First of all, I hope everyone has amazing plans for Valentine's Day. We should share love every day of the year, but this day we go the extra mile.

I read and watch at least a dozen marketing blog, articles, reports, videos, memes...every single day.

Over the past year I have noticed that more and more recommended marketing content strategies are moving towards being very technical and away from being, well, human...personal.

Why is that?

Here is my theory: more and more people are looking at how to accomplish something as quick as possible, with as little steps as possible, and the human factor is being either considered less and less or becoming an inanimate object in the equation.

Most of the popular content now are similar to: "How to get 1000 likes on Facebook in 10 easy steps" or "7 ways to take the best selfie on Instagram."

And it works....but, a lot of clients wonder why they have 1,000 likes and no sales.

Because people's attention span are short, and they are bombarded with a significant amount of information everyday.

Information vying for their attention.

Therefore, as I mentioned above, most people simply start incorporating these types of elements into their marketing strategies without much thought on the most important factor...the human factor.

Here is my own experience with "human-oriented" marketing, or what I have dubbed the HOM Strategy - that made me feel like...well...a human being.

I have not been to the United States on vacation in a very long time.

Since I have been here I have visited many stores, shopping malls, restaurants, you name it.

And the businesses that always made me comfortable to buy something, were the businesses I walked in where someone greeted me with a simple "how are you doing today?"

Of course, there are different forms of greetings.

So, whichever works for you...it didn't matter what the greeting was.

It may seem like a simple gesture, but it works. It makes a human connection.

Most people are accustomed to (and dislike) that they are immediately approached by sales people pushing them to buy something.

A study have shown that most people don't want to be harassed by salesy employees who often only interact with you by trying to sell you something.

And often time the sales approach is the hard-sell...which is very annoying.

Even the businesses that I end up getting great service, I still don't really remember or care to remember, because I did not have any initial HOM upon entering.

It was often monotonous, such as at a restaurant where the first thing you normally hear is "Do you have a reservation? and "Under what name?" meanwhile the person makes little to no eye contact because their face is in a computer screen.

Say "Hi, how are you today?" And mean it. Be genuine.

My advice for anyone looking to improve their marketing in 2019: go back to the basics.

Go back to when human interaction was natural, where a: "How are you today?" was heard just about everywhere you went.

Case Study:

A place I never thought I would get the HOM experience was at a Walmart.

There is only one Walmart nearby, and we went on a Saturday...the weekend before school opened and it was packed...

...we were greeted on the way in. The staff was naturally friendly and helpful, and we were "thank you for coming" with a smile and eye contact, as we left.

Never in my life I thought we would be treated as such since the place was so packed.

It naturally stood out to me and it is impossible not to get that warm, toasty feeling inside that you have been treated with respect and dignity like a human being should.

All the marketing strategies in the world won't work to their full potential if you don't treat people like, well, human beings.

Before trying to sell someone something: why not make it a part of your policy that a formal, genuine greeting is made before business is ever discussed.