Empathic marketing is making the online world its stronghold. But, how exactly does it work?
Driven by emotion, connected through the human element, empathic marketing puts brands and consumers on the same page. Advertisements with emotional factors yield 31% more results compared to dry adverts and the stats prove it with convincing numbers.
On the other hand, agitating your consumers with your content pushes your content towards a 38% chance of going viral. Now, not only does it prove that emotions drive marketing strategies to better results, but being an empath is an added skill in your marketing arsenal.
If you’re looking to take your brand to the next level, avoiding a robotic tone in your content should be your priority. Making content that agitates your audience and presents a solution is one thing, but connecting with them on an emotional level is another.
What is Empathy Marketing?
The definition of empathy is to feel and understand something from another person’s perspective. This strategy pushes brands and marketers to put themselves in the buyer’s shoes and see things their way.
The majority of the brands today have the ‘not caring’ and ‘corporate’ voices in the mind of many customers. It does nothing for the brand, nor does it push any emotions out of the buyers. It results in dry and subpar marketing outcomes.
Empathic marketing uses understanding an audience’s perspective and impulses them to care about the brand and the products. Because if a brand understands your problems and treats them as your own, you would prefer it over a brand that doesn’t.
Another vital thing about Empathic marketing is the continuation. Almost 70% of the time, a buyer will select only the already tried brand. Whereas the probability of new customers is unlikely, with only 5-20%
What drives a buyer back to a business? Besides good customer care, support, and after-sales, understanding what ails a buyer also helps brands draw them back. That is when empathic marketing steps in and assists in ensuring a customer turns into a long-term buyer. Being a digital marketing expert, these are a few things you must know.
How To Use Empathic Marketing?
Now that we understand the ideology behind empathic marketing, how do we go about using it? Does it entail any particular aspects, or do we need to change our approach entirely? Here are a few common ways to employ empathic marketing tactics:
Understand The Audience’ Problems through Their Eyes
Whenever buyers search for queries, they are more likely to look for a solution than a product. A common saying in copywriting world is to sell benefits, not features. Would you rather sell an easy, convenient, and comfortable drive on any road in a car?
Or would you rather sell top-of-the-class suspensions, comfortable seats, automatic transmission, and air-conditioning? The human touch inclines towards the former, with benefits sounding better than features.
That is when you need to understand the problem through the eyes of your audience. Sell a solution, not a product. When you know a driver’s issues on the road, the solutions come as a bonus.
It would be best if you were in the driver’s seat to grasp what stirs any driver on the road. In heat or cold, proper conditions inside a car will help them feel comfortable—so will leather cushion seats. Whereas good suspensions will ensure no bumps on the road affect them.
Once you grasp what your customer feels, you begin to generate marketing strategies that empathize with your audience—rather than focusing on selling a product.
Understand What Agitates Them
If you understand your industry or niche, you might already know what distress your target customers. But, instead of expounding on that and agitating them further, it is essential to focus on solutions.
If your website copy focuses on the problem first, then sells your product, it is missing a crucial ingredient: the human touch. Adding something such as “we understand” can help you connect with your customer.
While focusing on their ailments and promising a comprehensive solution will surely make care for you just as much. So, how do you go about doing that? What do you need to implement that in your marketing strategy?
A good marketing approach focuses on the problem; a great marketing approach provides a solid solution. Make sure you know what your audience does not like. But, more importantly, ensure that you give a complete solution to it.
Present A Viable Solution
As mentioned above, a solution needs to be perfect in your customer’s eyes. Does it compromise one aspect to grant another? Or, is it expensive compared to your competition because you understand your audience better?
A viable solution means convenience in all the departments imaginable. It needs to be affordable, it needs to be definite, and most importantly, it needs to fix a consumer’s complaints. But, even if you have a solution like that, how does your audience know?
Marketing strategies employ content funnels to lead customers on a journey. The first one is awareness: spreading awareness about the solution to your buyers’ minds. The second one is the conversation: this is when you talk about the benefits of a product.
The last one is call-to-action—or impulse content, where a buyer finally makes their decision and purchases the product.
Sell Benefits, Not Features
As mentioned above, you need to sell benefits, not factors or features. So, how do you do that? As mentioned above, a buyer will incline more towards a benefit than the product itself. Would a car buyer feel more inclined towards a comfortable drive or the never-ending features?
Just as it is essential to understand their troubles, it is also important to understand their peace. Including what you can do to bring said peace to them. To understand the benefit of a product, you need to empathize with your target customer.
Target Their Motivation
Empathic marketing is all about understanding every aspect of a buyer’s intentions. So, what triggers them to hop on a search engine and look for specific solutions? Finding that motivation can help you empathize better with your customers and create better customer experiences.
It can also help you understand the critical elements of your products’ features. You might understand the qualities you are selling better than anyone might. However, relating to a buyer’s motivation will help you target that motivation and identify the benefit they need from your product.
Establish Yourself as an Expert Authority (On the Industry)
Ensuring the buyers of your brand’s credentials as an expert authority in your industry will help you in the long haul. Once you know what pushes your buyers, you need to understand the key deciding elements.
You might know your products’ benefits better than anyone in your niche. However, is it reason enough for your customer to choose you over your competition? That is when you need to establish your brand’s authority.
Stand out as a sustainable solution provider, whether through experience or with unmatched tactics in your industry.
Target Problems Customers Don’t Realize They Have
The best thing to happen to a brand is when they reveal a buyer’s problem without the buyer knowing it. This realization will push a buyer to commit to your brand better than any other tactic. However, making the buyer understand its issue or problem will help you make their decision stronger.
Conclusion
Empathic Marketing is the present and future of digital marketing. Using the tactics defined tactics in the post to tap into the emotions of your customers is nothing challenging. However, going the extra mile with this approach can surely help your brand build a following. If you haven’t thought about these things yet, get started now.
Read Also:
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- 5 Digital Marketing Methods to Increase Your Brand Awareness From 2022 & Beyond
- How To Develop Your Company’s First Digital Marketing Campaign
Author: Aimen Kahn
