We don’t use the word legend lightly, but…hey what the heck, let’s crack this blog post off with an introduction to marketing LEGEND, Bryan Kramer.

Over here at Lately, we love us some BK and what he doesn’t know about marketing, frankly isn’t worth knowing!

Bryan was at the helm of the H2H business movement, that’s human to human marketing to you and me. He starting shaking up stuffy, corporate approaches to marketing - think B2B, B2C and all the rest.

BK’s message is simple, we should be encouraging brands to refocus and remember that ‘customers’ are humans and marketing based on authentic, emotive conversation beats corporate claptrap every day of the week.

Kate sat down and talked with Bryan about all things H2H.

You can also watch this and other Lately Live videos here.

How has H2H Changed?

H2H was first used by Bryan 15 years ago and obviously at that time, we didn’t have as much capability in terms of social media, it used to be more about ‘human experience’, so how a customer interacts with a store or employee. But with social media and new comms channels, businesses were starting to see that they could get in front of the customer in a more direct way.

This was scary though! A huge paradigm shift was going on and for businesses, it was very much “omg, we can’t control the narrative anymore”. Social media was changing these tightly managed marketing plans.

And another of the biggest wake-up calls for businesses according to Bryan? Customers don’t see themselves as ‘customers’ or part of B2B or B2C. A few haters came out the woodwork when Bryan dropped this truth bomb “there is no B2B or B2C, only H2H”.

That’s what H2H is about, having an emotive conversation – it’s stronger than any ad and the strongest form of marketing.

How can Companies ‘do’ H2H?

When Bryan consults with companies, he often hears them say, “this is what you can do on social media, go do it”…but they’ve been through absolutely no training!

They’ll obviously have internal rules about sharing, but the ethos is very much “go share but if you screw up, you’ll be fired!”, so people end up not sharing online or reaching out and helping customers when they’re not solely ‘customer facing’. You can get around this by creating stuff that’s been agreed and people can share and then encourage your team to change tone to add personality.

Getting people around the table to practice is a great idea. Sales and customer support etc throw examples around – do role plays etc talk at each other and find solutions. Practicing back and forth creates more authenticity and a natural tone.

Don’t over polish too much, or you’ll strip the human out of language and messaging.

Being human is about “opening the door for people” and the more human you add to marketing strategy/ social media management, the more connection you generate. This in turn creates more $$$, more friendship…whatever it is you’re looking for in any industry or walk of life.

Thanks Bryan!