There are lots of B2B, B2C and DTC influencers out there who offer all kinds of very specific advice on how to do marketing right.
I’m not trying to be a hater or call anyone out (though I’m sure everyone's favorite algorithm would love it if I named names) because a lot of what they suggest is great—thoughtful, informed, well-argued, etc.
What most of it skips over is the whole point of marketing: engaging the people who buy your products and services.
To do this successfully requires empathy and understanding.
By you.
By your people.
Once you understand and empathize with your customers, you can work backwards to figure out how to engage them, why to engage them, where to engage them, when to engage them, etc.
It's not rocket science, it's just behavioral science mixed with good, old-school marketing know-how.
But it does take a little effort.
Meaning, you probably have to do some surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups, or at the very least get your sales and marketing team in a room together to talk about your customers.
(Though AI can help.)
If you do that, however, you'll pretty quickly realize that you have just what you need for true empathy and understanding — aka plenty of emotional, experiential, and/or intellectual reference points that can fuel those "A-ha!" moments where you suddenly know what kind of content to write... what kind of a pitch to make... what style to use... what experience to create... etc.
Empathy in B2B marketing really works.
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