Your self-perception and your reality are often depicted as two overlapping circles.  One circle represents how you perceive yourself.  Another circle represents how others perceive you. The reality is the overlapped area contained in both circles.  What is perception? There is a marketing cliche –Perception is reality.  And even though it is a cliche, it is the truth.  A perception in the consumers mind is a reality.  It is what she believes, therefore it is true.  A differentiation is something that no one else can offer.  Since this is so hard to achieve it is usually easier to use design to create a differentiation.

Prospects and customers have perceptions of you that are also based on the stereotypes they use to define you.  We all use stereotypes, personas or profiles to define people, things and events. We use them because they are shortcuts about our beliefs.  Our friends and like-minded associates all know what we mean when we say… “Well after all he is a ________________ (fill in the blank: accountant, lawyer, doctor, salesman, etc.).”  Stereotypes are useful in quick communication.

Try this (fill in the blank with your stereotype):

Accountants are _________,

Lawyers are ___________,

Printers are _____________,

Doctors are __________,

Plumbers are ___________,

Auto mechanics are __________,

and etc.

What are the stereotypes your prospects have about your business? Does your advertising reinforce these stereotypes or differentiate you?  What is your differentiation?

Branding is about creating a unique experience a differentiation.  Design is an extremely powerful tool to create experiences and destroy stereotypes. When Absolut Vodka was introduced to this market in 1979 its sales were 90,000 liters.  What differentiated Absolut Vodka?  I am sure some would argue the taste but I doubt seriously one out of twenty could discern the difference between vodka’s in a taste test.  And it would take millions of taste test to significantly affect sales…even if Absolut Vodka was the best tasting vodka ever.  The difference was the design and creativity. The design of the bottle and the ads featuring the bottle was the differentiator.   It caught the imagination of the consumers. In 2008 Absolut Vodka sales were 96.6 million liters.  In 29 years (same ad campaign) Absolut Vodka sales went from 90,000 liters to 96.6 million liters.