Marketing to distance students can be particularly challenging, but a new marketing trend called empathetic marketing provides academic libraries with a new and innovative way to reach these students. Empathetic marketing focuses on the core emotional needs of students and demonstrates how the library's staff and services can help meet those needs. This article explores how using empathetic marketing in outreach efforts to distance students builds a connection between the library staff and distance students and can help alleviate library anxiety for distance students.