Marcus Collins, executive director of social engagement at Doner, held a dual session with Saleem Alhabash, a professor at Michigan State University. Together they spoke about ways to appeal to consumers’ emotions in marketing, rather than only focusing on selling them a product. Collins started off the panel with a bang, incorporating gifs and memes, while simultaneously encouraging audience participation. His goal is to drive emotional connection with consumers, because marketers often don’t understand that concept. They’re accustomed to simply selling a product to consumers instead.

We mistake information for intimacy. Though we know a lot of people, we don’t really know people.” -Marcus Collins

Collins presented the audience with three things to think about when referencing this paradox:

1. Not all data are created equal.
   For example, self-reported data is not always reliable, because people are prone to lying about themselves in order to represent the best version of themselves. People are also generally terrible about making decisions and predicting what they think will be the next best thing. We don’t really know what we want until it’s physically shown to us. Collins’ main piece of advice is to look at empirical data – data that shows us what people are doing naturally.
2. We have to understand causality.
   We have to understand why people do what they do. We make theoretical assumptions about this all the time. Evidence from causality, plus historical evidence, will help increase the likelihood of a positive outcome. Collins urges companies to actually take the time to learn people – get involved with social sciences, social psychology, and other related sectors. The challenge with this is that marketers really don’t know people all that well, and this could help push them in the direction of getting to know their consumers more.
3. Put our humanity to work.
   Companies and their marketing department have to be radically empathetic. It is pivotal to pay attention to another person’s pain in order to understand how people experience different things. It is a company’s job to identify a consumer’s points of friction and to relieve them. Like the old saying, you have to walk a mile in someone’s shoes to truly understand what someone is going through. The main takeaway should be perspective. It’s important to be able to take on other people’s perspectives. It’s not enough to have good data anymore, you also have to understand someone’s behavior and reason for that.