What do you think of when you hear the word “empathy?” The definition of the word is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Now, some might equate empathy with psychology and touchy-feely emotional moments. But would you believe that empathy can actually drive better business results? It can even drive more successful influence marketing.

Sarah Panus is a veteran brand and social media marketer. She spent years on the digital team at Sleep Number and not long ago spun off on her own to start Kindred Speak, a brand storytelling and content marketing strategy firm. She also hosts the Marketing with Empathy podcast. 

Influence marketing is a big part of what Sarah does and we get into the nitty gritty about how brand storytelling frameworks can extend out from the brand to influencers and influence marketing. She explains how empathy can drive business metrics and results in marketing, content, influencers and … get this … even SEO. 

We also talked about the highly competitive space of mattress and bedding since she has experience in that space.

You brand and agency folks out there should take notes. Sarah has some brilliant ideas you can borrow from to build more empathetic brand content and activations. For you influencers out there, put yourself in the position of being a brand and listen to Sarah as well. She’s about to help you better define who you are and what you want out of your life as an influence.

This episode of Winfluence, the podcast, is sponsored by Winfluence, the book! Get a special discount by clicking the button below, buying on the Entrepreneur Press bookstore and using the discount code FALLS20. That earns you 20% off the retail price, just for being a Winfluence (the podcast) listener. Read and learn why we’ve been backed into a corner to think influencer marketing means Instagram and YouTube and how reframing it to be “influence” marketing makes us smarter marketers.

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