As businesses chase automation and build sophisticated tech stacks, we’re quietly losing the essence of something critical: customer connection.
The pattern is familiar. Marketing automation sends emails, AI generates content, and analytics platforms track clicks. Yet engagement metrics decline. Casey Cheshire, Chief Evangelist at Ringmaster, said on Marketing Demystified that in the push to automate, many have forgotten how to talk to their customers.
“We’ve kept putting different apps in front of the relationship,” Cheshire says. “AI was supposed to make it easier to connect, but in the end, it’s put these barriers between us.”
When technology takes the wheel and people get sidelined, your decisions suffer, and as people often say, the proof is in the pudding – just look at the analytics.
When your tech stack isn’t enough
Can you name seven of your customers by first and last name right now? Try it.
It’s difficult, and that gap between knowing companies and knowing people reveals exactly where your marketing might be failing. That’s because creating strong customer relationships require both algorithms and real conversations.
Cheshire’s evidence is unmistakable: “When your best email gets less click-through rate, when your webinar gets less engagement, less people viewing the recording… you’re disconnected.”
For example, engagement drops, budgets get wasted, and competitors reach prospects your systems miss. The fix doesn’t require abandoning your tech stack.
So what actually works when algorithms fail? Cheshire shares a surprising example that proves human connection wins customers even within automated systems.
“It was just great content shared. ‘Quick heads up, here’s something interesting.’ The response was a prospect who’d said ‘call me in six months’ replying, ‘We’re ready to talk again. What was the price?'”
No sales pressure. No algorithm-driven CTA. Just genuine value that sparked real conversation.
This pattern repeats across industries. The businesses that differentiate themselves and establish meaningful customer connections aren’t using better algorithms – they’re incorporating genuine human touchpoints at critical moments.
Create marketing that people actually want
Cheshire offers three connection-first approaches that convert automated processes into relationship-builders:
- Start podcasting: “It begins with a one-to-one connection, then you repurpose it into one-to-many content.” Each conversation creates content no AI can match.
“It’s something I found that changed my life, my career, everything,” Cheshire says about conversational marketing. “It got me in that ROI mindset” while maintaining authentic connections.
- Build a real community: Begin with actual conversations, not platforms. “Don’t start with an app because it kills your community.”
When you bring customers together, you facilitate solutions even when you don’t have the answers. “Get a couple of them together so they can say, ‘I’m facing this.’ ‘Oh my gosh, I use this and it fixed it right away.'”
- Forge partnerships: Skip the affiliate commission haggling. Instead: “Find three clients who we could add value with together, we’ll find three of ours, and plan how to reach out.”
Successful partnerships focus on customer benefits rather than contract negotiation, which is another reason human-centered marketing beats algorithmic approaches.
Strengthening customer connection through tech-human balance
If we’ve made you think about breaking up with your tech stack, hold that thought; it’s not the villain here. The real solution is to humanize it, and here’s how:
- Ask better questions: Skip “What keeps you up at night?” Try “Where do you want your company to be in a year?” This reveals true priorities.
- Make content from conversations: “Have content start with these kinds of conversations” instead of AI-scraped generalities. When everyone else floods channels with AI-generated material, your authenticity becomes your competitive edge.
- Deliver genuine help: Before sending anything, ask: “Is this actually helpful for the person receiving it?” If not, don’t send it. Cheshire advises: “Check your Spotify playlist: What’s in it for me?”
- Respect their journey stage: Treat first-time visitors differently from long-time prospects. “Let’s treat people the way that we can treat them in the stage they’re at.”
Remember, technology expands your customer connection reach, but authentic human moments seal the deal.
Ready to find the perfect balance between automation and human connection? At Growgetter, we partner with marketing teams to create strategies that blend technological efficiency with authentic human touchpoints. Let’s talk about bringing the human element back to your marketing.