I’m in my mid 30’s and sure that’s not that old, however increasingly I’m feeling the impact of time, and in particular the idea that things just aren’t the way they used to be.
I remember buying a computer back in the early 90’s. Dad and I went to a local electronics retailer and we spent the best part of an hour talking enthusiastically with the sales guy about the various features and functions of the 33Mhz Pentium we were interested in (I’m sure it had something like a 500MB hard drive and maybe 4MB of RAM too… and a CD-ROM which was pretty awesome). We knew how much we could spend, and knew what we were wanting in a computer, but this salesman was doing his job and ‘selling’ us on the right computer he had in stock. He was listening to us, understanding our individual needs, providing expert feedback and adding ‘value’ to the sale before we had even committed to buy.
Low Tech / High Touch
Pre-digital age we were living in basically a low tech, high touch world. People interacted with people face to face, if you wanted information you asked a real person, or spoke to someone personally, buying something meant going to a shop and interacting with the sales people. If you needed professional advice you made an appointment to see a professional.
There was authenticity and ‘realness’ in these human connections, and the simple fact was that through these connections really was our only way of getting what we wanted. In short, this resulted in a simplicity of purpose, possibly a greater respect and trust in the knowledge of others and a comparative lack of the ‘information urgency’ that we face today.
The truth is, in our new economy we are increasingly shifting away from high touch low tech and moving towards a high tech low touch economy.
High Tech / Low Touch
As such, in so many cases as consumers or digitally connected humans today our interactions with companies or services, or in seeking out information is predominantly achieved online or via some sort of tech. We usually have to pass through multiple layers of technology before we ever deal directly with another human. And in many cases I actually quite like this… (that’s why I usually choose the ‘self-checkout’ option at the supermarket, despite my frustration at unexplained ‘unexpected items’ in the bagging area)
Airport check-in, online shopping, automated phone systems, researching our next holiday, booking a concert ticket, even choosing which plumber to call usually see’s us googling and searching for reviews online to help us make the decision.
The best of both worlds
And this is exactly where the power of online video in a businesses marketing strategy becomes screamingly apparent. There really is no point in fighting the digital economy, it’s here, it’s embraced. Unless you’re wanting to open a co-op store selling fruit and vegies at a farmers market then chances are, in business, you’re going to need to go digital and make it work for you.
Video content, when done right, and when created in a way which ‘humanises’ a brand (yes, using real people from the business), is one of the single best ways to bring a human touch to a digital marketing strategy.
So in your next meeting with a client, or in your own marketing strategy, consider how you are (or could be) using video to humanise your brand and to bring some of the good old fashioned humanity back into your business.
