What is Marketing?
If you ask 100 people what marketing is, you will probably get over 90 different answers. That’s because marketing is complex and challenging to define, especially a successful marketing campaign. It’s part art, part science, and part psychology. In this blog, I will try to explain one of the fundamentals of successful marketing, perception versus reality.
Why is Perception Important?
When someone observes a concept using all five senses, that person forms an opinion about that concept. Whether that concept is a product, service, or solution, they will have a specific view they initially created that is difficult to change. The idea of marketing something is all about forming a positive initial opinion.
If you read a report from research companies, it often cites many statistics about a group of people and their buying behavior. These reports are the science part of marketing. You have to know where your paying customers are, so these numbers help guide your efforts toward the right group of customers.
The art part of this formula is figuring out how to appeal to those people and fill their needs. The most important message you can send to your potential customer is what problem you are solving and how you are doing it better than anyone else. Your message has to clearly state how your solution meets their needs, not just wants.
The company often uses numbers, i.e., facts, to convince the customers. Although this may work a small number of times, the perception of the customer drives the buying decision. That’s why providing the right perception-based message that will work better for customers is so much better.
For example, often home security companies rely on fear of safety as their central message. If you use actual numbers, less than 6% of every home in the US is burglarized each year. That number is not small, but certainly, it is not the majority of the houses. However, if you listen to the message from these security companies, you feel that those numbers are much higher. That’s creating a perception of unsafety due to the lack of a security system. That’s why over 52% of homes have some home security system installed. The percentage shows that it is a successful marketing if you look at the numbers. They do a great job creating an unsafe perception, which drives their sales.
Know How Your Message Is Being Perceived
So, if you are looking for successful marketing, look for what perception of your message delivers to your customer. That could be more successful marketing than using just numbers.