Sharing and using "out-of-touch" content can cause you to lose customers and subscribers. On the other side of the coin, you can see how content that helps and supports people tends to win new customers and advocates for your brand.
So, what's the secret to creating "in-touch" content? Empathy. Empathy is not about pretending to feel something - it's about putting yourself in the other person's shoes, focusing on their point of view, thoughts and feelings about a given situation.
The ability to empathize with others is definitely a skill worth developing, and can influence everything from content creation to team management. Empathizing effectively can help people feel heard and considered, and empathetic content, even in B2B marketing, can make a real difference: 1. Try to find topics that fit into your "Sweet Spot"
Although you might be tempted to share the most popular topics to ride the current trend, always try to start by asking yourself this simple question: what is my audience looking for?
Let's try to understand it with a Venn diagram; in one of the circles, we analyse the topics of interest for our audience; in the other it is important to analyse all the areas of brand competence. The area generated where the two circles intersect (Sweet Spot) shows two or three topics where brand and audience interests overlap.
Once this is done, it is important to contextualize these areas of interest and brainstorm the topics to cover, with the goal of creating effective content for the type of communication you intend to develop; ranking the topics in order of priority or difficulty.
2.Create an empathy map
An empathy map allows you to understand and visualize how your audience thinks and feels. Simply take a sheet of paper and divide it into four quadrants, and in the sections simply note: What does your audience see? What does he/she hear? What do they think and feel? What do they say and do?
In addition to that, make a list of "Pain & Gain."
Within the sections, it is important to include the information you know about your target audience. It will be important to use this information to stimulate more targeted communications, to decrease customer "pain" and increase "gain."
3.Redefine automation processes
Automation processes represent a turning point for companies looking to understand their audiences’ needs. They clearly ease the process of building empathy by allowing businesses to capture the information necessary to better develop their marketing strategy.
Email automation, as an example, is a very useful tool to segment and cultivate relationships with your audience. However, if done out of context, it will not only hurt your brand but alienate your customers.
Studies have shown that companies that continue to market well in times of uncertainty fare better in the long run, but for content marketing to work well, it requires a strong empathetic approach.
That is why we believe that empathetic marketing is one of the best ways to build a long-term relationship with your customers. People want real content in which they can see themselves and from which they can draw solutions to solve problems and realize dreams.
Purely informative and impersonal content just doesn’t cut the mustard.
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