Can you really be "People-First" in the digital environment?

You see it all the time in corporate taglines now.

"We're a People Company. We just happen to sell [fill in the blank]."

But what about for companies who do the majority of their business online? With all the complexities of remote work, #digitalselling and #digitalmarketing, how can you bring a people-first focus to your digital interactions?

Well, that's what we're here together to discuss.

And if you've read any of my previous posts...you might be able to guess where I'm going to start...

It starts with Intention

Did you guess it?

I'll just keep saying it, if not.

People-first companies ACTUALLY have the intention of putting their people first every day. Which is different than SAYING you're a people-first company and then prioritizing profits, or the amount of new tech introduced.

So, for one, can we all just agree that if you're NOT putting your people first, you don't promise that to the market (and more importantly, you don't promise it to new employees)?

OK, so let's assume that every company that says they're people-first ARE people-first. That only happens because it's their intention to be so.

No intention? No ability to make good on your promise. Not in remote work environments. Not in your digital sales efforts. And not in your digital marketing.

People-First Remote Work

I was lucky to experience remote work prior to the pandemic, when I had the opportunity to work from home for 3 weeks following a knee surgery. Here's what I learned, which I think most people learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, is that connection doesn't happen without intention.

What humans experienced in the office was a default connection opportunity. Because people were in close proximity, they COULD build connections with each other. But most of the connections were based on LUCK, not intention.

The luck factor has been removed with remote work. Which means, we need to create specific connection opportunities and spaces for our humans. Some of the questions you can ask yourself are:

• Where do my people go to connect with each other?
• How are team connections facilitated?
• Are we giving our people time to build team connections?
• Are we celebrating team connections?
• If people aren't connecting with each other, do we investigate why?

These are just a handful of questions to get you started.

The secret is to be intentional. To be strategic. And sure, that might feel harder than just throwing all your people back in a space together. But all you're doing in the latter is re-instating the Luck Protocol, which doesn't dependably build connections. And your people now know it.

People-First Digital Selling

Now, most of us have probably experienced REALLY BAD sales efforts on social media. I know I have. Contacts that are just about as far away from people-first as you can get. My only guess is that the humans behind these messages have been enticed AWAY from being human with impossible target numbers they are being held accountable to over all else.

But there is a way to be people-first when connecting on social media.

And yes, while it is about intention, there's a little more to it than that.

People can be given the SPACE to be authentic without knowing HOW to be #authentic.

Which means, you need to start with helping them find a way of connecting that is authentic to THEM.

That takes coaching. And effort. And yes, more intention.

Here are some things you can investigate:

• Whether everyone is using the same script,
• Whether you're KPI's allow people time to have authentic interactions (think coffee shop talk here), and
• How many active conversations your sales people have on the go.

If everyone is using the same script, that's NOT people-first. If your humans don't have enough time to ACT like a human in their interactions in order to hit their numbers, that's NOT people-first. If people aren't having conversations, that's NOT people-first.

People-First Digital Marketing

Since I've been in the marketing industry (15+ years now), the trend has been moving more and more towards automation. Automated emails. Digital ads based on demographic targeting. Chatbots. AI content creation.

It's like the industry is trying to get farther and farther away from people.

I actually get it. Since the narrative in the marketing industry since the mid-2000's has been focused on MORE. More ads. More emails. More mailers. More flyers. More social media posts.

If we're obsessed with MORE, then of course we're going to get to a point where the humans aren't moving fast enough to keep up.

But what's happened to the human connection in that process?

Or yeah...it's become disconnected as well.

So, the prophecy becomes true. We DO have to churn more content, because people need to be hit MORE times to actually retain what you've said.

But what if we didn't follow that path?

What if we did actually have an intention of being people-first in our marketing?

As in, our number one goal was to CONNECT with people?

In a way that we could tell we've made an IMPACT on a person? And not that we've just experienced an impression.

And where does impact happen? In a CONVERSATION.

Instead of just shooting one-way messages OUT to people, what if we focused on talking WITH them? What if we thought about what THEIR experience of our message might be BEFORE we sent it out? What if we ENCOURAGED them to chat with us, instead of focusing on pushing them to an automated funnel?

And then what if we OPTIMIZED those interactions so the humans actually felt like they BELONG here?

It's an intention that possible. Although still very unusual in marketing.

And what's better when it comes to standing out in a crowd than something that's unusual that actually CONNECTS with humans?

So...YES, it is possible.

It's possible to be people-first in the digital environment. But just like in the in-person environment, it won't just happen unless our PEOPLE participate.

Machines can only communicate like machines. The human inputs are what makes an automation SEEM more human.

And without investing in a people-first CULTURE, do you really think your people are going to give their best inputs into your corporate machine?

Let's be honest with ourselves, OK?

Your people are the KEY to a people-first culture. They're the key to a people-first customer experience. They're the key to making it possible to have a people-first sales or marketing program.

There's no "People-First" without your people.

And if you don't take care of them, they won't take care of you.

Only fair, right?

If you're interested in exploring how your sales and marketing programs can be people-first in the digital environment, let's chat!