Perception Is Everything

"Selling the Invisible" author Harry Beckwith tells us that our customers' perceptions are always right. The issue is not whether our customers should be satisfied with our efforts, products, services or relationships, but that our customers indeed feel satisfied and that that perception persists over time.

To complicate the matter, Beckwith confirms what we already know -- we humans perceive poorly. We are not always logical in drawing conclusions or forming our perceptions. We experience what we believe, or perceive, we will experience. How else could we ever explain the placebo effect phenomenon that has been demonstrated thousands of times over the past century?

Psychology 101
The psychology behind all this is something called "Expectancy Theory." If your mind expects something to happen, it will. At least in the mind's eye. So how do we as business people deal with this? How do we ever compete with the powerful customer mind and the mumbo jumbo magic of Expectancy Theory?

Leverage the Theory--Brand Those Expectations
Let's look at professional speakers, since they leverage this theory to their advantage all the time. As Zig Zigler, a master professional speaker, is wont to say, "Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, and then tell 'em what you told 'em". In other words, set up the expectation, deliver on it, and tell 'em the value of what you just did.

One way marketers set expectations (and therefore, increase their chances of being successful in keeping customers satisfied) is by building strong branding strategies and positionings over time. Through the market's experiences with your company or products certain levels of service and quality come to be expected. These delivered-on expectations lead to comfort, satisfaction, competitive advantage, and sales.

"Customers will have an expectation . . . of your organization in mind before you ever begin telling them about specific product or service-related messages. And that can elevate your company out of the pack to a special place reserved for friends and trusted partners." Not a bad place to be, huh?

How To Do It?
	Build your brand on what's important to your customers. - As you go about building a brand, make sure that you are hitting on the expectations that are important to your target audiences.
	Design a logo and tagline that promises delivery of those expectations. - The closer you can make the visual logo and tagline communicate the promises of your brand the easier it will be for potential customers to learn and remember your services or products when buying time comes around.
	Use your brands consistently and with respect. - Once a brand's tactical elements and positioning have been decided on, they then need to be implemented consistently over product and division categories . . . and time. Learning theory tells us that the more people are exposed to the same material or information the more easily it is remembered and recalled. (Who doesn't know what the yellow arches mean?) Also, be careful not to bastardize the brand name through watered-down brand extensions or promotional tie-in themes. This confuses the customer and muddies the brand image and perception.
	Tell 'em what you told 'em. - Especially in these harder economic times, consider retention marketing tactics like newsletters or promotional mailings that remind your current customers of the value your brand brings to them in increasing their business or making them more profitable. This "value-add" material not only keeps customers more satisfied, it also increases the likelihood that they'll stay with you.
Remember to spend in good times and bad, even if the spending levels are lower during tougher times. Marketing is like putting money in the bank. If you put it in one day and take it out the next your net profits are zero. Call Mosaic to help you put together a solid branding effort that fits your budget!
-- by Rosemary Walter

e-This!

Coming off the recent tech wreck and consolidation / demise of many dot.coms, some clients wonder if they need a Web site at all?

Mosaic's answer to that question reflects its philosophy of using the Internet as a marketing communication vehicle, or medium. If your potential customers use the World Wide Web to identify new suppliers (and the NAPM/Forrester Reserach Report says that over 80% do! - see below) then a Web site is a necessity. Just as a simple Yellow Page listing is for those companies whose customers look there for new suppliers.

What's critical for your Web site, or any other part of your marketing communication s mix, is that it consistently reinforces your value proposition (What's In It For Me) to the potential customer and does so in a way that strengthens your company's brand.

So ask yourself, do your potential customers use the Internet to search out your types of products or services? If so, what kind of information is most important to them in evaluation and deciding on your type of service or product? Does your site communicate why you're better than competition in those key areas? Does your site provide a variety of ways for a visitor to open up a dialogue with you, i.e., e-mail address, phone number, USPS address? Are you offering a site visitor a reason to come back or to sign up for some free information? All of these questions (and others) are important in deciding whether or not to have a site and then how to maximize your return on investment in the site.

This & That

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Trying to defend your markeing budget? Or just trying to justify it to yourself? One strategy is to link budget dollars to specific projects with specific objectives and deliverables. Then prioritize the spending by the importance of the objectives given short-term sales goals and long-term business strategy initiatives.

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For a great read on "Advertising in a Recession" pick up a copy of the book of the same title authoried by Patrick Barwise of the London School of Business. On another subject, we recommend to our manufacturing friends and clients In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity by Eamonn Fingleton.

Remember -- You can always sign up for digital delivery of The Big Picture. It will soon be enhanced with relevant Web site and book titles to provide more depth.