Perception Equals Reality – Early Version
The below excerpt is taken from the book I am writing called ‘The Communication Ideal’ and is the start of a chapter entitled ‘Perception = Reality’. Over the recent year’s speaking engagements all over the world, I have shown a single slide which you can see by clicking here.
This is one of the most popular parts of my keynotes – largely because this concept is familiar to us all yet it is so easy to forget – oh and the graphics sometimes raise a wry smile… 
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What do your best friends think of you?
Pretty easy question.
It is said we are lucky if we can count our true friends on two hands, so in principle it shouldn’t be too hard to know what they think.
To find out, we have a two main choices.
1. Ask them
2. Assume
If we follow the path of number 1 there are two further variables:
1. They are honest
2. They are dishonest
So – to get the actual truth, we need an honest question and an honest answer.
If we follow the path of number 2 which is to assume, there are variables:
1. We are correct
2. We are incorrect
So – to get to the actual truth, we need to assume correctly. We can pull on past experiences, behaviors and actions – but here’s the kicker – how would you know for sure?
Well….by asking them I guess. But surely that means you are doing what you avoided by choosing the second option?
Despite being able (allegedly) to assume peoples perception based on their behavior and their actions, it could arguably be the case that those behaviors and actions are indeed false, temporary or non-typical. No you say – I know for sure what my best mate thinks of me – she is always there when I need her and is lovely to me and excellent to be around. But really and truthfully how do you know for sure? Is there any possibility of over 0.00% that her perception is even slightly different that what you think? Are you a mind-reader? Or are you very innate at assuming perception? That’s no bad thing….it’s just you cannot be sure.
Is it the case then, even with your closest friends, that the only sure-fire way of getting an accurate understanding of what your friends think is to ask them? If this is the case then what does this mean when judging perception of people who are not your closest buddies?
With people who are outside of the ‘inner sanctum’, we find it much harder to assume as we don’t have the volume of experience legacy we enjoy with our nearest and dearest. The legacies of holidays, nights out, tears, laughter and celebrations. All of this adds to our increasingly safer assumptions that our friends see us in a certain way.
With others though, we have much less to go on.
Now – what if you are a brand and you are trying to engage your potential consumers?
Unless these consumers are in your personal set of close friends, I would wager that your knowledge of how they perceive you can logically come from either assuming or asking.
Assuming we assume, should we ultimately care most about whether sales are going up or going down? If more units are going through the cash register, we can happily report that public perception is up. But is it?
There are many, many fabulous companies who deliver the most insightful and remarkable market research of samples of the population from which we scale the percentages to fit our market size.
We judge viewing figures on several tens of thousands of people and scale it to millions and millions. With a straight face.
Every second of the day, somewhere in the world, a sample group is being asked what they think of a certain brand, product or service. I know someone who gets paid regularly for this. I mean, she doesn’t buy the product….she gets paid for commenting. The product is usually totally irrelevant to her. From this research, brands can redefine their offering prior to going to market.
This isn’t the only example of course. Focus groups of actual consumers present powerful information that is scaled to the total audience size. Decades of advertising expertise is piled onto the marketing strategy by exceptional and not so exceptional agencies who represent the brands and ensure that their product is presented to the market in the best way possible – earning the attention of consumers and providing ways for them to interact with the brand where possible.
However – once that has happened, the rest of the experience is in the hearts, minds and attitudes of the people. They are now the ones in control.
How the people individually see the value of the product and the connection with the brand, is something that often makes painful reading – if it were to be written. We have to assume from sales, blogs, reviews or scaled down groups that the perception is positive or negative.
In this connected age where information exchanges over multiple platforms quicker and easier than ever before, citizens have become journalists. We are all in control of the fate of brands now more than ever.
How the brand is perceived is actually how the brand is truly engaged with. In ‘The Advocacy Dial’ chapter this is investigated more but suffice to say – for the public, how they feel about a brand/company/product/service is what counts to them.
They don’t care whether there were 14 account team members working until 1AM for 3 months creating an incredible campaign. They don’t care about the numerous brainstorms or thought-showers (or whatever the politically correct terminology is today). They don’t care how the Board of Directors at the brand see as the ‘value proposition’ or ‘unique selling point’.
They care about what they think and what their friends think. That’s all.
There is nothing more real in their hearts and minds than what is in their hearts and minds.
As media folk, we can watch from the sidelines and assume what we like – daring to ask but only if we know how and when (which is rare but from the above, arguably mandatory).
After-all, its not ours but their perception that equals reality.
