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Empathy-Led Marketing: Driving Real Behaviour Change
Posted on: 26th of April 2025
Empathy-led marketing is based on the simple idea that if you want to reach someone, you need to understand them first.
You’ve got to climb into their shoes and see the world from their perspective. Only then can you start to speak their language.
And nowhere is this more crucial than when leading the call for behaviour change.
Empathy means taking the time to understand your audience, their lived experiences, their social and cultural contexts. Their emotions, their struggles, and the things that are important to them.
When you use empathy that’s when your behavioural change marketing campaign really takes off. Paving the way for real, meaningful change.
Okay, so how is it done?
How do you make empathy the cornerstone of your next public sector marketing campaign?
1.) Understanding Barriers to Change
Whether you’re encouraging healthy eating, increasing physical activity, or promoting smoking cessation. Start by getting to know what and where the barriers are.
Because if something is stopping us from doing the things we know would benefit us, it usually comes down to one or more of these three factors.
Capability, opportunity, and motivation.
If it’s a matter of capability, your audience won’t have the skills or the knowledge to make changes. In this case your marketing campaign needs to help them fill in the gaps. You need to show them that you can provide what they need in order to make change a possibility.
Alternatively, if limited opportunity is the problem, you need to speak to issues like affordability, time limits, or accessibility factors. You need to have an awareness of the social norms impacting your audience.
Show that you understand what’s getting in the way while offering a route through the challenges.
And what if it’s a case of motivation?
If the communities you’re speaking to are struggling with emotional, habitual, or psychological resistance, you need to motivate them with something they do want.
Give them something to strive for that creates the change you want to see.
Like we did for Blackpool Council’s Public Health team with their Food Active GULP campaign.
The campaign spoke to school age children, with the aim of getting them to drink more water instead of fizzy drinks.
We used the GULP challenge as a motivator, with some inspiring graphics to turn drinking water into a fun activity. We even used a competitive angle and a highly valued prize as motivation.
And the campaign was designed to create a sense of inclusivity and shared experience. Something that’s important to children and young people.
2.) Speaking to the Whole Person, Not Just the Behaviour
If behaviour change was easy we’d all be doing it.
So, acknowledge that change is hard and validate those feelings.
Instead of “exercise is good for you,” we might say, “we know finding time for exercise is tough, but small steps can make a big difference”.
With this approach your audience will feel understood, as opposed to criticised. Because criticism never achieved anything past the short term.
And if you’ve shown that you understand, you’re setting yourself up as a credible source for a real solution.
Our brains also have a habit of tuning out information we’ve already heard too many times.
So move away from the generic, critical messaging they’ve heard before. Show your audience that you get them. They’ll take notice.
3.) Framing Messages Around Real People’s Lives
This one also goes back to how the human brain works.
We’re wired to filter out information our brains don’t consider relevant. So your campaign needs to include people and settings that your audience can identify with.
Essentially, they need to see themselves in the campaign.
If your message is going to land it needs to reflect the real worlds of the people you are speaking to. This means being inclusive of diverse experiences, cultures, and socioeconomic realities.
If you’re promoting weight loss for example, you could highlight the risks of being inactive. But a far more impactful message would recognise the challenges of making time to exercise for someone who is juggling work and childcare.
Then offer solutions that fit in around those difficulties.
4.) Engaging the Audience in Co-Creation
This brings us to another vital element of empathy-led marketing.
Authenticity.
The more authentic your public sector marketing campaign, the more credible you’ll be and the more trust you’ll build with your audience.
One way to charge your campaign with authenticity is by inviting communities to be part of the conversation. Use real people and real stories in your marketing campaign.
We know that understanding the voice of point of view of your audience is crucial, so why not invite that voice in right from the start?
This is what we did with the Wyre Moving More campaign.
We held focus groups, met with community ambassadors, and gathered real-life testimonials. All of which helped to shape our messaging.
The campaign was a conversation with people, rather than a campaign directed at people.
It was inclusive and fostered a real sense of connection and partnership with the local community.
5.) The Emotional Hook: Making People Feel Seen and Heard
If you want to see any kind of behaviour change, your message has to resonate with your audience on an emotional level first.
This is because our emotions drive our behaviour, whether we like to admit it or not. We make 70% of our decisions based on how we feel.
And there are few things more powerful than making someone feel seen and heard.
When we feel seen and heard we tend to feel safer. And this is the beginning of connection.
Make your audience feel seen and heard and they’ll be in a more positive state, meaning they’ll be far more receptive to you and your message.
6.) Using Positive Reinforcement Over Shame or Fear.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
Fear-based marketing might get you short term results.
But short-term results are exactly that, short term.
Short term changes can even hinder long term progress. Because when we fail and we don’t know why, that’s when shame creeps in. And shame typically serves to create internal discomfort. Which can drive a person to seek relief in, you guessed it, the very behaviours we’re trying to change.
And in the long run, fear alienates your audience and could mean they lose trust in you.
Creating a chasm where you wanted connection.
While empathy-based messaging acknowledges challenges while offering support and encouragement.
That’s why it’s crucial to take an empathic approach with your public sector marketing.
And the switch from fear to empathy can be subtle. Like we did with our Wyre, If Rubbish Could Talk campaign.
Instead of using shame and fear by highlighting the dangers on the environment of not recycling, we used an empathic approach by personifying rubbish.
We gave rubbish a voice.
A voice with suggestions for helpful and simple alternatives to waste.
And it got results. During the campaign, recycling in the Borough rose by 4%.
Walking the walk
At Happy, we’re so invested in the power of empathy that we use it ourselves when we’re working with you.
We’ll take the time to step into your world. Making sure we understand your values, the challenges you’re facing, and what you’re trying to do,
‘The Happies took the time to get to know what we wanted and needed. The team developed some exciting and original posters and literature that captured the aim of the campaign perfectly.’
Alan Shaw, Public Health Practitioner
We’ll make it our business to understand. Because we believe that meaningful marketing is all about connection.
And the starting point for connection is empathy.
So, if you’re leading the way for change in your community, let’s talk (links to hello@happy-creative.co.uk about how we can help to create an impactful public sector marketing campaign.
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