Empathy : a Crucial Skill for Marketers and PR Professionals

To understand Empathy, let’s consider a situation where we really don’t want to see 5-6 times advertisements while watching in a 30 minutes slot for news on national TV, whereas the buyers and sellers want that. It is interesting!

We walk into a big business meeting, set and get the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly targets for the products and for the company without even considering the pain areas consumers are facing. It is interesting! There are many more such examples. So what’s Empathy? Let’s see this pointwise.

1. It is an ability to put yourself in others shoes and looks at the world from their point of view.

2. For Public Relations Professionals it is an opportunity to think differently, for example, in Riya Chakraverty’s case different views are coming from different perspectives. Some are seeing from Sushant’s family point of view and others from Sushant’s point of view, some people are commenting and talking about Riya’s boldness while facing various agencies involved and so on.

3. Take extra time to put yourself in the shoes of a customer or user and think, “What was  the most compelling factor for her?” Then, take another slot to think like a journalist and ask, “Is this digestible and interesting for viewers?”

4. Remember the mantra. Decrease the amount of selling your content, increase the amount of time listening to and thinking about your customer’s problems / challenges and then write content that expresses the organization’s understanding, kindness and good will

5.  More you think, analyze and see from others point of view, the result will be different not standard. One does not need to be a brain surgeon to understand surgery or a journalist to know journalism to analyze and seeing from others point of view. It is all about of little bit empathy.

6. Empathy improves customer’s loyalty. Managers & Organizations have been perceived as caring for others and gain respect. Leaders see corporate empathy for employees, customers, business partners and others as essential.

7. Empathy avoids issues & conflicts.  It, helps teaming, improves confidence and foster innovations. Empathy establishes a strong connection among customers and sellers. Employees having strong empathy skills are also more productive and loyal to the organization and people.

8. People want to feel loved and appreciated at work and if you are not giving them that, you will not succeed as a leader. Take time from your busy schedule, acknowledge the contribution of your team, communicate to your team and provide feedback.  Many organizations have started engaging employees on a periodic basis at various levels and analyzing the results and taking periodic action to increase the retention period or avoid abrupt exits from the organization.

So, Empathy has given a new direction to the business! Let’s be empathetic.