How to apply nonviolent communication in Marketing

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The novel coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we deal with different situations. Obviously, consumption has also undergone several changes. Nowadays, the profile of the conscious consumer prevails, who values ​​empathy, human connections and solidarity. That is why it is important to know how to apply non-violent communication in Marketing.

Marketing and communication strategies are having to be adapted to this new reality. The way of dealing with customers must be thought out based on the context of the crisis in which we live. Otherwise, there may be negative consequences for the brand.

This is where non-violent communication comes in, a concept that comes from psychology, but which can bring several very important concepts to companies and marketing professionals at this difficult and uncertain time.

What is Nonviolent Communication?
nonviolent communication marketing

Nonviolent Communication is a methodology created bahamas mobile phone number by American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. Despite working with NVC methods since the 1960s, Rosenberg only published the work in which he discusses the theory in 1999. Since then, the teachings of the book entitled “Nonviolent Communication: Techniques for Improving Personal and Professional Relationships” have been applied in a wide range of areas.

In general, the communication style consists of establishing more authentic personal relationships, practicing detachment from previous experiences to perceive the deeper sides that each human being demonstrates while communicating.

At first, many people confuse nonviolent communication with passivity, which can be harmful. However, the method is very different from that. Being honest with yourself and with others is a key point of this technique. In other words, it is exactly the opposite of being passive in a relationship.

To be able to apply nonviolent communication, a long process is necessary. When starting a relationship, connection should be the priority. You should also stop analyzing and judging the other person's behavior, always trying to see the needs behind each action. Marketing can take advantage of this point.

How to apply NVC concepts in marketing
nonviolent communication marketing

Marketing is one of the segments that can best benefit from the lessons of Nonviolent Communication, as the method brings very important notions of personal connections that, applied in communication with customers, can yield great results for any brand or company. All of this can greatly improve your relationship marketing . NVC has four basic principles:



Observation: consists of observing and understanding what is happening in communication with the other person, without making any judgments.
Feeling: understanding what feelings the communication action awakens in the people involved
Needs: seek to understand what needs are behind feelings
generated by communication
Request: clarify, in an objective and positive way, what is expected
of the other person
One of the theory's major contributions is the view that violent attitudes are direct consequences of unmet needs. In the case of marketing, violent acts can be seen in a broader sense, for example, an exaggerated complaint about the company. Hence the need to understand the four steps of NVC and know how to use them in professional relationships.



Understanding customer needs is a widely debated topic in Marketing. However, professionals often forget the steps that precede this understanding, leaving feelings aside and focusing on notions of competitiveness and productivity.



Another major recurring flaw in Marketing when applying Nonviolent Communication is the first step, observation. Many strategies, especially in advertising, are guided by huge value judgments, based on generalizations and stereotypes. In this way, it is never possible to understand the feelings generated and continue with a good relationship.

Of course, it is necessary to understand that the overwhelming majority of your customers will not be willing to practice non-violent communication in their relationship with the company. Therefore, the process has to be one of enormous learning, understanding that we will have to act in a completely different way than usual.

Digital marketing can also extract concepts from NVC
It may seem strange to apply the concepts of nonviolent communication to a digital medium. However, the relationship is closer than we imagine. In this case, we should not immediately adopt NVC into our strategies, but rather know how to take advantage of the best of each concept, extracting the most important points for online communication.

Digital marketing professionals already perform the observation stage almost naturally. Even though this is often done in a dehumanized way, looking only at numbers and statistics, it is undeniable that this process happens frequently. It is up to each professional to naturalize the analysis and understand the people behind the graphs.

From this, it will be possible to better understand the feelings that the pile of data can represent. Since, in many cases, communication is one-way, marketing professionals can take advantage of this prior understanding when creating their digital materials.

For example: after completing the main steps of the NVC interpersonal relationship, you will have a clear idea of ​​what needs will arise through reading a certain sentence or looking at a certain image. This puts your company one step ahead in its relationship with the customer – as long as everything is done with the honesty typical of the method.