Empathy is the Key to Marketing that Resonates

Did you know emotion and motivation are rooted in the same Latin term, “to move” to action?

When understanding behavioral tendencies and the driving forces behind what makes us buy and what drives our decisions, emotion and motivation are incredibly powerful levers.

How much?

You’d be right if you guessed our emotions influenced more than half of our decisions.

The 70/30 Principle of Emotion-Based Decision-Making

A recent Gallup study found that 70% of decisions were based on emotional factors, compared to only 30% on rational ones.

Baba Shiv, a professor of marketing and neuroeconomics, puts emotion-based decision-making even higher. 

Somewhere north of 90%.

Either way you look at it, emotion plays a critical factor in most of our decisions.

Including what we buy and the brands we trust. 

In today’s abundant information age, your audience is regularly exposed to thousands of competing brand messages.

Consumer attention is finite.

If you’re only leading with logic and not accounting for your buyer’s journey and their mindset at different stages, you’re missing out on one of the most impactful methods for cutting through all the noise and connecting.

Emotional marketing can build a bridge between the people you’re trying to reach and the actions you want to inspire them to take.

Here’s why you should build that bridge with empathy as the cornerstone.

Empathy-Based Marketing Puts Your Customer First

Empathy — tuning into others and how they feel — is essential in forming a basis for meaningful connection.

After all, how can people relate to, let alone trust, your brand if they don’t think you understand them?

Empathy is the secret sauce.

It requires you to look outward.

To put your target audience first.

And to anchor your messaging on a well-informed worldview that maps their drivers, goals, fears, and wants to their unique experiences and buying journey.

It puts the onus on connecting, not just converting. 

Because the more you understand your audience, the more your marketing will resonate. 

Getting Started with Empathy-Based Marketing 

Are you feeling inspired and ready to build bridges? 

Here are some strategies and ideas to help you get started.

Stay curious and do your research.

Gather lots of data and customer feedback to understand them as real people, not just personas.

Find out what keeps them up at night.

What drives them?

What are their most significant pain points, and what steps have they taken at different stages to try and solve them?

To truly take your customer’s perspective, you must genuinely be curious and invested in developing and deepening your understanding.

Let go of any bias or preconceived notions.

Try to walk their walk and talk their talk. Literally. 

Find out what words they use to describe their experience and journey. And learn about their sources of truth and where they spend their time.

Looking at survey data is a good starting point. But immersing yourself in their world is even better.

Consider doing ride-alongs with your field reps, listening to discovery and customer support calls, joining sales meetings at different stages in the buying cycle, and especially conducting 1:1 customer interviews.

Align positioning with what matters most.

Develop a big-picture view of your target audience; then bake those learnings into your messaging.

And test how well they land. 

Focus on the meaningful change and desired outcomes they want. Not the bells and whistles of your product/service.

Want to really stand out? Clarify exactly how you can help solve their specific problems.

And map their transformational journey from start to finish.

All these insights will provide rich context and clarity that can go a long way toward making customers feel like you really get them.

Remember, clarity and connection is crucial. 

Because confused people don’t buy, and indifferent feelings don’t incite action.

Tell customer stories that inspire.

Storytelling has the potential to provoke potent emotions. And make a lasting impression that can influence our decisions. 

It’s why testimonials and case studies can be so compelling.

Making your customer the hero of the story helps your audience relate to —and emotionally invest in — your brand.

An authentic before-and-after story told from your customer’s point of view is reputational gold.

It fosters trust by showing (not just telling) how you can deliver on your brand promise and value proposition. 

Create content marketing that helps, not sells.

Anyone can buy reach and frequency. But building trust based on providing relevant value?

That’s the real differentiator.

When empathy is infused into your marketing and messaging, you understand your customers’ problems and challenges.

Map your content to address those challenges at each stage of the buying journey and post-purchase too.

Segment based on relevancy to ensure your content is fit-for-purpose and highly targeted.

Prioritize helping to make their lives (and jobs) easier with quality resources like how-to videos, instructional blog posts, educational ebooks, podcasts, and newsletters. 

You want to educate, inform, entertain, and inspire.

I highly recommend providing this value-added content for free (no gating and no fee). 

The ROI of creating, capturing, and the (higher likelihood of) converting this demand will be worth your time and resources.

The TL;DR Recap:

We all want to feel seen, heard and understood meaningfully.

When you focus on empathy-based marketing to address your audience’s “deeper why,” — you not only inspire them to decide to buy.

You also establish value-based trust, a strong foundation for lasting connection and engagement.