Empathetic marketing is vital to successfully promoting your business nowadays. Empathy is the ability to share and understand the feelings of another. People have required their leaders to display some degree of empathy to ensure they would make decisions for the greater good. Now, they are demanding the same of businesses. Empathy in marketing must be genuine. Companies must create content that demonstrates their values and proves to customers they care about them. With the rise of social media, customers have become accustomed to highly personalized interactions with businesses. It’s not enough to have clever promotions for useful offerings. You have to prove you are worthy of a conversion. Below, we will go into 6 tips to be a more empathetic marketer.
Provide an authentic solution
Empathy is not sympathy. Sympathy is about feeling sorry for someone without truly knowing how they feel. Empathy is knowing how they feel and acting with genuine care and compassion. If you don’t have an authentic solution to provide, don’t say anything at all. The last thing someone in crisis needs is an underhanded sales pitch.
It’s not immediately about your bottom line
Empathy marketing is not meant to hardsell. You should be putting in work with no guarantee of immediate ROI. If you want to be an empathetic marketer, you have to be okay with the fact this is a long process. The slightest misstep can ruin any sense of authenticity. If your audience senses in any way, shape or form that you’re trying to sneakily sell to them, you aren’t using empathy marketing.
It is about empowerment
With empathy marketing, you’re working to put the power in the hands of the consumer. You are giving them the information, tools and resources they need to make their own decision. Don’t hit them with a hard call to action. Present the information and let it sit with them. If it’s authentic and your solution will truly help, your communication will work.
Know your audience
There is no way to develop an empathetic message if you don’t know what your customers are thinking or what they need. Why would anyone care what you have to say? Or want your product/service? Put yourself in their shoes however you can. Collect insights in a survey or pull data from organic social media comments and customer service reviews. Do what you need to get to know them better.
One goal is plenty
This is difficult for marketers who want to please a lot of people. Are you selling your product, building customer loyalty or working to reach a new audience? You can’t have it all. Unite your content’s message around your one goal directed at one audience and try not to veer off course.
However, one ad is not plenty
Despite what the current advertising climate may suggest, one ad does not equal empathy marketing. You can pour all of your money into a nice video with soft piano in the background, but if that’s the only vehicle for your message you’re bound to come off as inauthentic. Take your message to social media, blogs, and print pieces. Keep things as connected as possible and present a united front at every touch point.