All good content marketers have an agenda,
but they also understand to go beyond the brand-forward approach of traditional marketing. At the center of the most successful content marketing strategies is a heartfelt effort to make an emotional connection with the target audience. It often seems like there’s a fine line between the egocentric and the empathetic approach to content marketing, and knowing the difference is vital. You have to understand the customer journey, the customer buying cycle, and customer insight if you want a true connection.
Empathy: Putting Your Audience First
In other words, the customer has to come first. Empathy. It’s not complicated, but it is the essence of good content marketing. Experts define empathy as the ability to recognize and share another person’s emotions. If you can understand and share the feelings of your audience, you can create content that causes a powerful reaction resulting in connection and sharing. Invest time in researching your customers now and your content marketing will be more genuine – more human – and effective. Do this by engaging with your audience, and then put yourself in their shoes. Understanding their problems and needs will guide what content you should create.
Content with Enduring Appeal
Content with a meaningful message doesn’t have to be at odds with a commercial agenda. Empathy teaches you to put the audience first. It allows you to go beyond the traditional strategy of hard selling. Instead, through deeper engagement you learn to sell less to sell more. The result? Customer preference and loyalty to a brand that stands out as caring about who they truly are.
There are three steps you can take right now to start gathering the customer insight you need to create empathic content.
- Look to the experts on cultural behavior and consumer decisions. Study reports and analyses on lifestyle trends and their impact on current culture. It will help you understand what motivates your target audience and what outside influences affect their purchasing decisions.
- Use focus groups to help you understand how and why your audience chooses to make a purchase. While focus groups may be cost prohibitive for smaller organizations, they can be an extremely effective way of staying in contact with the changing needs of your customers. Online surveys are also helpful.
- Create and consistently modify and consult your buyer personas. They will give you amazing insight into your customers’ struggles and concerns.
Your Work is Never Done
Empathic content management is an ongoing process. Listen to the feedback you receive and pay attention to the bottom line results. Remember when your content focuses on the values your customers hold dear, the more meaningful the relationship you build with your audience. If you’d like to learn more about how to blend empathy with stellar content, ADTACK is here to help. Contact us at 702-270-8772 to schedule a free consultation.
