You're human. You're marketing to people. Take time to listen to your own gut feelings as you ‘speak' to your market with your words.
Webster's dictionary defines empathy as ‘the projection of one's own personality into the personality of another in order to understand the other person better.” And the way you project your personality is with your feelings and imagination.
It's powerful and you can infuse your copy with that power.
As a copywriter you should know that your target market, who'll be reading your copy, needs to feel understood. They need to ‘feel' it. Your copy has to pull the reader along. And hopefully they'll get to that point where they're more relaxed and more trusting of you. That's when they're ripe for “letting” themselves truly feel that you understand.
And at that point you've entered their world. They have unconsciously given you permission to become a part of their lives, if only for a brief time. And during that brief time you've created a strong psychological bonding and rapport with them. It's powerful when firing on all cylinders. When you're doing that you've created a relationship.
And that's exactly what you want to do.
Done right your voice will follow them, stay with them. And whenever they think of the problems your product or service fixes for them, they'll think of you.
So how do you develop empathy in your writing?
It's something you do with intent. Some people are naturally more empathetic than others. You know that. But sometimes when you're in the heat of writing and trying to beat a deadline, it's easy to lose focus on certain things.
Writing with empathy calls for opening your self and allowing to feel. To imagine what it must be like to be experiencing what someone else is living. If you're writing about chronic bad breath…just imagine.
There must be some embarrassing moments for those who suffer from it. You approach someone to talk with, and the other person noticeably keeps a distance. Perhaps the sufferer feels frustrated because he doesn't really know what to do. He brushes his teeth every morning and night.
But the condition doesn't improve or go away. So then he falls into a pattern of inhibited behavior. Appearing to be a little shy and stand-offish. The effects ripple-out and are felt in all aspects of his life.
Imagine that?
You can do that. And when you do…talk to them in an intimate way about their problems. Help them to know that you KNOW what they're going through. You want to help them with it, and you have a great product that will alleviate their personal pain.
You must sit down with them and engage them. Imagine sitting close to them, looking them in the eye, hanging on every word they say…and you explain to them how you'll help them. Most people would be very grateful for that.
Empathy is powerful no matter how it's expressed. It removes barriers, creates trust, builds relationships, and makes people want to buy from you.
