your post or connect with you on LinkedIn – it seriously DOES NOT matter. In 2022, it is ALL about building a community.  A community of people who know, like and trust you, who buy from you, come back to buy again and refer their friends and family to you – became a super fan!  What are you doing to build community with your marketing?
5. Share your knowledge! NEVER underestimate what you know that others would like to know. You are the EXPERT in your field.  You might not feel it, but you are.  People look up to you and want to know what you know.  Sharing your knowledge freely is a huge way of adding more humanness to your branding and marketing.  When you say something and people look at you strangely like “I didn’t know that” – that’s a piece of content!  Again, never underestimate what you know that others would like to know.
6. Invest in photography! Showing up with video is great but so is investing in some professional photographs of you and/or your products/services.  It is an investment – I get that – but at some point, photos from your iPhone need to be in the mix with photos by a professional.  There’s a reason why we aren’t all professional photographers!  There is a difference and in your marketing, it can be the difference between a lead and not a lead – a purchase and not a purchaser because you are standing out from the crowd!
7. Behind the Scenes – people LOVE to see behind the scenes of a business. It’s not all roses and prettiness – share your life (as much as you want to share), share behind the scenes, what a day in your life looks like, how you do what you do, why you do what you do!  Share behind the scenes, but ensure it aligns with your business values, your business brand and don’t share anything you don’t want to – it’s your business, it’s up to you – but you do need to bring the curtain down a little – again, the know like and trust factors!
8. Podcasting! Aha!  What a fabulous way of showing up!  It’s certainly very human.  Now I’m not suggesting that you all go out and start your own – although if you do want to – then let me know, I’d love to help guide you through it – but there’s a truckload of podcasts out there all looking for guests!  There is a podcast for everything and I am no doubt that there is a podcaster or 10 in your niche who would love to interview you and hear your story, your why and learn more about what you do.
9. Email – Email is a great way to show up as a human! Using stories in your emails – sharing a little about you, your life, your why, your values – whatever, but being more human in your emails and less “email roboty” is fabulous!  Think email segue. So a segue is where you tell a story and then segue it in a call to action or a sales message for the reader.  For example, if you’re on my email list, you see this all the time – most weeks in fact.  But one example is me telling you a story about how I liked to play marbles when I was young and how when someone had a better one than me, it created FOMO (fear of missing out) in me and then I segue that story into how you should/could create FOMO in your business to attract more business.  See – email stories and segues – great human marketing!
10. Stories – not just in emails – but storytelling in your marketing is a great way to being more human, attracting the people who align with your values, being memorable, create trust and let your community get to know you – stories – are super powerful. How many times in the past few weeks, in your marketing, how you used stories to interact and build know, like and trust?
11. A good old reach out strategy is my last way of being more human! Stop thinking that just because you have Instagram and use hashtags and geotagging that your ideal client or customer will find you – have a reach-out strategy!  What is a reach-out strategy – basically a strategy that you spend time on the platform, commenting, liking, following, basically doing to other people’s content (strategically other peoples) what you would like them to do to yours!  And along the way leaving Hansel and Gretel bread crumbs of your business name around to create curiosity with others who might then come and have a look at your content and you!  It’s like magic!
12. Oh and I know I said 11 – but being the overachiever that I am – there’s always more. Number 12 is quite obviously – networking!  Want more human-ness in your brand, then take the human (that’s you) and network!  Talk to others, either online or offline, and start conversations, join groups, ask great questions of others and use networking strategically to help grow your business, get customers and get referrals!

So out of the 12 ways to put more human-ness into your brand, into your business, into your marketing – which ones do you do well, not at all or need to improve on?

Let’s recap:

1. Your profile picture
2. Your bio and your name in it!
3. Video
4. Investing in photography
5. Community
6. Sharing your knowledge
7. Sharing behind the scenes
8. Podcasting
9. Email and email segue
10. Storytelling
11. Having a reach-out strategy, and
12. Networking!

Let me know!

Let’s continue the chat in my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group – you can join on Facebook if you haven’t already.

Oh and talking about my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group – I have some amazing guests coming in there to do lives with me this year.  I am super excited by this.  From finance experts to PR and marketing experts (besides me) to Law experts – they are all coming on to give you their time and do some Q&As with the group.

Another amazing reason to come and join that community!

But, that’s it for another episode of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Remember you can find the links in the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/185

Thanks to the Melbourne Innovation Centre and Digital Solutions Program for supporting this episode today! If your business is based in Victoria, don’t forget to check the program out by visiting: courses.melbourneinnovation.com.au

You can join for just $44 and get access to 1:1 mentoring with either myself or select 50 other digital marketing gurus from across the State.

See you next week on the podcast for episode 186.  But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!