Marketing is often described as storytelling—but what if your stories feel more like a one-sided conversation instead of a discussion? Too many businesses treat marketing as a one-way street: push the message, hope someone listens, rinse, repeat. But in today’s landscape, where attention spans are short and trust is hard-won, your marketing conversations might need a little therapy.
Yes, therapy.
Step 1: Listen Before You Speak
A therapist doesn’t interrupt their client with a rehearsed script. They listen to their concerns and work to understand their client as a person. Effective marketing starts the same way, through listening. Instead of passively checking analytics or counting likes, take steps to actively understand your audience’s pain points, fears, desires, and motivations.
Ask yourself:
• What keeps my audience awake at night?
• How does my audience make decisions?
• What solutions do they actually want—not just what I want to sell?
• How do they feel when they interact with my brand?
Listening with empathy transforms marketing from a broadcast into a conversation. Read more here.
Step 2: Name the Problem, Don’t Just Sell the Solution
Therapists help clients articulate what’s wrong before jumping into advice. Similarly, in marketing, your audience must feel understood before they’ll accept your solution.
Instead of leading with:
“Buy our software—it’s the best!”
Try leading with:
“Struggling to track your sales efficiently? You’re not alone.”
By acknowledging the problem first, you create trust. People engage with brands that see them, not just sell to them.
Step 3: Ask Questions That Matter
A good therapy session involves questions that dig deeper. Instead of assuming what your audience wants, ask open-ended questions through polls, surveys, social media prompts, or interactive content.
Examples:
• “What’s your biggest challenge in [industry/task]?”
• “How do you usually handle [pain point]?”
• “If you could change one thing about [topic], what would it be?”
• What is something you wish people knew more about your organization/industry?
These questions do more than gather data—they show that your brand cares about the answer.
Step 4: Reflect Back and Respond
Therapists often paraphrase or summarize to ensure they’ve understood. Marketers should do the same: reflect back your audience’s pain points and respond with solutions that genuinely match.
For instance:
• Audience says: “I waste hours on manual reporting.”
• Your response: “Manual reporting is exhausting, but our tool automates it in minutes.”
Notice the difference? You’re validating feelings, not just pushing a product.
Step 5: Encourage Action, Gently
Therapy is about guiding clients to their own insights, not forcing them to change. Your marketing should adopt a similar tone: Instead of telling client’s what they should do, suggest next steps, provide value, and make action easy without feeling pushy.
Examples:
• Free trial: “Try it for 7 days and see if it simplifies your workflow.”
A decision doesn't have to be made today. Let’s focus on the options you’re sure about and let's circle back to the others at another time.
• Educational content: “Download our guide to streamline reporting.”
For now, let’s set aside time for you to get familiar with the new platform. After you get your feet wet, we can meet back so we can show you more characteristics that can help achieve your goals.
The key is empowerment, not pressure.
Step 6: Check In Regularly
Therapists schedule follow-ups; why shouldn’t marketers? A single campaign isn’t enough to build trust or loyalty. Regular check-ins such as through newsletters, social media engagement, or retargeting with value-driven content helps nurture relationships over time.
Remember: relationships, not transactions, create lifelong customers.
Final Thoughts
If your marketing conversations feel stale or one-sided, consider giving them a therapy session. Listen, empathize, ask questions, reflect, guide, and check in. Treat your audience like people, not just leads, and your marketing will become less about selling and more about connecting.
After all, even brands deserve a little self-reflection.