High-touch marketing: earning trust in a high-tech world

It’s no mystery we live in a high-tech age. Technology continues to reinvent itself.

It’s not a matter of it it can be built, it’s a matter of should it?

Eric Reis

We live in a time when the battle for our attention is tiring. Everyday new social networks, media channels and mobile apps launch with a mission to make it “easier” or “better” for us to consume content of all types.

This presents new challenges for companies trying to find, reach and earn the attention of their customers. It’s the first time in the history of commerce that so many screens and mediums are in constant use, simultaneously.

The answer is for businesses to use technology to build high-touch marketing. High-touch marketing focuses on earning the trust and attention of its customers long-term. Customers want to know there are people behind the technology and not just ones and zeros —  because at the heart of every transaction is trust.

Here are four ways you can build high-touch marketing:

1. Improve culture

High-touch marketing is a philosophy born out of having a high-touch business culture. The principles below can only be authentic if they are true about the company executing them. A company can’t be something it’s not.

Improving your culture or changing it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built over time. Jason Fried says, “You don’t create a culture. Culture happens. It’s the by-product of consistent behavior.” Let high-touch marketing happen this way too, as a byproduct of high-touch business.

2. Make trust deposits

Hundreds of companies offer services that track data across online and offline channels to give you insights into likes, shares, and other vanity metrics. Instead of focusing on these analytics, work towards making a deposit into the “trust account” of your customers.
Every interaction you have with a potential customer (online or offline) either makes a deposit or withdrawal into their trust account.

You make deposits by keeping your promises and through human interactions like recognition, going the extra mile, being helpful and other actions that bring delight. Conversely, withdrawals occur when you don’t keep your word, interrupt, spam, act weird or provide poor service.

Think about this every time a person comes into contact with your company’s product, service and communications. Disney’s “moment of wow” is a good example of this. They constantly look through the lens of their customer to ensure every experience, down to the smallest detail, adds up to a huge wow.

3. Build relationships

The market is more fragmented than ever. High-tech makes it easy to think of single conversions and what’s happening now. This is only part of the equation. High-touch marketing looks at the long-term value of the right customers.

Sometimes this means not trying to get the sale, but rather moving the relationship one step forward and doing what’s best for the customer. Think about courtship vs. dating. A dating mentality is usually short-term thinking, while courting requires one to consider a life-long relationship.

Like anything valuable, building relationships takes time and communication. High-touch marketing businesses understand this and put forth the effort to get to know their audience. Personas, surveys, listening and other means of communication show your customers you care. Even if they are a one-time buyer, they want to be treated like a customer for life.

4. Capture their hearts

Marketing is emotional.
The heart receives all information. This is why benefits always sell better than features. People do want to know what your product or service can do but customers buy because it provides them with a solution to a problem or the fulfillment of a need.

High-touch marketing goes beyond feature lists and gets to the core of “how” this satisfies the customer’s desires. It’s about what’s in it for them. It’s emotional and wins their heart.

In closing

Don’t think I’m against using technology.

Digital tools and software enable us to build marketing practices that reach people all over the world. High-touch marketing is no longer restricted to physical space or proximity. The key is to use technology to earn more attention and build deeper relationships.

Look for ways to use your tech to enhance the ability for you to interact with your customers and prospects. 

Remember, at the heart of every transaction is trust.