This post first appeared on the Salted Stone blog.
Until recently, marketing revolved around a company telling clever, funny or emotional stories to its customers. But in the last handful of years, we’ve witnessed a fundamental change in what it means to market a product or service effectively.
The democratization of information has carved a new landscape that requires a total shift in how, as marketers, we choose to connect with our audience.
Yellow Pages to Yelp
I think of it as the Yellow Pages to Yelp phenomenon. As a society, we’ve moved away from a “I know exactly what I want or who I want to talk to, give me the direct phone number” to a “I know what I want, now show me stories and personal accounts and information to help guide me to who or what I should explore more so that I can make the best decision for me.”
This democratization in the marketplace is exactly why I study, practice, and tout the principles of inbound marketing with such enthusiasm.
Inbound marketing puts the focus on being helpful and finding connections. It’s an approach that requires investment in truly understanding your audience and creating quality content that pulls them toward your company, rather than on more traditional methods that try to go out and “grab” leads’ attention.
And this shift is amazing really. We, as consumers, have more say than ever in the content that brands present to us when it comes to advertising. As a marketing professional, it’s an exciting time because we have the chance to get people really invested in what we’re doing. But! We only get that chance if we take the time to truly understand our audience. This investment in understanding your buyers is an exercise in empathy.
The Empathy Factor
Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person’s condition from their perspective – is a must have skill for marketing professionals. It’s so important that it’s even found its way into our marketing lexicon.
While “empathy marketing” is still a somewhat under the radar marketing approach, it does return 8,000,000+ results in a Google search. According to small business advisor, Marla Tabaka,
“There was a time when strong, sexy ad campaigns would move people to buy from their ego place. But today, most consumers have to be careful with their spending and only a strongly demonstrated understanding of their feelings and life/business circumstances will inspire them to pull out the wallet. As businesses learn to embrace these right-brained, empathy-driven marketing tactics consumers are also learning; they keep their eyes open for the brand that understands them the best.”
Continue reading on the Salted Stone blog.
