Events in 2020 have shown us how vital empirical marketing is for large and small businesses. The world has changed completely. Hence businesses need to adapt according to the latest needs of their customers if they want to grow. The best way to do this is empathy.
What is Empathy Marketing?
Empathy is the ability to see incidences and situations from a unique perspective – to put oneself in their shoes. For brands, empirical marketing is about seeing the world through a user’s point of view. This helps keep the customer at the center of your marketing strategy and works outward.
But it is important to remember that being empowered also means being genuine – you cannot create an emotional marketing campaign for the sole purpose of manipulating customers.
Empathy is reliable when it creates authentic relationships between brands and users. It built trust and organic relationships during the customer journey.
Increasing the conversion rates is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign, but brands need to change how they think about achieving conversions.
If your marketing strategy focuses on a hard-sell approach, then it’s time to rethink your campaigns for 2021.
Why is empathy important in marketing?
We talked about how empathy works in marketing, but there are many reasons why it is essential, especially in 2021 and beyond.
Emotion and relationships are more necessary than ever. The way we work and live has changed in ways we had not imagined. “Business as usual” is not a thing of the past, as it arises many new feelings about the future – and these feelings influence how consumers react to marketing campaigns.
Human emotions range is massive – from positive emotions, such as happiness, interest, and astonishment, to more negative ones, such as fear, anger, or sadness (anger can, in particular, be a powerful motivator for content sharing). There is a need to gear the campaign to engage and connect with these real feelings.
8 Ways to Bring Empathy Into Your Marketing Strategy
1- Understand your audience’s pain points
We mentioned the importance of walking in your audience’s shoes to feel what they need right now. It is time to update your buyer persona to reflect the new realities your customers are experiencing.
How can this be done? Understanding customer empathy works in two ways:
- What are the pain points of your consumers in the real world?
- What are the pain points of your consumers about your business?
At the moment, the real world is still recovering from the epidemic. This means that your audience misses traveling, meeting people, and dealing with loneliness and uncertainty.
If your brand can help with these feelings – such as providing virtual classes or providing entertainment – you will build a strong relationship with your audience.
When it comes to customer pain concerning your brand, you need to dig a bit more. Analyze your site traffic and conversions each week and note down the biggest movers, top and bottom. It is a great way to find out which aspects of your brand are attracting customers.
Use social listening to understand the feeling around your brand. But even if you are feeling defensive, do not attend every conversation. If customers are not happy with your brand, then you should learn why it is so and how you can fix it.
2- Adapt to audience needs
Now that you already know what your audience wants from the world and your brand, you need to adapt your business model.
With many small businesses struggling during the epidemic, eBay refunded fees, made some services free, and offered vendors more support.
Here are lessons that brands can take in their campaigns. You may not be able to offer a discount, but how to open your premium level to all audiences?
Take small steps, such as how the front staff handles customers. Tools for the job, like this example, remind teams how to treat customers sympathetically.
It is also worth looking at your current customer service process to make your wordings and tones more powerful.
3- Capture everyday life
One of the most important elements of applying empathy in marketing is capturing the wonders of everyday life. Moments of life are essential for the future, so shouldn’t more businesses include small businesses in their content strategy?
Brands sometimes assume that content marketing means high-definition video quality and in-detail stories. But you have to take over the world as it currently is. Consumers are not living a high life, so the brand message needs to be reflected. Customers are at home and will work remotely for a while. Keep home as a center when sharing your brand’s story to create that real-world connection.
Brands can show their empathy by creating content around simple scenarios like:
- The enjoyment of a video call with a loved one
- Baking a great pie
- A replica of an outdoor experience inside
4- Take a visually Engaging, Educational Approach
If your brand enhances the experience, then your content should be valuable to customers so that an educational approach may be necessary.
Audit your existing content that is relevant to your audience. You can also update old pieces that may contain outdated information but can evoke the right feelings.
In the past year, we have shared a lot of data-centric content. Markets can design content around key data to educate audiences. In fact, according to a study in data marketing, most marketers are comfortable with data design.
5- Add interactivity
Interactive marketing has been growing rapidly over the past few years, as rapid technology promotion has made it more attainable for the brands.
With the current global climate, adding interactivity to marketing content can help generate empathy for business content. As we mentioned, consumers have limitations regarding going out, meeting people, and worldwide traveling. If your brand can offer solutions to these problems, then showcasing those solutions should be a top priority in your marketing.
According to video marketing research, YouTube not only attracts billions of monthly users but is also the top buy-driver in social media channels. Therefore, if you have the resources to create interactive YouTube videos, you can show more brand empathy in your marketing efforts.
6- Utilize user-generated content
User-generated content has been the mainstay of social media marketing for some time. But it is also a robust means of building brand connections with consumers.
UGC stands out from other marketing strategies that narrow the gap between customers and brands. Users create content for their channel or brand competition and extend that content to the company’s social media platform, website, or newspaper.
UGC has many benefits, the primary one being that your brand does not need to create this content (although you will need to sort through entries to choose brand-appropriate content). Additionally, by displaying users’ content, you can tap into their network. People will feel happy about your brand appearing on the platform and share the post or page with their circles.
Marketers should spend some time on the kind of content that users generate, helping them create a content strategy.
7- Provide an authentic solution
Let’s clear one thing: Empathy is not sympathy. Sympathy is all about feeling sorry for someone without really knowing how they feel. Empathy is knowing how they feel and act with genuine care and kindness. If you don’t have an authentic solution to provide, you won’t say anything.
8- It’s About Empowerment
With empathy marketing, you are working to put power in the hands of the consumer and give them the tools, information, and resources they need to make their decisions. Don’t hit them with an annoying call to action. Present the information and let it sit with them. If it is authentic and your solution will really help, then your communication will work.
Conclusion
The global situation has made empathy marketing a top priority for businesses. It is no longer enough to talk about the benefits of buying from your brand. Brands need to connect with customers on a deeper, more experiential level. Showing your audience that you understand their needs and are ready to adapt to them. You can refer to our blog section to learn more about digital marketing secrets or call us to get a free consultation regarding any digital marketing aspect. Our experts will solve your dedicated query and suggest the best possible solution to grow your online business. Call Now!