Marketing and empathy go together like peanut butter and jelly. Understanding what your customers and prospects truly feel can go a long way to communicating accurately and building a trustworthy brand. Let’s explore this concept a little more.
The difference between empathy and sympathy
But before we dive in, let’s take a moment to understand the true meaning of empathy. As a highly empathetic person (with many personality and career-related tests to prove it), I often find people confuse it with sympathy. But they are very different.
Sympathy is offering compassion; empathy is feeling what the other person feels. Empathy is being dialed into the energy of everyone in the room. If you’re dealing with an empathetic person, don’t bother lying. We can sense you are hiding something — no joke.
So, what does all this have to do with marketing? A lot! Empathizing, or putting yourself in the shoes of others, helps you better understand how to communicate with them more accurately.
Tapping into your feelings about others
Not everyone is empathetic by nature, and that is ok. As humans, we all feel and understand things on a spectrum. If you are someone who isn’t a natural empath, that doesn’t mean you are a bad marketer or an insensitive person. You just need to do a little more work with feelings.
There are a few ways you can lean closer to empathy the next time you are in a situation where someone is sharing their feelings. Listen to what they are saying. Try to imagine what it would feel like if the experience was happening to you. Don’t respond with an “I” statement or a similar story about yourself. That puts all the attention back on you. The other person feels like you weren’t listening and just waiting for your turn to talk. The best response is a “you” statement. Something along the lines of “Wow, that sounds frustrating/hurtful/intense/etc., are you alright?”
A similar practice can be done when you are working on marketing communications. Try this exercise:
- Take a moment to re-read your organization’s personas or any research you have done on your target audience.
- Read through any customer reviews or feedback. Talk to your sales and customer service teams.
- Pause and let it all sink in.
- Imagine you are that persona, and start asking yourself how you would feel, struggle with, etc.
- Now, you can begin.
If spending a day tapping into your feelings makes you feel worn out (and maybe the urge to crawl under your blankets), then you are on the right track.
Using empathy to improve your marketing
Now that you are on the right track to feeling, take a closer look at your marketing. Are your communications tapping into how your customers and prospects are feeling? Are you responding to their pain points or just providing lip service to make your organization look good?
Walk down your buyer’s journey and all the materials and outreach you provide at various touch points. Are they helpful resources, or, are you just looking for a way to showcase your expertise?
As you perform this exercise, keep in mind that your marketing materials are for prospects and customers — not for you. Edit and adjust your content and messages accordingly.
The next time you write or are editing another team member’s writing, read it through the lens of the end user. Then, fine-tune accordingly.
Taking a more empathetic approach to your marketing will make it more effective and help build greater trust with your audience. Your prospects and customers will feel heard and that their issues are addressed.
Empathy isn’t easy, especially in marketing. That’s where we can help. The Content Matterz team is fully tapped into our feelings and can reach your audience when and where it matters most. Reach out today to see what we can do for you.