2024 will be the biggest election year in history with over 4 billion people living in countries that will hold elections. That’s half of humanity and it seems we are more divided than ever.
Whether it’s Brazil, Russia, India, Israel, US or UK, we’re fed a narrative by governments and mainstream media who continue to promote their side of the story.
The BBC received 8,000 complaints for their biased coverage of Gaza. The only thing is, they received 4,000 complaints from each side. A lot of that can be attributed to the power of social media and the confirmation bias the algorithms thrive on.
And that brings me to one of the first things I learned in marketing that still resonates today.
Their perception is your reality.
Sometimes, you really do have the best product. I remember working on the Nokia account when they were mobile leaders. We created an ad showing everything the new Nokia phone could do; watch live TV, play games, GPS and much more.
Then the iPhone came along, and they ran the simplest ad showing that if you need directions, the iPhone could show you the way. Nokia called them widgets. Apple called them Apps.
People got it.
The fact was, Nokia was far better in every department and Apple were even paying Nokia $1bn a year for IP rights. But Apple were able to change people’s perceptions and now they’re worth $3 trillion.
We must respond to the conversation rather than trying to control it.
The key takeout is that no matter how great your product is or how different the marketing team thinks it is, you must first find out what the audience thinks. Then you can respond to their concerns, objections, and needs.
Do your research, carry out some social listening, test and learn with different creative and be open to any criticism people have about your marketing, product or brand.
It may not be true but it’s their perception, which makes it your reality to deal with.