Our Humanifesto
The revenue revolutionizing pillars of Human-Centered brand & marketing for B2b tech businesses.
H U M A N I F E S T O
What is human-centered marketing, and why the heck does it matter?
In an age where AI is taking over and revolutionizing the operational structures inside of businesses, the need for radically human communications has never been greater than right NOW.
Our world is being consumed by noise–media designed to drain us away from our meaning and suck us into a spiral of lifeless spending and task doing. Human-centered branding & marketing is to humans, from humans, for the sake of a better world for all of us–humanity!
Human-centered marketing doesn’t just use a deep understanding of a product, solution, or market to sell something–it makes humanity its end goal as well.
Human-centered branding & marketing are communications with a heartbeat. They are the powerful forces that cause buyers to emotionally connect with an idea, product, or service.
Technology brands and businesses who want to grow must humanize.
But how?
I’ll show you.
I’m Brandon. That’s me on the right, sitting down. My business partner and I, Nate, (That’s him on the left) have spent the last two combined decades figuring out how to brand, market, and sell the most complex offerings on the planet–offerings that, themselves, are the most technical, expensive, and not human, whatsoever.
Before Forrest we had the privilege of helping global brands like Whirlpool, United Airlines, Chik-Fil-A, Southwest, Reverb, and tons of small-to-medium sized businesses humanize what they do through human-centric design, branding, and marketing strategies.
We’ve learned a lot.
It was working with brands like those mentioned above that we developed a recipe that we’ve been applying to global technology brands for the last four years.
And it works–reeeeeally well.
We help b2b Tech leaders–businesses like NewRocket, Crowe, Optimum Healthcare IT, ITS, Sakon, 1West, and more achieve breakthrough growth through human-centered brand & marketing strategies.
And the good news is that none of this is rocket science.
T H E R E C I P E
Story + Style + Strategy = Sales
What’s the story you’re inviting your target market, target audience, and target buyers into? Once you get clear on this story, you can infuse empathy into everything your business does from the inside out.
Steve Jobs believed in the idea of “imputation.” This idea suggests that people ascribe value to things based on their presentation is. Present it in a slipshod manner and people will see the value as low. Present things in a nicely designed way and people will see them as more valuable. Basically, design matters…a lot! When you apply the right style to how a brand, product, service, or offering is presented you connect in an emotional way with entire markets, and individual buyers.
Strategy is how you intend to WIN. Strategies are not plans. In order to go to market, launch an offering, sell a managed service, or break through into an industry you need more than tactics–you need a strategy that invites the humans you intend to reach into a narrative of transformation at the market levels.
When we combine these four things, and do them correctly, we see all of the metrics that indicate a successful brand, product, or campaign, not just more sales:
Increased revenue
Increased engagement
Increased sourced pipeline
Increased brand awareness
Page views
Click-throughs
Open rates
Badge scans
High-fives
Fear sells politics. Sex sells clothing. But Humanity is what really sells complex technology solutions.
T H E P I L L A R S
These are the nine PILLARS of human-centered marketing. Follow these rules and you will see an increase in every major metric of growth–sales, pipeline, revenue, etc. Fall back into the inhumane, robotic, lifeless and outdated ways to communicate what you do, and you’ll see your business and your growth stalling all over again.
👇🏽
0 1
All business is human-to-human
Humans buy from humans, not businesses.
Therefore every campaign, design, strategy, and tactic should look, feel, and smell like a person-to-person interaction, not a stale, cold, business to business interaction.
As the legendary human-centered marketing expert Dr. Kotler said, “Brands should be more like humans–approachable, likable, and vulnerable.”
0 2
Know your role in the story
Know your role. A human-centered brand is always the guide, never the hero.
This means across all B2b tech brand strategy, campaigns, and tactics that we never lead with elevating ourselves or our business. We always lead with elevating the humans we exist to help as the hero in our story.
0 3
Clarity is king.
Contrary to popular opinion, content is not king–clarity is.
Humans do not handle confusion well. This means that at all touchpoints with our B2b tech brand, campaigns, and initiatives we will seek to be clear above seeking to be clever. Every piece of content, every messaging framework–all of it will be clear before we aim to make anything sexy, cool, or clever.
0 4
Give more than you take.
The law of positive variance states that human beings always want a value imbalance in their favor.
This is what generates demand. This is what builds trust. This is what creates raving fans.
We always give more than we take. We find ways to give our thinking, tools, resources, and methodologies away at every turn because we know that if we do, our buyers will come to us. Every campaign, strategy, and tactical growth strategy is built on giving away as much value as possible to help the heroes in our story. Helping is selling and selling that isn’t helpful is NOT human-centered.
0 5
Creativity matters–like…a lot.
A human B2b tech brand prioritizes well designed experiences for its customers.
From the actual user experiences to the visual aesthetics of those experiences, everything is created to provide a helpful and unforgettable experience for the heroes in our story. An investment in great design is an investment in the humans your B2b tech brand exists to help.
You must use creativity, strategically, to infuse value into the perception of what you sell because this is how humans perceive the value of a thing–visually.
Steve Jobs referred to this as “Imputing”:
0 6
Constant Empathy.
Our words are written and products designed from a place of shared pain, knowledge, insight, and human experience.
This means we take the time to survey our buyers and find out how we can constantly grow in serving them even more. It also means that we build products, offerings, and solutions that solve real needs we’ve taken the time to listen for and identify. How do they buy? What do they think? What keeps them up at night? How can we relate? All of these things should inform our offerings, products, solutions, and how we market them.
0 7
Your people are the bridge.
SMEs and practice leaders are the glue that keep entire markets in a state of trust between them and your business.
You cannot outsource your marketing to your logo or your firm’s linkedin account. Human-centered marketing empowers its brightest leaders to stand at the forefront of the business, develop their own personal platforms, and be the physical embodiment of the companies they represent. Go back to rule 1: People trust people, not businesses….so empower your people to do so.
0 8
Remember the fifth “P.”
You’ve all heard of the four Ps of marketing. To truly become a human-centered tech, consulting, or digital transformation B2b tech brand, you must activate all of them:
Product: Brand identity, services, packaging
Pricing: List price, discounts, Financing, credit terms, payment options
Place: Channels, members, audience, market coverage, locations, Logistics, etc.
Promotion: Brand ambassadors, advertising, selling, PR, Social media, budget, communications
Guess what? There’s actually a fifth P.
Because of the increase in non-human technologies and buyer behaviors, B2b tech brands and businesses who operate more like humans will win trust and market share. In order to do this and actually have your business be experienced like a person buyers know, like, and trust, your business needs the fifth P to activate the human element inside each of the other four Ps.
So what’s the fifth P?!
Product: Brand identity, services, packaging
Pricing: List price, discounts, Financing, credit terms, payment options
Place: Channels, members, audience, market coverage, locations, Logistics, etc.
Promotion: Brand ambassadors, advertising, selling, PR, Social media, budget, communications
Purpose: Meaning, “WHY,” values, mission, vision, motto,
Think of it this way: people these days want more than just a cool product–even in B2b tech. They want to know the story behind the B2b tech brand, what it stands for, and if it vibes with their own values. Having a deeper purpose isn't just a trend—it's like the secret sauce that makes customers stick around.
In 2024, customers are all about authenticity. They can smell a sales pitch from a mile away. So, if a B2b tech brand is just in it for the money, people might not be so ready to buy in. But, if there's a genuine purpose behind what a B2b tech brand does, something that connects with customers on a personal level, that's where the magic happens.
Think of your B2b tech brand's purpose like the heartbeat of its story. It's what makes people feel like they're part of a community, not just customers. Plus, with social media buzzing all the time, a brand's purpose can spread like wildfire, bringing people together and making them want to be a part of the journey. It's not just about selling stuff anymore; it's about telling a purpose-infused story that people want to be a part of.
So if you’re asking yourself, “How do we do all of this? Where do we start?”
Click the button below. We will can help you.
Join the revenue revolution that’s happening in digital transformation.