Importance of Perception to Business Success

 

By Heinrich Nicholas

One uncontested reality is customers would always support what they think exhibits their values and mindset. Businesses across the world try to create a positive perception to potential customers through effective branding, service or product delivery and customer engagement. In fact, the better the perception, the better the performance of the business. Summarily, perception is business; perception is better than reality.  As such, what matter for the success of the business is the perception of customers about the business and not the owners’ perception.   It essentially means that offering the best service or building a great product is not enough, customers, must have good perception of the business for its sustainability.  Perception is generally opinion about something including a business.  The opinion is influenced by many things including the processes of the business, the marketing, the service or products offered among others.

 Perception is personal, it is subjective; customers would process information about the business based on either first hand or second hand experience and preferences.  In marketing, a business with a good marketing content is likely to build a positive perception. Business Connections East Africa uses social media to help small and medium enterprises build a positive brand image.   It is the opportunity for the SMEs to remain on top of the minds of the customers.  Business Connections East Africa emphasizes the need for businesses to continuously engage with customers at individual level.   Engagement entails collecting customer feedback to understand what they think about the service, product or the whole business. Customer engagement creates a personalized customer experience, which is an influencer of positive perception.  

Furthermore, small and medium enterprises compete with large organizations that have existed for decades, have built recognized brands and spend huge amounts of money in marketing and communication strategies to maintain a positive perception.  Regardless of their level, small and medium enterprises should look big by establishing a professional presence, featuring online, and having a business address among others.  Business Connections East Africa focuses on helping them look big through social media management service, branding and video advertising which is done at affordable rates.

 Effective advertising and branding are powerful ways of building positive perception about the business. A business that is poorly advertised is regarded lowly compared to a business that is well advertised.  Effective advertising should create a unique and positive impact in the minds of the consumers such that it differentiates the product, service or brand from competitors.

 Importantly after delivery of a product or service, following up on customers builds good customer perception about the business. Customers feel valued, highly regarded; such perception leads to loyal customers, which is good for small and medium enterprises.   The major advantage with loyal customers is that they do not only come back or recommend the business to their acquaintances but they insist that their acquaintances do business with you. Businesses regardless of their magnitude suffer losses in revenue whenever there are swings in customer perception.  It is important for businesses to build trusted and positively perceived brands, which leads to higher customer engagement and sales.  In fact, customers are always willing to pay more for positively perceived brands or products.

 

  Heinrich Nicholas is a social media marketing expert.