The Rise and Fall of a Charlatan

(don’t get all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on me if you don’t find the word “charlatan” in the text below. The title was there before I started writing this entry)

Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another”. Excellent!

Now, let’s focus on the “ability” part.

Ability is the capacity to perform, whereas a skill is an act of performing. You can learn skills, while abilities are natural or innate. (this paragraph… You got me! Stolen!)

So we all have empathy. Yaay! (too soon, not all of us do, actually, my bad… Sorry psychos and those unfortunate enough to find themselves around them!)

Since we all (or most of us) have it, how do the brands run by us (the empathetic people) often seem as if they don’t have any at all?

On the other hand, there are many that do manifest it and they do it sooooo good! (drool alert!) And that is hunky-dory for them because, as we all know, “You can’t persuade someone to buy something if they don’t feel you understand them first”.

You can’t.

Yes, you heard me right.

Trust me, dude. You can’t.

Stop it!!!

Exploring empathy with the target audience (Yikes! “target” and “empathy” don’t mix well as I hoped they would) is the key to writing a good copy and deciding on all of the other brand and product features and traits.

It is people who represent companies. People design the brand’s voice and tone.

So is it the ability of the brand or a people skill? The line is thin and the sky is grey.

I have met with many people and companies. Experts as they all are, they usually fail to show empathy in their business communication with the consumers. Somehow in the everlasting chase for the next month’s target, the look and feel of the business become dry and unreliable.

It feels as if it doesn’t know pain or joy. It shows itself as appointment slots and excitement about the next negotiations. The slightly lower margins on Black Fridays should compensate for that. Sure, the know-how is still there. But it’s just that - the expertise and nothing else.

Worst of all are the failed attempts to project compassion and understanding. Have you ever cringed while watching “I know exactly how you feel” ads?

Sure. Those ads work for some. But the question is ‘Do you want to be those people?’ The fact is that the sleazy approach like that is short-lived.

You won’t see a Nike commercial going ‘We know what it feels like when your feet hurt”.

More now than ever, humans want to connect with people who understand. Consumers connect by purchasing things from people they identify with (or people they want to become) are buying or selling. It’s ludicrous trying to fake that. It’s immoral. It’s wrong!

But the reality of the consumer’s world is that empathy is found in a product campaign just as often as it’s found at the dinner table.

To become successful, a brand must show the capacity and the willingness to perform a compassionate action. Call it ability. Call it skill. Call it property. Call it bratwurst if you want! And you have it. You have the capacity. Ability to be yourself. Remember why you started it all and keep shining!

At some point, as I was typing this, I misspelt the word “emphaty”. It made me giggle a bit.