How About Some Human Touch?
Tips to enhance your strategy
Yesterday, early in the afternoon, I heard knocks on my door.
I figured it must have been the typical farewell knock from a delivery guy.
But the knocks continued.
I opened the door to find a door-to-door sales rep trying to persuade me to switch Internet providers.
He had a kind smily manner. I asked for paperwork so I can evaluate later.
Nope! Also, the deal isn’t available online.
That made me suspicious, so I kindly declined.
It made me curious, though.
So, I called my carrier. After 20 minutes of drowning deeper and deeper in the voice-automated phone system, I gave up.
Right after, I took a work call, and in the background, I noticed a text message coming in.
“You just tried to call [carrier name], so we cancelled your 50% discount. Call back to [phone number] to fix.”
Ha! This is weird. I researched the phone number, and sure enough it was a scam.
Right there and then, I decided that as soon as I find some free time, I’d go to the carrier store and clear out all my questions.
Trust reduced to official brick and mortar…
Hey friend,
How are you? I hope you’re having a nice summer.
I bet my opening story may sound familiar to you.
The moral is simple. Hacks are coming at us from all channels.
The more we rely on tech to cut costs, the more bad actors are doing the same with more powerful and misleading hacks.
Just last year, a finance worker in Hong Kong was duped into paying $25 million to a fake CFO in a video conference.
This leaves people struggling to figure out what’s real and what’s fake. As technology improves, the difference is eroding each day.
Interesting dynamic
The rapid growth of AI in recent years has impacted numerous fields.
In universities, students use ChatGPT to write their papers, and some professors use it to evaluate the same AI-generated papers - practically a robot that talks to itself…
Students, realizing that no rosy career future is waiting for them as entry-level jobs are getting slashed, opt not for tech or business majors but instead go for the humanities and the arts. U.C. Berkeley saw a 50% increase in the past four years.
You also see a spike in interest in fields where you get to use your hands.
A June 2025 Mintel report states that 72% of U.S. adults completed a craft project in the past 12 months, highlighting sustained engagement in crafting activities.
Among Gen Zs, this has unleashed what is now known as the #grandmacore trend.
What does it all mean?
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer report indicates that just 30% of Americans express optimism regarding the future for the next generation.
Taken together, largely speaking, it means young people sense tech may rob them of their professional careers, for others scam them with deep-fakes and auto-calls like the one I received.
So people turn to trusted, good ol’, simpler, hands-on pursuits they can control.
In this article, I alluded to the possibility that a counter-tech movement of purists may arise to regain control of their creative and social skills.
In this state of affairs, the most important asset your brand needs to acquire and retain is trust.
I covered this in:
If you follow my stories, you know I try to share the latest in visual storytelling tech and ways you can take advantage for your programs.
Having said that, I think there is also a fantastic opportunity to connect with your audience on a more human level to build stronger trust and community.
Need a refresher? To thrive we all need 5 drivers - in this story I call - vitamins:
Think of backstage office trips, customer picnics, local meetups I’ve been doing, dusting off your loyalty program, and placing your die-hard customers front and center.
Review the touchpoints across your entire buyer’s journey, and find the right balance between tech innovation (to avoid staying behind), and human touch (to better relate).
The latter is still super important for building empathy and trust.
Especially during this transitional period where confusion and mistrust are still abound.
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
story > visual > emotion > experience
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