We all know some people who can charm the socks off anyone without uttering a lie.  They can be completely sincere and still give extravagant compliments.  They can listen intently to the other person but still convince them of their point of view.  And they can walk away from the conversation knowing that they’ve made a friend for life.  These are people who have mastered some of the elements of human communication.

When it comes to digital marketing, you might think that the rules are quite different.  After all, you’re not communicating with anyone one-on-one.  You don’t have them right in front of you.  You can’t gauge their responses immediately and vary the things you say accordingly.

With marketing, you’re trying to appeal to a group of people whom one might refer to as “consumers,” “clients” or “businesses.”  There’s something impersonal about these appellations.  Which is why this article from Huffington Post states, “The most interesting challenge that marketers now face is not how to best tackle special social media platforms or how best to leverage the technologies we have, but how to be as human as possible on the web.”

You’re not looking for more “traffic,” “viewers” or “a wider audience.”  Instead, you’re trying to reach out to human beings, with all their individual quirks and eccentricities.  You want to acknowledge this fact and convince those human beings that you are human too and not just a business, a marketer, a salesperson or an automated response to their query.

Active Listening

Anyone who’s good at communicating will tell you that it’s important to listen.  You can’t just talk at a person, you have to talk with them.  As per this article from Inc., “the best sales people are actually excellent listeners.”  This is because selling is not just about giving someone a product in exchange for money in this very moment.  It’s also about developing long-term relationships with clients who will keep coming back to you for more.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, VISIT FORBES.