--setup
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#T') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #T;
CREATE TABLE #T(ID INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY, NAME VARCHAR(10))
INSERT INTO #T (Name) VALUES('JOHN'),(''),(NULL);
SELECT * FROM #T
1 JOHN
2 -- is empty string
3 NULL
You can examine '' as NULL by converting it to NULL using NULLIF
--here you set '' to null
UPDATE #T SET NAME = NULLIF(NAME,'')
SELECT * FROM #T
1 JOHN
2 NULL
3 NULL
or you can examine NULL as '' using SELECT ISNULL(NULL,'')
-- here you set NULL to ''
UPDATE #T SET NAME = ISNULL(NULL,'') WHERE NAME IS NULL
SELECT * FROM #T
1 JOHN
2 -- is empty string
3 -- is empty string
--clean up
DROP TABLE #T