By Kyle Seeley, Chief Operating Officer
Empathy might not be the first word that springs to mind when you think about media strategy. But in a world where consumer expectations are heightened and trust is in short supply, brands that demonstrate empathy don’t just stand out, they succeed.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In a media context, it means going beyond demographics to understand what your audience is really experiencing – their needs, pressures, motivations, and fears. When you get this right, your strategy doesn’t just reach people, it resonates.
So how can you build empathy into your media strategy?
- Start with insight, not assumptions
Empathy starts with listening. It’s tempting to fall back on generic audience profiles, but if you’re relying on surface-level data, you’re missing the point. Go deeper. Use qualitative research, social listening, customer interviews, or ethnographic analysis to uncover what’s really going on in your audience’s world. What keeps them up at night? What do they care about? What language do they use?
- Build audience understanding into your planning process
Once you’ve got a real understanding of your audience, bake it into your strategy. At The Kite Factory, we use an Empathy Framework to identify the emotional, practical, and contextual drivers that shape audience behaviour. This helps us create media strategies that reflect not just what people do, but why they do it.
Take, for example, a charity looking to raise funds for humanitarian aid. A standard audience segment might be “ABC1 adults aged 45+ with a history of charitable giving.” Useful – but not empathetic. Look deeper and you might find that these individuals are feeling overwhelmed by constant negative news, sceptical about where their money goes, or unsure whether small donations make a real difference.
Those insights change the media strategy. It might mean showing up in trusted, quality news environments with emotionally resonant storytelling that highlights impact and transparency. It could mean using formats that allow for longer-form content to build trust, or sequencing messages to gently guide people from awareness to action over time.
- Tailor your media approach to audience needs
Empathy isn’t just a creative tool – it should influence your channel mix, media partner choices, and formats. If your audience is time-poor, long-form video might not land. If they’re anxious or overwhelmed, an aggressive retargeting strategy could backfire. Empathetic strategies respect people’s context and attention, which often means prioritising value over volume.
- Measure what matters
Empathetic strategies aren’t soft or fluffy – they’re effective. But to prove that, you need to look beyond standard media metrics. High reach or low CPMs might suggest efficiency, but they don’t tell you whether your media is genuinely moving people to care or act.
Instead, focus on metrics that reflect quality and connection. Are people watching your content all the way through? Are purchasing journeys being completed, and at what rate? For fundraising campaigns, look at the cost per donation, average gift value, and donor retention over time – all of which can be influenced by how understood and valued supporters feel.
You can also use brand tracking or post-campaign research to gauge shifts in sentiment and trust. In digital environments, consider softer signals like dwell time or view through rate to understand whether your content is landing emotionally.
Ultimately, if your strategy is built on empathy, your measurement should be too – less about reach at any cost, and more about impact where it counts.
Why empathy works
When people feel understood, they’re more likely to listen, trust, and act. Empathetic media strategies create stronger emotional connections, improve performance across the funnel, and ultimately build longer-term brand affinity.
In an age of AI-driven efficiency and hyper-targeted personalisation, empathy can be your competitive edge. It reminds us that behind every impression is a real person. And when you understand them deeply – not just as consumers, but as humans – you build strategies that deliver real value for them and for your brand.