Empathy in Marketing

Everyone talks about Empathy in B2B Sales. But not enough people talk about empathy in Marketing.

Yet it has to be just as important there too. How can we expect to engage our market if we don’t understand how they feel and act?

Google will provide you with the following definition of empathy; the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. The good news for Marketers is that this engages a talent that we have already honed – Imagination.

Empathy is just the old adage “walk a mile in their shoes”. We as marketers must imagine what its like to be that person. Now, even if you have the most creative imagination the word has ever known, if you’ve never been in the situation, it will be hard to imagine it. So what can you do?

Generative AI can be your friend to give you starting points. You can ask it to play a persona and answer questions as that persona. Let’s say your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a small business owner that could grow with better cashflow. I plugged the following request into ChatGPT;

Imagine you are a small business owner whose business could grow with better cashflow. Describe the cashflow problems in the business.

ChatGPT provided me with 7 ways that cashflow could be constrained, and a couple of ideas on why I would want it to improve. Then I asked it to reply as that business owner, with the features of a startup I worked for that had that exact ICP, and if that would be helpful. 7 must be an important number to ChatGPT, because it gave me 7 benefits of using that product. Most importantly, in the language of a small business owner!

You can also talk to your Sales team, or ask them to point you to call recordings that represent their everyday conversations with customers. Your Sales team are already having these conversations, and asking the questions that bring out answers in your customer’s own words. (Another reason we at SOAR believe Sales and Marketing must be deeply intertwined.)

Empathy is a skill, and as such can be improved. Active listening (Listen to understand, not reply) and being curious about other people’s experiences are two behaviors that will help improve your empathy. If you find you aren’t great at these immediately, don’t worry. Breathe and return to the behavior. Try some Mindfulness techniques, which will improve your ability to be focused in the present, allowing you to listen actively and be curious.

Then take what you have learned as building blocks to creating the best performing marketing campaigns you ever made!

Happy Marketing, everyone!