How to Humanize Your Brand With Hubspot-Inspired Tactics

Brands that feel distant, robotic, or overly polished struggle to build trust. By learning from the original Hubspot approach to human marketing, you can inject authenticity, personality, and real human connection into every customer interaction.

This guide breaks down practical, repeatable steps you can use to make your brand more relatable, empathetic, and memorable.

Why the Hubspot Approach to Humanizing Matters

Traditional corporate messaging often sounds safe but hollow. People want to connect with brands that feel like real people, not faceless organizations. The philosophy popularized by Hubspot emphasizes helpful content, transparency, and conversational tone, all of which make your company easier to trust.

When you humanize your brand, you:

Lower skepticism and increase trust
Encourage more engagement and sharing
Turn one-time buyers into long-term advocates
Stand out from competitors who still sound robotic

Step 1: Define Your Hubspot-Style Brand Personality

Before adjusting content or campaigns, define how your brand should sound and behave. A clear personality makes every interaction feel consistent and human.

Questions to Clarify Your Hubspot-Inspired Voice

If your brand were a person, how would you describe them in three words?
How would this person talk to a friend about your product or service?
What do you absolutely never want to sound like?

Create a short “voice guide” that covers:

Preferred tone (e.g., friendly, expert, playful, direct)
Common phrases or words you use and avoid
Examples of on-brand vs. off-brand copy

Share this guide with everyone who writes or speaks on behalf of your brand.

Step 2: Use Real People, Not Stock Personas

Human brands show the people behind the logo. One of the most powerful lessons from the original Hubspot article is to replace generic corporate imagery with real faces and stories.

Practical Ways to Feature Your Team

Add team photos and personal bios to your website and emails.
Let authors sign blog posts with their names, photos, and short intros.
Highlight different departments, not just executives or sales.

When customers see the humans backing your product, they’re more likely to trust your recommendations and forgive mistakes.

Step 3: Tell Stories Instead of Making Claims

Facts inform, but stories connect. The Hubspot playbook emphasizes storytelling because it helps your audience see themselves in the experiences you share.

Simple Story Framework You Can Copy

Start with a relatable challenge. Describe a situation your audience faces.
Introduce a real person. This can be a customer, employee, or even a founder.
Show the struggle. Be honest about frustrations and false starts.
Explain the turning point. What action or insight changed the outcome?
End with a result and a takeaway. Focus on what others can learn or apply.

Use this structure in case studies, blog posts, sales presentations, and onboarding materials.

Step 4: Write Like You Talk, Hubspot Style

Overly formal language puts distance between you and your audience. A core lesson from the Hubspot methodology is to use natural, conversational language while staying professional.

Guidelines for Conversational Copy

Use “you” and “we” instead of passive phrases like “the user” or “the organization”.
Break long sentences into shorter ones.
Avoid jargon unless your audience genuinely uses it.
Ask questions to draw readers in and keep them engaged.

Read your content out loud. If it sounds like a person talking to another person, you are on the right track.

Step 5: Show Vulnerability and Transparency

Humanized brands acknowledge imperfections. The early Hubspot content culture leaned heavily on sharing experiments, failures, and lessons learned, which built credibility with marketers.

Ways to Practice Honest Communication

Publish post-mortems on campaigns that did not work and what you changed.
Openly address product limitations and your roadmap to improve them.
Respond to criticism with empathy, not defensiveness.

Transparency signals confidence and respect for your audience’s intelligence.

Step 6: Invite Conversation, Don’t Just Broadcast

Human brands listen as much as they talk. Inspired by the inbound mindset evangelized by Hubspot, treat every channel as a chance to have a two-way conversation.

Make Interaction Easy and Welcoming

End content with a clear, simple question your audience can answer.
Reply quickly and personally to comments, emails, and social messages.
Host Q&A sessions, AMAs, or office hours where people can speak directly with your team.

The more your audience feels heard, the more they will open up about needs, objections, and ideas.

Step 7: Put Customers at the Center of Your Story

Humanizing your brand is not only about spotlighting your team. Another principle reflected in Hubspot-style marketing is elevating customers as heroes, not just buyers.

Customer-First Content Ideas

Publish detailed success stories with quotes and real numbers.
Share user-generated content and behind-the-scenes uses of your product.
Invite customers to co-create content such as webinars, panels, or guides.

When you show genuine appreciation and give credit, customers feel like partners rather than transactions.

Step 8: Align Automation With Human Touch

Automation and AI can either make you feel more human or more robotic. The human-first mindset popularized by Hubspot shows that tools should amplify personal connection, not replace it.

Tips for Human-Friendly Automation

Use names and context in email and chat, not just generic templates.
Blend automated sequences with real check-ins from your team.
Give people easy ways to reach a human whenever they want.

Review your automated messages regularly to ensure they still reflect your brand personality and current customer realities.

Step 9: Measure Human Impact, Not Just Clicks

It is easy to optimize only for opens, clicks, and form fills. A more human strategy, inspired by the early Hubspot focus on value, adds qualitative measures as well.

Signals Your Brand Feels More Human

More replies to newsletters and outreach campaigns
Higher-quality comments instead of just likes
Customer feedback mentioning tone, empathy, or appreciation
Increased referrals and word-of-mouth

Combine these signals with standard analytics to see how humanizing efforts influence your funnel.

Step 10: Keep Improving With a Hubspot-Like Mindset

Humanizing your brand is an ongoing practice, not a single project. The continuous improvement ethos often associated with Hubspot content means you regularly revisit your voice, stories, and customer experience.

Simple Ongoing Routine

Review key customer touchpoints each quarter.
Collect feedback from sales, support, and success teams.
Update your voice guide and templates based on what you learn.

Small, consistent adjustments compound into a brand that feels genuinely human over time.

Resources to Deepen Your Human Marketing Strategy

To see how these principles were originally framed, read the classic article that inspired this guide on the Hubspot blog: 12 Simple Ways Marketers Can Humanize Their Brand.

If you want expert help implementing human-centered content, automation, and SEO, you can explore consulting support from Consultevo, which specializes in scalable growth strategies.

By combining these Hubspot-inspired practices with your own unique voice and values, you can move beyond sterile marketing and build a brand that feels unmistakably, and memorably, human.

Need Help With Hubspot?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your Hubspot , work with ConsultEvo, a team who has a decade of Hubspot experience.

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