I will never forget many years ago I worked with a woman who said to me with great conviction, “Perception IS reality!” I had to shake my head (privately).  Perception is purely subjective and is a function of our internal “filters.”  It’s like looking through a dirty window.  The “dirt” is all of our experiences, beliefs, values, ego-driven needs and even our own behaviors that we interpret as being the same in others, that translate into a perception.

A great, old illustration of this is the Indian proverb of the blind men and the elephant.  The story goes that six blind men feel different parts of an elephant and give their interpretation of what it is: the one who feels a leg says it is like a pillar; the one with the tail says a rope; the one with the trunk says a tree branch; the one with the ear says a hand fan; the one with the belly says a wall; and the one with the tusk says a solid pipe.  The lesson is they are all right but have perceived just a small portion of the truth.

We marketers need to keep this in mind.  Marketing is simply the act of influencing people’s perception of value, helping them to expand their knowledge of the truth, and finding those who have the inclination to value what you have to offer. I read an interesting article recently on making money, from which I quote:

Value is perception more than anything. Figure out what the people you want to do business with believe value is in the first place, then give them what they want. The more of it you give, the more they’ll give back to you. Want to make crazy money? Provide crazy value.

Marketers too often assume that their perception is how others will see things.  How many products, services, ads and companies have failed miserably because of that belief?  Without a thorough understanding of what their audiences believe, think, feel and the experiences they have that influence their perception, marketers plow ahead only to find that they missed the mark.  In fact, the #1 reason why marketing plans fail is a failure to properly test on target audiences prior to launch.  Even what we think of as successful companies, like Apple, get it wrong sometimes: Don’t Like the New iTunes Logo? You Are Not Alone.

While perception is NOT necessarily reality, which matters more?  Perception, of course.  Marketing is all about gaining insights into people’s perceptions, executing strategies that we hope resonate with others, measuring response, and continually refining messages. If you are not using some kind of research in your day-to-day activities, something is wrong.  If you’re afraid to try new approaches, stick with them for awhile and risk failure, something is wrong.  If you don’t acknowledge when perceptions are wrong and create strategies to change it, something is wrong.

I wrap this up with my thoughts on five ways to overcome inaccurate perceptions:

1. Make sure you really do understand people’s perceptions. You may need to talk to a person, or lots of persons through a research survey, to be able to say “I get where you’re coming from.”
2. If you’ve made a mistake, acknowledge it. It doesn’t matter if you’re an individual or representing a corporation.  A woman I once worked with said to me, I paraphrase, “If you make a mistake and tell me it can be corrected.  The longer it goes on the more difficult and expensive the solution.” So speak up when you screw up. If you’re sincere, people and markets are generally quite forgiving since none of us are perfect.
3. Learn to accept others’ perceptions, even if you feel they are inaccurate. Don’t be defensive or dismissive when someone shares with you their perceptions, because the message you are sending is that their opinions don’t matter.  Only through feedback can we learn to see through the eyes of others and improve.  When I was a kid in art class, we would all draw a picture and then the whole class would critique it.  When kids learn early to do this, it raises their self-esteem and teaches them to put many minds together to a task.  When I went back and redid the picture incorporating the classes’ suggestions it turned out better.  I have found this to be true in all aspects of life.
4. Don’t be unwilling to change your perceptions. If your perception of something turns out to be different from that of others, then either you have to work hard to change their perception or change yours.  Changing yours tends to be easier and you may be able to incorporate others’ views into yours.
5. Let go of the past. Too often we look at mistakes and critique as a negative.  Sure, it can sting the ego to know that your effort didn’t pan out, you offended someone unwittingly, you said something you shouldn’t have, or you discover that people view you differently than how you truly are inside.  However, we can also view these as a positive – someone cares enough to speak their truth, we can use these things to better understand others’ needs and what we can do to serve them (which is after all what we’re all here to do), and their perceptions refine not only our marketing expertise but also our character.  When we do err, or when someone else does, we have to be able to let it go and move on.  Flaws aren’t fatal!

Bottom line, everyone just wants to be understood.  Do your best to understand others, using every tool available to you, and seek to be understood.  Be honest, be forthright, be willing to incorporate others’ perceptions into your life and business, and you will create the ROI you seek.

I spoke about the importance of creating positive marketing messages in a prior post about engagement marketing but it bears repeating.  At our core we are social creatures and we are attracted to people, events, products, services, and brands that help us to have fun. The reason that social media is such a huge hit is because it helps us to connect with others so we can share fun.  It’s so simple, yet so profound.  This simple truth creates infinite possibilities to increase your marketing ROI.

First of all, what is “fun?”  Fun isn’t just fun, it’s hope.  Fun can be found in magnifying the things you love in what you do everyday.  It can transform the annoyances you face into positive challenges to help others.  It is fun to see the results of your hard work in your personal growth and in your career.  It is fun to use your success to turn around and help someone else get further in their life.  It is fun to work in a team to pull together to see something accomplished.

Think for a minute about the products or services that you or your company are promoting.  Some of us may be lucky enough to work for a company whose mission is to help people have fun, such as film, gaming or social media.  Others of us have to search a bit harder to determine the fun that we provide to other people.  However, if you take the time to do this exercise it can transform the way you market yourself and your company’s products and services.

I offer, as example, my own situation to explain my thinking. What I promote to the business world is custom market research services on behalf of C.A. Walker Research Solutions.  On face value it doesn’t seem like I’m selling anything particularly fun, but to me it is great fun!

First of all, I find it fun to build relationships either online or in-person and to discover people’s current business objectives.  I am a natural problem-solver.  I enjoy delving into different business worlds to understand perspectives and pain points, so I can determine precisely how we may contribute to others’ success by applying custom research, thus creating more fun in their life.  It’s also fun to think through with people if there is anything we can do together to offer markets a service that is stronger than either of us could separately.

I find it fun to analyze potential markets and figure out fresh ways to make relevant the various types of research that we’ve been doing for more than 30 years.  It is fun to then use that information to prepare marketing messages that appeal to people’s sense of fun; at least to be interesting!  It’s fun to post applicable articles to my LinkedIn groups, which I also may use to explain some of what we do, and to meet new people who seek me out because they appreciate what I’ve shared.

On a personal level, it’s fun to me to represent a company that I firmly believe in.  I’ve worked in a variety of companies over the years, but never before have I worked with such a terrific group of people.  It’s a joy to me to get up each day and go to work to spread the tale of C.A. Walker.  We are in a “sweet spot” in this rough economy as far as our size (25 people), the value that we offer, and our consistent focus on client service.  And to add to my point about the importance of having fun, I work with a bunch of comedians.  We’re all the time joking and kidding with one another, while always making sure all is well with our projects.  I love it!

It’s fun to study what marketing ROI means and how businesses are working to apply it.  It’s fun to build my personal brand, Marketing ROI or DIE!  It’s especially fun to read when people respond to my posts that it’s helped them in some way. It’s fun to use Twitter (@MktgROIorDIE) to spread what I’m learning and to make new connections, such as when I attended the Licensing Expo in Vegas recently.  I met some really great people through the use of the #licexpo hash tag who I look forward to working with!

So whatever it is you do, rediscover your sense of fun in it.  Think through how you are helping others have fun in their lives, and utilize that in your marketing to increase your ROI.  Most importantly, laugh daily and find people to laugh with you.  It’s hard to laugh alone!