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Empathy Emerges As The New Advertising

Empathy arises as new marketing

When I was approached by an editor two years ago with the idea of ​​writing brand storytelling: putting customers at the center of your brand story, I would never have imagined how exactly the topic about which I had written and tried to evangelize the public Stage would become a leading innovation in one of the most cathartic moments in modern history.

Empathy has become a hot commodity lately – in theory. We see dozens of articles, thought leaders, and hashtag trends suggesting the idea of ​​using empathy as a business management and marketing approach. However, the real practice of introducing a compassionate lens into the retail ecosystem is still far-fetched, and so I would like to offer a few practical steps that were taken directly from a few pages of my book to help you focus on it Dynamic journey of brands that become human and empathy that become new marketing.

The Robin-To-Batman effect. Each character in a story clearly has its own identity. As such, it is authorized to evolve throughout history. At the level of brand history, leading with empathy means that you are ready to put your product and service as heroes of your brand history aside and give your customers the opportunity to lead the narrative from their perspective. Here's how it looks when you make your customer a hero of brand history:

(Chapter 5) The hero of brand history

  • Read your brand mission.
  • Read it again.
  • Analyze it.
  • See if the customer shows up, if they show up at all. See how they show up. Do they show themselves as heroes at all?
  • See if the story is about the new fantastic features of your product or how your products and services improve your customers and then win.

During COVID-19, many brands turned to me and asked the same question: Do I have to switch my brand services? Should I change my brand voice, tone or personality during this time to appeal to customers? Should I rewrite my brand mission? These are all valid questions and the answer is always the same: what does your customer want and say about it? If you really are the hero in your story, you will intuitively and empathize with your leadership and expectations.

One notable point: regardless of what changes you make to your brand during this time, if you are sensitive and intend to be led by your customer, the changes will not appear different to your customer, but as caring Action to be welcome. Customers pay attention to what brands do or not to show customers that they care. And we will remember the decisions that brands make today.

Really humanize your brand now. In recent years, brands have put a lot of time, effort, and money into building trust with customers by attributing human tone, voice, and personality to their organizations. While this tactic has largely proven to be fruitful, the real thought of humanizing a brand begins with its internal stakeholders (you and your brand leaders) actually viewing the brand as human, and therefore letting customers act humanly in front of their eyes. How?

(Chapter 6) If history is magic, vulnerability is the magic wand:

Your brand was born once.

It was given a name and a mission and wanted to do just that.

The brand grew in size and wisdom.

It made friends and enemies along the way.

She hopes to achieve all of her goals one day and soon live happily.

If you view your brand as a human being and not as a company, you are more likely to accept its imperfections, better forgive the mistakes and shortcomings of the past and also recognize that these natural "human errors" together with the histories of these mistakes can take into account previous accidents be the most innovative way to reach your audience.

In today's fluctuating times, brands have a great opportunity to take their customers by the (human) hand and invite them to jointly steer this uncertain journey. Brands that dare to approach this journey by working with their customers through the hindering strangers have the chance to build a deeper level of trust and continue together to win in this odyssey, a la Batman and Robin.

Empathy: Never leave the cave without it!

Contribution to the Branding Strategy Insider by: Miri Rodriguez. Excerpt from her book Brand Storytelling: putting customers at the center of your brand story (Kogan page)

At The Blake Project, we support clients from all over the world at all stages of development. redefine and articulate what makes them competitive in critical moments of change through online strategy workshops. Please email us for more information on our storytelling workshops.

Brand Strategy Insider is a service from The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy that specializes in brand research, brand strategy, brand growth and brand building

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