The Law of Perception

What's the law of perception? "Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions."

What a powerful line.

Before reading Law #4, The Law of Perception, I thought this book was full of it. The reason I bought it was the reviews it received on Amazon. When I first got it, I jumped around different laws and picked out ones that seemed interesting. But I just couldn't agree with what the authors were trying to convey. And I'm probably biased because I've seen so many crap churned out by the spinning marketing machines, like the one from nVidia and ATi.

But during my regular reading session on the exercise bike tonight, I started off with Law #4 and after a few paragraphs I started to take on a different view of the book.

It claims that minds of customers or prospects are very difficult to change because we believe in truth, one that is perceived through our own respective pair of eye-window. And we all think that we're right, others are wrong.

What makes it even more difficult is that customers often make buying decision based on second-hand perceptions, ones that are someone else's perception of reality.

The book goes on giving examples of Coca-Cola. From the taste test conducted by the company, New Coke was proved to taste better than Pepsi, and Pepsi tastes better than Coca-Cola Classic. But in the end, New Coke, which is supposed to taste better, loses its crown to what is supposed to have the worst taste, the Classic.

Once a customer's mind is made up, it's next to futile to change it. But what can you do about it? Well, I've gotta read on to find out.