How to use empathy in content marketing to build trust

Content marketing entails positioning your content in different and digestible ways in front of your audience. At least, that’s what we believed in all these years. Then how are emotions able to defy strategy? How can emotions help you lay down all your strategic efforts in the right place? What exactly is empathy in content marketing?

Using empathy in content marketing is letting your customers know that you are a human just like them. So you understand their pain points and want to help them solve their problems. It’s a small part of a larger conversation in ethical marketing.

Why do you need empathy in content marketing?

Because numbers never lie.

Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard professor, believes that customers make 95% of their buying decisions subconsciously. Their drive to buy a particular product or service comes from emotions. This means creating an emotional bond with your customer is more important than ever.

But how do you go about it? How do you tell your customers that you see and understand them?

Yes, you guessed correctly! Including emotions such as empathy in your content marketing strategy leads to trust-building with your customers. 

But how should you achieve this? 

Using empathy in content marketing to build trust with your prospects

Want to drive the desired results? 

Get in your prospects’ shoes.

That’s the only way you can build a bridge of trust between you and your customers, a bridge that helps them in decision-making.

But how to do that? How to make them believe you aren’t someone sitting in your cabin typing words to get them to buy your products or services. 

The answer is again: empathy-led content marketing strategy.

Show people that you care about them by getting in front of them

Yes, that’s right.

Include them in your journey. Let them know you are the same way they are: a human trying to make it through life. 

Use data analytics and content marketing analytics tools to find your customers’ pain points. Asking them what challenges make them stay awake at night is a better solution. 

You can achieve two things from this;

• Connect with your customers one on one
  
• Build trust

Hit the bullseye in one shot.

Once you know your buyers’ pain points, you need to offer a fresh and unique solution to their problems. This way, they know you aren’t someone who takes them for granted.

Speak their language

Talking to people in their language enables you to connect deeper with them. It doesn’t mean that if they speak English, you start speaking English too. 

Pay close attention to your prospects. Observe them and take notes on their behavioral patterns. Develop detailed and effective customer personas for them.

• Which age group do they belong to?
  
• What are their daily habits?
  
• What inspires them the most?
  
• Which is their favorite digital platform to hangout
  
• What are their pain points?
  
• Which type of solution are they seeking for their problems: short term or long term

In short, dig out everything about them that you can.

For example, If your prospects are millennials, most of them grew up watching Harry Potter movies. So, ensure to use those references in your content. 

If you are a service-based business, explain to your customers how your service can help them like a wand. Be the Dumbledore of their lives and show them the direction to find the Horcruxes.

Engage with your prospects and customers

Showing your human side now and then only makes your content marketing strategy solid. This means more profit for your business. 

Take a survey and find out what your customers say about your brand. Ask them if they have any concerns about your products or services. If yes, then take it on yourself to address these concerns.

Provide a visually engaging rating system at the end of every page. Visual content drives people’s attention more. Take advantage of it to better communicate with your audience.

Ensure collaboration between your sales team and support team and tailor a clear-cut content marketing strategy. Create content on each of the concerns that your prospects have. Present a solution to every one of these concerns and build trust. And lastly, don’t forget to run frequent content audits to optimize your efforts.

Hit your prospects and customers with the right emotions at the right time

The research from Psychology Today shows that emotions drive sales more than data. Nowadays, customers asses brands by the emotional connection they feel with the brand and not by the data presented. 

Taking this into account, ensure to hit your customers with the right emotions. But keep in mind to not entirely depend on emotions. Use data to make your claims and elaborate on them. When they are satisfied with the data, hit them with emotions to drive the sales. 

Bring transparency to the table

Data from Marketingcharts states that 45% of the B2B customers need brands to be more transparent about their product capabilities and limitations.

Source: Marketingcharts

If the brands are more transparent, the customers are less likely to feel remorse about their purchasing decisions. This leads to customer satisfaction and a trustworthy relationship between brands and their customers.

Pay attention to your consumers’ buying journey

People always read reviews about the products and services they want to buy. Ensure to pay attention to your customers’ buying journey. Putting your customer at the center of all your activities as a seller gets you new fans who know only the great things to say about you. Map your customer journeys so you don’t miss a step!

Leverage this positive reputation for your profit. Include this in your content marketing plan to make your prospects see what people say about your brand. 

Fulfilling all your promises leads to customers making deeper connections with your brand. This leads to the “words of mouth” marketing strategy that is still the king of all marketing strategies.

Use every word strategically

Using words that trigger more emotions is essential while writing the content. Some words work better than others. 

For example, use exquisite instead of beautiful, and fascinating instead of amazing. Beautiful, and amazing are the words we use every day. So, they create very little impact on your prospects.

Words like exquisite, and fascinating work better to trigger the right emotions. This fuels the decision-making process of your prospects.

Provide valuable and meaningful content

The value of the content always beats its volume

As they say, “less is always more.” This holds for a value-driven content marketing strategy. 

When you create an empathy-led content marketing strategy, ensure to maintain the value of the content you provide to your prospects. For that, have a clear idea of your content pillars. 

Remember, clear content pillars give you an upper hand while executing your content marketing strategy. 

Conclusion

Including empathy in your content marketing strategy would drive sales which in turn helps you to your desired revenue. So, the next time you create a content marketing strategy, remember to incorporate empathy and understanding to develop trust in your content and brand.