Business Essentials 5: Perception

Have you ever thought you knew something about a product or organization and then found out something entirely different?

Imagine what people say about your product or service. What do they think about your company? Your vertical market, your category?

If you don’t tell them, they have to figure it out for themselves. And often, they remember negatives or falsehoods.

I talked to someone this week who knows we’re an agency. Immediately, they had a perception of an agency. They thought we’d be expensive, take a long time, and be too “over their head”. Nothing could be farther from the truth! We pride ourselves in the fact that we’re different from other agencies. We turn projects quickly. We are always cost effective. And we have a heart of a teacher.

Sad to hear his perception! Everyone has perceptions and they can be based on experiences of the past. With you. Or with others like you. Or it can be simply from what they’ve “heard”.

We all have ways to categorize and remember things. We assign values to what we think we know. And unless we’re told otherwise or experience something differently, we’ll establish the perception as truth.

Branding takes what you know about your audience, the products you offer, and the benefits that you deliver; and helps you create a perception. A promise.

A brand allows you to push your benefits so that you break wrong perceptions and let’s you focus the new perceptions towards your strengths.

Perception IS reality. Now start to create a perception that is the best reality!