Marketing 3.0: Why Marketers Need the Human Touch

As we transition from the Traditional Marketing to Digital Marketing or Marketing 4.0, it is important that we first learn of the concepts of Marketing 3.0 or the Human-centric Marketing, which approach the customers as whole human beings with minds, hearts, and spirits that are often being influenced by their personal desires. In Human-centric Marketing, marketers aim to fulfill not only the customers' functional and emotional needs but also to address their latent anxieties and deepest desires. This is in stark contrast with the Customer-centric Marketing or Marketing 2.0 which treats consumers as mere passive participants and measures success by the amount of merchandise sold. Human-Centric Marketing’s objective is to form interactive connections and develop meaningful relationships in order to create a much more personalized experience for every customer.

What does it mean to be human in a digital world?

In the rapidly increasing dominance of artificial intelligence and robotics (e.g., smartphones, driverless cars, automated factories, etc.), consumers will still likely to seek the familiar human touch. According to Philip Kotler, the renowned marketing author and professor, Human-Centric Marketing is still the key to building brand attraction in the digital era as brands with a human character will arguably be the most differentiated.

Understanding Humans Using Digital Anthropology

Digital Anthropology focuses on the connection between humans and digital technology. It explores how humans interact with digital interface, how they use it to interact with one another and how they behave in the context of technologies. There are three (3) popular methods that are currently being used by marketers to understand how people perceive brands in their online communities and what attracts them to certain brands:

1. Social Listening

The process of monitoring digital conversations to understand what customers are saying about a brand online, particularly on social media and online communities.

2. Netnography

To understand human behaviors in “e-tribes” or online communities. It aims to study humans through immersion into their natural communities in an unobtrusive way.

3. Emphatic Research

Involves the human perspective and empathy in the research process, with the objective of uncovering latent customer needs. The insights produced this way usually lead to a new product development or a new customer experience.

The Six Attributes of Human-Centric Brands

According to Stephen Sampson’s book “Leaders Without Titles”, horizontal leaders possess six human characteristics that make them attractive to others:

1. Physicality

A person who is physically attractive usually has a strong influence over others. Thus, brands must create physical attractions between them and the customer to have influence over them.

Example: well-crafted taglines, well-designed logos, unique product designs

2. Intellectuality

The ability to generate unique ideas, to innovate and to create products or services that are not previously conceived by others and which effectively solve customers’ problems.

3. Sociability

People who exhibits strong social skills exude a unique charisma to others. Brands with strong sociability are not afraid of engaging in conversations with their customers. They manifest impressive confidence in engaging with others and show good verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

4. Emotionality

People who can establish strong emotional connection with others are very powerful influencers. Thus, brands must strive to connect emotionally with their customers in a much deeper level to drive favorable customer actions.

5. Personability

People with strong personability have self-awareness and are conscious of what they are capable of and what they fall short of. They show great determination in improving themselves and take full responsibility for their actions. Brands must adopt this special trait in order for them to be perceived by their customers as relatable and more sincere.

6. Morality

A person who is ethical and possesses a strong integrity gains the trust of other people. Similarly, brands with strong morality are values-driven and use ethical business models as their core differentiation. They have a strong influence over their customers, thanks to the trust that was built over time because of the brand’s positive moral character.

Human-centric marketing plays a vital role in this increasingly digital world and it is here to stay. Marketers must aim to create brands that behave like humans. They must build authentic brands that are relatable, attractive, accessible, unafraid to show its strengths and weaknesses, recognize its failures, and shows sincerity in its quest for excellence. They must be receptive and responsive to the ever-changing needs and requirements of consumers. Understanding people and addressing their wants, needs, and desires is a surefire strategy to gain competitive advantage.