Online Advertising Empathy Guide in 2023
In trying circumstances, it’s important to employ empathy in advertising at the appropriate time and place to elicit the desired response from clients, media owners, and agencies as well as consumers.
The etymology of the word “empathy” is “in feeling.”
This idea is not novel to us as advertising. Finding or even generating a shared empathy is essential to advertising’s core goal of matching our clients’ brands and products with their potential customers. Although empathy has always been the foundation of connection development, even before the Ancient Greeks came up with a single word to define it, it has never been more crucial than it will be this year.
Although the most recent data indicate that Australia’s economy narrowly avoided entering a recession at the end of 2022, many analysts believe it is only a matter of time until it does. This recession will have an impact on 2023 and beyond. Furthermore, apocalyptic headlines are depressing to read since they predict “the biggest collapse in living standards since records began.” Business-wise, Q1 yearly forecasting is still challenging, and budgets must work harder than ever to meet goals. Consumer purchasing power will decline because people would have to prioritise their expenses and make concessions on non-essentials. All in all, it will be a challenging year for everyone.
People seek solace and solutions from others while they are struggling. Nonetheless, it is simple to put one’s needs ahead of those of others, especially while under stress, regardless of whether assisting those “others” could genuinely help you. We can only assure that we develop relationships that benefit both parties by demonstrating empathy at every communication touchpoint. Otherwise, we risk taking the destructive “self-first” road. We observe four components of empathy that a media planner should think about:
Audience Sympathy
In recessions, people’s livelihoods are threatened. They experience a lack of control over their lifestyles, financial security, and their families’ future.
In this environment, it would be easy for a brand to alienate audiences, potentially bombarding them with messaging that is at best irrelevant or at worst, compounds the stress they feel at this time. As we strategise and plan for our clients, we should consider how we can be respectful of our audience’s situation and show good etiquette in how we use channels and moments in their day to turn up and talk to them. Being able to segment your audience in a way that allows you to consider their financial position and therefore potential levels of engagement, allows you to turn up in an appropriate way and maximise your marketing spend, avoid alienating sections of your audience, and maybe even find new customers along the way.
Client Compassion
Clients will face more corporate pressure to do more with less because comparable sales target reductions and budget cuts are uncommon. The need for media innovation and testing may be low given the added uncertainty and risk of failure these provide. The approval process for media plans can be drawn out, scrutinised more closely, and ultimately, agencies might be ordered to start over. Fostering long-term business connections that will lead to account growth when the recession is nothing more than a distant memory will depend heavily on being responsive to the perspectives of clients.
Media Owner Sympathy
In an effort to stick to their guns and prioritise tried-and-true channels, agencies may close their doors to new media owners as campaign creativity declines. On the other hand, media proprietors will make every effort to include themselves into media plans by providing alluring discounts and other benefits. Even if a partnership does not work out, it is still crucial to consider the idea of collaborating. So, continue to be kind and considerate, don’t disregard outreach emails, and keep booking lunch and learns because you never know when the opportunity will present itself!
Agency Sympathy
The agency in charge of the clients’ media planning and purchase is frequently the target of the above panic symptoms. While agencies will use all available data to forecast client behaviour and respond quickly to feedback, all parties should consider working procedures that reduce stress on each party and enable each stakeholder to thrive, rather than just deliver, to maximise the partnership.
Open and honest communication with clients can help achieve this, and it is therefore highly advised and greatly appreciated. In order to safeguard the calibre of their work and wellness, agencies are encouraged to put their service-level agreements (SLAs) in front of stakeholders more than ever before. Agencies frequently receive inconsistent briefings and budget allocations as a result of the client’s ongoing scrutiny of strategic and financial decisions, which reduces their time for planning.
Yet, Atomic Digital Marketing Agency Sydney ensures that campaign outcomes continue to be of the highest calibre while also building respectful relationships with clients. We’re all in this together, so how can we get the most out of one another? This way of thinking can also be used to how to best engage partner agencies on client lists.
Planning for the recession is still challenging as of this writing. Nobody can predict how terrible it will be or when it will cease. The only thing that is certain is our capacity as humans to empathise with one another’s difficulties and meet one another’s needs in order to meet our own. This is what will be recalled once the skies has fully cleared.