Empathy-Led Marketing

If you’re a basketball fan, this is probably one of your favorite times of the year— March Madness. Athletes and teams competing at a very high level for the same prize. Those who ultimately win championships often do not treat winning as a goal, but as an outcome.?

What’s the difference?

The best athletes and teams understand that winning isn’t directly nor fully within their control. They can’t JUST win. There are external forces, like referees and opponents, that also determine the outcome. Instead, they focus on their preparation before games and their performance on game-day. They put their attention and energy on the things they can control, and they let the score take care of itself.?

When teams treat winning as a goal, not only do they waste precious energy on things outside their control, but they are likely to adopt a win-at-all-costs mentality, which often leads to short term thinking and decisions like cheating.?

Revenue is to business what winning is to sports.?

Here, too, it’s important to recognize that revenue is an output, a performance metric, and therefore not a goal, but an outcome.?

When revenue is a goal, businesses tend to adopt a revenue-at-all-costs mindset which often leads to decisions that are in the best interest of the business but not the customers, which is shortsighted.

At grio, our approach to business and marketing is built on the belief that, in the long run, customer value always aligns with shareholder value. So just like great teams focus on preparation and performance as a means to win championships, businesses should focus on maximizing customer value as a means to create long term value for the business.?

Empathy-led marketing is a customer-centric approach to marketing that focuses on maximizing customer value as a means to create long term shareholder value.

Instead of focusing on revenue or profit, at grio, we advise and help our clients focus on four things they can control, and which can have the biggest impact on their desired outcome:? brand clarity, customer intimacy, value innovation, and brand availability.?

The Four Pillars of Empathy-Led Marketing

Brand clarity?

Every great team is built on a set of beliefs and values that inform the choices and shape the habits that increase the team’s chances of success. The clearer a team is about their core ideology and the more they live by those principles, the better their chance of building a winning culture and attracting the type of players and coaches that share the same worldview and can contribute to the team’s success. Companies are built just the same. The clearer companies are about their purpose, mission, vision and values, among other things, the better their chances of building a great company that delivers tremendous value to society and thus brings in massive revenue.

Customer Intimacy?

The only way to win is to do the right things at the right time. A series of decisions and actions which compounds into a win over time. In business, revenue is a metric of how well your company is creating and delivering value to customers. So it’s important to understand those customers deeply. It means that beyond identity markers, companies have to understand the needs and wants of their customers, their worldview and aspirations, as well as the challenges and barriers they face in pursuit of those needs, wants and aspirations. They have to understand human nature in general, and empathize with customers so they can navigate just how irrational yet predictable they can sometimes be.?

Value Innovation?

Once a company understands itself and its customers, they need to figure out how to create the right value for the exact customers they are hoping to attract. What is it the company is best at in the context of customers’ needs and the other options they have available in the market? What is your product or service and what are the relevant features that should be added? Do you understand all the benefits of your products or services and how they map out to your customer needs? Have you put together a compelling offer that accounts for customers’ needs and all the trade offs they are willing to make, in terms of money, time, effort and risk, for example?

Brand Availability?

Availability, which can be physical, mental and digital,? is about making it easy for customers to access and buy your products and services. Are they aware that there’s a solution to their problem out there? Do they understand what you do? Are they able to recognize and choose your brand in buying situations? How easily accessible are you, in terms of physical or digital points of sales? How can you make it easy for them to get exactly what they are looking for? The goal here is to remove all the obstacles and friction that stand in the way of the customer getting exactly what they need.?

Ultimately, it’s virtually impossible to achieve something without setting a clear intention about your desired outcome. However, once that intention is set, the focus should shift onto the things within your control that increase your likelihood of success. Willing or wanting something badly is not enough, we still have to do the right things. We have to understand the inputs within our control, build a system for following through and trust that process. This is true in sports and in business.

Community Spotlight

?James Yoder is the co-founder and owner of?Not Just Coffee, Charlotte's first "Third Wave" coffee brand.

James moved constantly while growing up– not just from city to city, but from country to country. Through his nomadic upbringing and an innate curiosity, the world became his classroom. He learned and took something from each place...an appreciation and love for hospitality, music, film, great food and drink; how chance encounters can turn into lasting friendships. Above all, traveling taught him empathy.

While in Italy, James fell in love with coffee. He loved not just the product but the theater, romance and community around it. He knew it was a world he wanted to be a part of and promised himself that someday he would open his own coffee shop.

After returning to the States from an extended time abroad, James made good on that promise. He founded Not Just Coffee with his wife Miracle in 2011. In 2020, he partnered with the owners of?UNDERCURRENT COFFEE?to open a coffee roastery and multiple cafes under a new brand,?Night Swim Coffee.

James is one of those cool, interesting people who seems to have lived a hundred lives within one lifetime.

About Us

Our mission at grio is to amplify voices, champion cause and scale businesses that improve the human condition.

We believe that changing the world is a team sport. So we partners with visionary leaders and purpose-led brands to help make this world a better place. We leverage brand strategy, design and creativity to help unlock their full potential and advance their respective missions.

If you are looking for a real partner to support your world-changing quest, send us a message at [email protected]

Our Podcast is back for a third season.

At grio, we believe that empathy is the key that unlocks most of the marketing and business challenges. Three years ago, we started a podcast called empathy-led to deepen our understanding our empathy and bring the lessons back to our clients and those following along on our journey.

Here's the latest episode