If you’re reading marketing content regularly, you’re seeing a new must-focus topic for marketers every week. Maybe even every day. It’s hard to know what to pay attention to, and what’s just jargon. (If you’re using jargon, stop that.)
Is empathetic marketing just another trendy topic, or could it be one of the best tools in our marketing toolbox?
Start with the basics
At its simplest, Oxford Languages tells us that empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Realigned to a marketing context, it’s about understanding and relating to your audience’s needs and expectations. It’s about really understanding their pain points and aspirations to help you redefine how your brand communicates and resonates with the world.
Empathetic marketing moves your work beyond the (admittedly vital) data and analytics by humanizing your brand and showing how much you truly understand your customers. It gives you the power to get deeper insights into your customers’ behavior and preferences, and then tailoring your products, services, and marketing to specifically address what you’ve learned.
When your language, imagery, and stories employ empathy throughout, they make your audience feel understood and valued. The more often you can create that feeling, the more likely it is for trust and customer loyalty to follow.
Empathy is also a great way for your marketing to support your corporate social responsibility efforts. Empathetic brands take a stand on social issues that matter to them, and work to make a positive impact in their communities.
Make it happen
Where do you start when it comes to weaving empathy into your marketing efforts? Here’s a quick list:
Personas and journeys: Make sure you’ve got well-crafted and up-to-date personals, and that you’ve used them to map out customer journeys that detail their pain points, motivations, and the touchpoints where you can offer empathy-driven solutions.
Active listening: Keep tabs on what your customers are saying through social media, surveys, and direct feedback. Use the insights you gather to continuously improve your marketing strategies. This is showing empathy.
Tailored storytelling: When your content and stories align with what you know about your customers, your marketing will be infused with language and visuals that show them how well you understand who they are and what they’re looking for.
Sensitivity: Empathy is part of your approach to customer service and issue resolution as well. Show them that you value their feedback and are committed to resolving their issues.
Empathetic marketing stands out in a sea of marketing messages. It takes your customer relationships from transactional to personal, and increases a customer’s likelihood to engage, trust, and remain loyal. Empathy helps your business make the move from a profit engine to a compassionate organization that puts customers at the forefront of everything they do. Connecting with them on an empathetic level creates customers who happily become advocates, singing your unsolicited praises in their own networks and business meetings.
In the end, empathetic marketing is a lot more than the next marketing trend. It’s a fundamental part of what’s next for marketing.
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