The Heart of Marketing

by Casey Nifong

What is at the core of our humanity? What fosters our connection with others?

Heart.

After this past year, I think we can all agree we need more heart in this world. We need more kindness, greater connection, and more authenticity. I mean that not just on a personal level or in our local communities, but in the professional landscape too — and digital marketing is no exception.

Heart shouldn’t just be the start of how we lead our marketing efforts. It should be more than that. It has to be more.

On a deeper level, heart should be at the core of how we lead conversations, relationships, and how we envision team growth — impacting lives and making a difference. When we work with heart, we cultivate an authentic desire to help along with a commitment to showing empathy.

Whether it’s through a social media post, a blog, or a website, marketing plays a key role in affecting how people feel. As marketers, it’s important to use those tools to focus on whole-hearted engagement, so that we can capture loyalty and create true, authentic engagement with others.

But how can you achieve it?

Start by connecting with hearts and minds. Ask yourself these three questions.

What sustains your passion? What drives you to insight change? Where does your business or personal mission in this world originate?

It all comes down to heart.

When connecting with brands online, the qualities people look for are emotional, relatable, empathetic, and vulnerable. People want to see themselves in a brand and grab onto something that personally resonates with them.

To spark connection and tap into human emotion, you have to start with heart. Once people find that connection, then it comes down to, “Is this all real? Can this business be trusted? Who are the people involved?”

In order to discover how to create this narrative through marketing, you have to lead with heart. You have to be willing to be a part of complex conversation, be open to challenging new ways of thinking, and be an observant learner through a journey of perspectives that come into play during the process. That’s especially true today when brands are expected to know their “why” and communicate it eloquently, all while representing their “why” with a mission to advance a cause — no matter if they are for-profit or nonprofit.

As a business owner and digital marketer, marketing with heart means that I’m all in. It means looking at every channel as an opportunity for exploration and growth. It means showing commitment to the same cause. In my experience, I’ve found that when you blend the two, heart is deeply felt by those around you and in your marketing.

The bottomline is marketing with heart is about touching lives — making each decision and every effort more meaningful and impactful.