Porsche and Honda both make cars. They do NOT have the same brand story. They are not selling to the same people. Customers buy from them for very different reasons – not simply “because I need a car.” Your business, no matter what industry you are in, needs to understand this.
People often ask me, “How the heck did you, as a brand strategist, come to now be an empathy advocate, author, and speaker?” And I tell them the truth: Empathy has been the success secret of my marketing career.
Marketers get this. You can’t influence or persuade someone – or build right-fit offerings for them – if you don’t understand them. You must peek into their lives, see things how they see them, and ensure your solutions meet those needs, address those goals, and fulfill those aspirations. Or quite frankly, they should not be doing business with you.
To access this episode transcript, please scroll down below.
Key Takeaways:
- Your messaging needs to be about more than just the product. Your brand story should connect and engage with your audience.
- Research proves we often make decisions with subconscious emotion, then justify them with logic.
- Good marketing is not sleazy – when done right and genuinely with offering value as the intention, it’s a way to let people who need you the most find you.
“Empathy in marketing is understanding the goals, desires, fears, values, and needs of your ideal audience and creating products and services that speak to them.” — Maria Ross
Episode References:
My new course! Brand Story Breakthrough
Branding Basics for Small Business, 2nd Edition (2014)
Just one of many Subaru ads I love!
The Empathy Edge with Melina Palmer: Why Your Customers Can’t Tell You What They Want
Don’t forget to download your free guide! Discover The 5 Business Benefits of Empathy: http://red-slice.com/business-benefits-empathy
Connect with Maria:
Get the podcast and book: TheEmpathyEdge.com
Learn more about Maria and her work: Red-Slice.com
Hire Maria to speak at your next event: Red-Slice.com/Speaker-Maria-Ross
Take my LinkedIn Learning Course! Leading with Empathy
LinkedIn: Maria Ross
Instagram: @redslicemaria
Twitter: @redslice
Facebook: Red Slice
FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Welcome to the empathy edge podcast the show that proves why cash flow creativity and compassion are not mutually exclusive. I’m your host Maria Ross. I’m a speaker, author, mom, facilitator and empathy advocate. And here you’ll meet trailblazing leaders and executives, authors and experts who embrace empathy to achieve radical success. We discuss all facets of empathy from trends and research to the future of work to how to heal societal divisions and collaborate more effectively. Our goal is to redefine success and prove that empathy isn’t just good for society, it’s great for business.
Maria Ross 00:49
A small business owner asked me the other day, what do you mean by brand story? Is that website copy? I said, Yes, sort of. But it’s bigger than that. It’s not just one sentence, but it’s also the vibe and value promise of your business. Your brand story is not simply what you sell. It’s your purpose and what you believe how you’re different, what value your offerings ultimately give to a buyer, portion, Honda both make cars, they do not have the same brand story. They’re not selling to the same people, customers buy from them for very different reasons. Not simply because I need a car, your business, your organization, your cause, no matter what industry you’re in, needs to understand this. People often ask me, How the heck did you as a brand strategist, come to now be an empathy advocate, author and speaker, and I tell them the truth. Empathy has been the success secret of my marketing career. And marketers get this, you can’t influence or persuade someone or build right fit offerings for them. If you don’t understand them, you must peek into their lives, see things how they see them, and ensure your solutions meet those needs, address those goals and fulfill those aspirations. or quite frankly, they shouldn’t be doing business with you. Sometimes empathy gets a bad rap when used by marketers or sociopaths to manipulate if it’s used in that way. That’s just lazy marketing. In my book marketing should be about elevating the truth of your story. So the right people can find you and achieve their goals or solve their problems. Empathy has always been the key to successful advertising. You’ve seen it, it’s never about the product is it? Subaru showcases its cars as dirty and beat up in some of their ads to show they understand the desired lifestyle of their ideal customers. They want cars to take into the woods on adventures or transport their dog from the beach. And in some ads, they want a safe car that withstands an accident keeps your kids safe in a crash and can be reliable enough to hand down to future generations. Okay, a 1995 Nike campaign that’s always stuck with me, which I mentioned in my first book, branding basics for small business was called if you let me play, and I’ll link to it in the show notes. The ads showed bright eyed young girls playing sports. And each intern said, if you let me play sports, I will like myself more, I will have more self confidence, I will be 60% less likely to get breast cancer, I will suffer less depression, I will be more likely to leave a man who beats me, I will be less likely to get pregnant, I will learn what it means to be strong. If you let me play sports, I’m actually tearing up just reading this to you right now. This ad was not just about the features of their shoes or athletic clothing. It was about empowerment, about safety about strong mental health for girls. They got me as a just out of college woman back then they knew exactly what engaged and connected with me. They knew who I wanted to be and what I wanted to stand for. And they likely grabbed loads of parents who felt exactly the same way. That’s empathy and marketing, understanding the goals, desires, fears, values and needs of your ideal audience and creating products and services that speak to them. But one step further. A good marketer or a good business owner has to be able to communicate that in their marketing and sales copy, in their ads in their everything. And that’s where brand story comes in. Many business owners and even marketers can speak eloquently about the features of their products, but they might not be as connected to the story they can share that will inspire, engage and influence their ideal customers to join their community and stay loyal to the brand. Sometimes this is because we get so caught up in jargon. We don’t speak in the way our customers actually talk. Yes, I’m talking to you tech companies, which is the cornerstone of empathetic marketing sometimes times they think customers want to hear only the facts. When research proves that we often make purchase decisions because of emotion, but justify that decision with logic. Yes, even our most skeptical data driven buyers do this because Hello, we’re all human. Don’t believe me? Check out my past episodes with behavioral economist, Melina Palmer on all the research proving we don’t buy for the reasons our conscious brains tell us we do. We respond to other cues we’re not even aware of. I’ll put a link in the show notes for you. But what to say and your brand’s story right how to say it? How do we even know what our ideal customers really want and need? Well, as some of you know, I have shifted from pure brand consulting to focusing on empathy as a competitive advantage to help leaders teams and brands. I’m out speaking doing workshops, keynotes, etc. But this year, I’m unveiling what I hope will be a signature course to help marketers, business owners and even agency professionals such as PR and design experts who need to help their clients nail their brand story and may not have a good process. On May 1, I will kick off brand story break through a digital course you can take in five weeks, along with weekly live coaching with me for feedback and guidance. This is my way to help people at scale, uncover the magic of their brand story, and build all the tools for their messaging toolkit, so they can attract their perfect customers stand out and grow their revenue and impact and the root of the entire course on process. You guessed it, empathy. Empathy is too often what’s missing from messaging. I actually had a corporate client once a VP who sincerely disrespected their target client base, calling them arrogant, entitled and not interested in the data. You cannot successfully market your offerings to those who need it, if you despise or disrespect them. Sorry, not sorry. Together, I’ll show you how to understand yourself your vision, goals and values. Understand your ideal customers through easy research and interviewing and craft a brand story that marries you and your different with them and their needs to instantly connect and engage. When you finally nail your brand’s story with empathy, three magic things happen. Number one, clients believe in you they see themselves achieving their goals with your offerings. Number two, they subscribe to your community and become raving fans. And number three, they hire and buy from you and tell their friends. If you’re struggling to get attention from right fit customers, you know you can impact because you know you’re delivering something valuable. I would love love love to help. So please check out the details at red dash slice.com forward slash brand dash breakthrough dash course. The link will of course be in the show notes and sign up before April 28th. And if you sign up before April 15. Just use code earlybird to save $50 Let me guide you through everything you need to know to research uncover and articulate your unique brand story and connect and engage with the people who matter most PS this process works whether you sell products or services b2b or b2c, nonprofit or for profit, because it’s about flexing your empathy muscle and communicating in a way that resonates with the right people and ignites them into action. Not to lie to them, not to deceive, but to connect with them in a genuine and value driven way. And whether you work with me or not, or take this course or not. Please take a look at the free video masterclass on that page. To get some great tips on how to nail your brand story with empathy, you’ll get a lot out of it. Bottom line, we’re all human. And if your mission is to have an impact and offer genuine value to customers or clients, you deserve to reach them and they deserve to know you exist for them. Marketing, good marketing is not sleazy. It’s a way for you to let the people who need you the most find you. So get excited to share your story. If not you than who chat GPT can only get you so far. First, you have to emotionally connect with the people you serve. I really hope you’ll check it out if you’re at all interested in crafting a brand story that connects and engages and as I said this works for for profits. This works for nonprofits. This works for someone just trying to connect and engage with people for a cause or a project. So check it out, check out the free video on that page. And I hope you enjoyed today’s podcast until next time, please remember that cash flow creativity and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Take care and be kind.
Maria Ross 09:59
For more on How to Achieve radical success through empathy, visit the empathy edge.com. There you can listen to past episodes, access shownotes and free resources. Book me for a Keynote or workshop and sign up for our email list to get new episodes insights, news and events. Please follow me on Instagram at Red slice Maria. Never forget empathy is your superpower. Use it to make your work and the world a better place.
