PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
5 Tips on uncovering the perception of your brand.
By Tanya Pinto
Consultant
Shakti Consulting
Consultant
Shakti Consulting
There is no truth. Only perception.”
– Gustav Flaubert
When is the last time you reviewed the perception of your brand?
The real truth of how your brand is perceived by your own employees, clients and customers?
Do you know what they think makes you distinctive, how well your leadership is perceived as effective, or how they would rate you amongst your peers?
These can be uncomfortable questions to ask and further make the pivots or improvements needed when perceptions don’t align with your vision and goals. It does not have be a threatening or corrosive exercise to look at brand perception. When done carefully and with time tested techniques of analysis and strategy, it can actually be a very healthy practice for brands to undergo regularly.
If you feel your organization could do an accurate assessment of your perception, then here are some tips on how to approach a finding out whether perception is reality.
The real truth of how your brand is perceived by your own employees, clients and customers?
Do you know what they think makes you distinctive, how well your leadership is perceived as effective, or how they would rate you amongst your peers?
These can be uncomfortable questions to ask and further make the pivots or improvements needed when perceptions don’t align with your vision and goals. It does not have be a threatening or corrosive exercise to look at brand perception. When done carefully and with time tested techniques of analysis and strategy, it can actually be a very healthy practice for brands to undergo regularly.
If you feel your organization could do an accurate assessment of your perception, then here are some tips on how to approach a finding out whether perception is reality.
5 Tips on uncovering the perception of your brand
1. There is never just one perspective.
Perceptions are built through multiple interactions and layers.
From experience, assessing a brand’s perception is an exercise that requires a multi-disciplinary approach and is best done with different ways to collect perceptual data. Qualitative interviews, mapping and surveys can help to build a more robust view of current perceptions instead of flat one-dimensional surveys that could be misleading.
From experience, assessing a brand’s perception is an exercise that requires a multi-disciplinary approach and is best done with different ways to collect perceptual data. Qualitative interviews, mapping and surveys can help to build a more robust view of current perceptions instead of flat one-dimensional surveys that could be misleading.
2. Negative perceptions are not always bad.
Whilst it might be painful to read negative opinions and perceptions about your brand, it is also an opportunity to look at what is “sticky”, what works and what doesn’t and how even a simple process change can help change perceptions.
E.g. A medical client who had a practice with long wait times helped to radically shift perceptions after this feedback came back as a major deterrent for repeat visits and referrals. Though staffing changes could not be made to ease the wait times, adding two simple steps – a more accurate wait time estimate at the time of appointment making and booking and a follow up thank you call helped to improve perceptions and visit satisfaction.
E.g. A medical client who had a practice with long wait times helped to radically shift perceptions after this feedback came back as a major deterrent for repeat visits and referrals. Though staffing changes could not be made to ease the wait times, adding two simple steps – a more accurate wait time estimate at the time of appointment making and booking and a follow up thank you call helped to improve perceptions and visit satisfaction.
3. The question you must ask when assessing brand perception.
There are lots of ways you can assess the perception of your organization. You can do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and you can ask about areas of service and effectiveness. One question that really helps to highlight the passion and truth of how people perceive your brand is when you ask: “Tell me what makes this brand distinctive?” The descriptor “distinctive” opens the door to mining for insights on how your brand stands out and why, what you do best amongst peers and good or bad – what you are most known for. This is a powerful question to include when trying to uncover perceptions.
4. Don’t forget the competition!
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It is important to also look at the perception of your brand relative to the competition and peers. You can ask respondents to rank you in order of effectiveness or service, to rate your product for price or quality and much more to establish where you really are perceived in light of your peer set. This perspective is important in building a layered approach of looking at brand perception.
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For years I have facilitated highly collaborative processes to produce accurate and insightful reports on brand perception with positive processes to tackle issues in a supportive and non threatening way.
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5. Keep going.
Insights on how your brand is really perceived can come from various sources, through different exercises and even anecdotally and informally. Be vigilant on recording perceptions from various sources and from people interacting within and outside the organization. For example, I was at a nonprofit and happened to have a casual conversation with a volunteer who told me some reasons why she volunteered – her perceptions were anecdotal, yet important supporting insights in the organization’s brand perception study.
And...
If your organization has gone through or about to go through a major change or transition (e.g. New CEO, or new focus area), then this might be a good point to embark on a brand perception study. It gives people an avenue to express themselves in times of transition and new leaders a way to listen carefully to what might be reality verses perception.
From the tiniest experience of your daily life to your grand perception of the universe, in various situations, the human brain tends to create its own myth and stories.”
― Abhijit Naskar, In Search of Divinity: Journey to The Kingdom of Conscience
I have led brands on assessing their brand perception through qualitative and carefully designed research methodologies and years of experience in mining insights, and I would love to help you assess if it is time for your organization to look at your brand’s perception and help strengthen your brand perception even more so you can have greater impact and results.
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Find out what happened when I helped a brand that had a new CEO do a brand perception and listening survey that helped set the tone for a new strategy and insights, especially in the critical first 100 days of their transition.
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Could your brand could use a brand perception study?
Contact: www.shakticonsulting.com |
