A brief marketing tip by Sandy Wardenburg Waggett (MSW Interactive Designs) summarizing Law #4 from the 1993 book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: "the law of perception" — marketing is a battle of perceptions, not facts. Waggett advises companies to change customer perception by centering marketing stories on the customer (not the product), highlighting outcomes (including negative outcomes of inaction), and building trust via relationships and testimonials. The clip ends with a CTA offering help with story and trust messaging.
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Good morning, everyone. Sandy Weigt here with MSW Interactive Designs. And today I'm here with another marketing tip. And this tip kind of comes from this book called the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. This book was written in 1993, and the law number four is the law of perception. And law number four says that marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions. And I could not agree with that point more. Essentially, you're not talking about facts when it comes to marketing your products and services because facts don't win the day. The marketing is all in terms of the customer's perception of your product or service versus that of your competition. And we know it's very hard to change perception. So a lot of companies make the mistake of just listing facts and figures on their website. And customers and prospects do not care care about your facts. They care about the perception and the opinion that they have formed about your product and service or your company. So how do you change their perception? Well, that's really hard to do, but the way that you do it is by not making yourself, your products and your facts the hero of your story or your marketing. Instead, you want to invite your customer prospect into a story that's all about them. The problem you solve and how you solve it. And then you want to make sure that you have elements of trust factored in through there. Because trust is very important in changing the minds and perceptions of customers and prospects. Trust is earned over time through relationships. If you don't have the relationship with the customer, then your testimonials are very important because people will listen to the opinions of others to form their own perceptions. So if you focus on growing your testimonials from existing customers, that will help from that aspect. And the other side, on the stories side, don't make your product or yourself the hero of your marketing. You want to address the prospect or customer in terms of the problem that you solve for them and how you solve it, what life looks like for them once they've worked with you and you've solved the problem. And oh, by the way, some of the most powerful messages when you're telling that story is what life looks like if they choose not to work with you. What's the downside? So it's story and trust, and that's how you change perception. That is the number four law from the laws of immutable marketing. So let's change perception by telling story, gaining trust. Sandy Waggett with MSW Interactive Designs. If we can help you in any way. Feel free to reach out. We are experts at helping people craft their stories and get their messages amplified with trust. From the client's perspective and the prospect's perspective. Have a great day.