Empathetic Marketing: Why We Need People to Control AI
With the rise of AI, businesses are moving forward at an unprecedented speed. But companies still need human marketers to define what “forward” means. This is where empathetic marketing comes in.
AI steps on the gas, but a person is at the wheel
It seems as if marketing is being reinvented every month. Everything is accelerating. AI writes posts faster than you can say “brief.” Tools collate data before you’ve even understood the question. And everywhere you go you hear: “We’re going to automate that, too.” It’s impossible not to be impressed by this. But in all the excitement, a question is often overlooked: Where is marketing heading?
Artificial intelligence is synonymous with progress. But it’s down to us humans to decide what “progress” means. Creating a framework and guiding the tools’ output with a human touch – this is where empathy in marketing comes into the picture. And not as an optional extra: instead, human centricity is an indispensable navigation aid that can’t be outsourced.
How automation is changing the tone in marketing
Perhaps you’ve been there yourself: You’re fine-tuning the assets for a campaign, checking a couple of versions using an AI model, and suddenly it all looks the same, and your campaign has completely lost its edge. The human touch is missing; it’s got that uncanny valley feel.
Naturally, this is not a reason to abandon AI tools entirely: For many marketing tasks, their analytical clarity and capabilities are crucial to staying ahead of the competition. Data analysis works even better without emotion. But at the end of the day, marketing is always aimed at people. And they want a person, not a machine, to speak to them.
Where AI excels – and where it flounders
AI has taken some components of data analysis to a new level. There’s no doubt about that. And it’s changing how brands and consumers, companies and people interact. But it’s just a technology used in many different tools that can take over and optimize various tasks. It can’t replace people. What’s the difference between an AI tool and a human marketer?
- Cultural codes
- Ethical nuances
- Sensitivity
AI tools work best when they don’t have to be sensitive. After all, machines don’t have feelings. It’s the human touch that creates empathy in marketing.
Why empathy in marketing is crucial
Both social and conventional media are saturated with AI content. Creators need to be authentic or risk their work being derided as “AI slop.” It’s empathy that makes the crucial difference. If your content touches people on an emotional level because you know how they’re feeling, they will reward you for it. People like receiving attention and want to feel seen.
From customer centricity to empathetic marketing
For a long time, customer-centric marketing was the buzzword. But now even that seems too technology-driven. Instead, we’re seeing a trend for human-centric marketing. Customers are more than the sum of their datasets, segmentations, and behavioral patterns. Marketers want to use empathy to fathom the mysteries of people, well aware that they will probably never be entirely fathomable. Empathetic marketing means being alert to contradictions and addressing them in assets and campaigns.
This shift goes beyond B2C communication. Daniela Nyarko, head of strategic sales EMEA at Canva, joined the DMEXCO Podcast to talk about empathetic leadership and innovation. Listen to the conversation now!
Marketing tasks where people (should) have the edge
Even if AI tools are taking over many everyday tasks, human excellence is likely to remain unrivaled in the following areas:
- Getting the tone right: What should my brand’s voice sound like? How do my customers want to be addressed? And when is exactly the right time to target them? Only people can answer these questions.
- Combining crisis management with sound instincts: We’ve all put our foot in it and learned how to avoid the pitfalls (if possible) next time. Machines can’t learn from their mistakes because they don’t feel empathy or shame.
- Building honest communities: People want to belong to communities that have real people and shared values behind them. Emotional communication is the key to forming these connections.
- Interpreting insights: AI tools can provide excellent insights. But making sense of them and applying them in your marketing strategy involves factoring in many unquantifiable variables. This is where AI struggles.
Empathy in marketing: What happens when it’s missing?
Marketing without human empathy risks being a worst case. Here’s why:
- Your communication is interchangeable: If consumers get the feeling that you sound like every other brand, you’ll lose them.
- Trust crumbles: When people don’t feel understood, they turn away. And winning these customers back is expensive.
- You make blunders on sensitive issues: Especially when it comes to mental health, sustainability, or diversity, a single misjudged sentence can ruin everything.
Empathetic marketing: AI is the engine – people are the navigators
Empathetic marketing today means not losing the human factor. The industry is at a point where it needs to renegotiate the relationship between tools and people, service catalogs and skills. Customer centricity is being replaced with a new focus on empathy in marketing. After all, AI tools can provide speed. But there should always be a person at the wheel.
