Perception vs. Reality

I’m really looking forward to speaking at DesignTalks’ Tech Next fringe event in just over a weeks’ time.

The title of the talk is Perception vs Reality. And whilst the talk itself is based on a range of observations from working in the design industry for over 20 years, we recently have been discussing this within our studio as it has been a prevalent topic in a few recent projects.

In particular across a number of branding projects. The mere aim and objective of creating and building brands is based around perception. Then there is the ‘how’ - how a company behaves, how it performs and how it delivers. This is the reality.

Are the two aligned? In some cases they are. In many cases they not. If they are, does this result in a more successful company? Again, there is an argument and cases where the two may not be aligned, but the company still performs well.

As an industry, we can all say that everything from brand identity, through to culture and values should all be aligned perfectly to create a truly harmonious and successful company that smells as sweet as it looks both internally and externally - and if it doesn’t, then the business will fail. But this would be a lie because the reality is, not every company has all of these things aligned. The kicker to this is simple; do they have to? I know plenty of organisations that are very successful, but they don’t have everything perfectly aligned and complimenting each other.

As I say, we are working on several projects at the moment where this is being discussed, and through one of our workshop sessions we heard the phrase once again that we have heard before, many times.

‘We’ve come this far with it the way it is, so why do we need to change it now? In other words, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Over the years we have traditionally heard this from several companies. Those that say this tend to work in a different way. They ‘do deals’. Seniors know each other from years gone by and they meet each other, exchange some contracts and shake hands.?

This is more than fine. And it may well work for some. However, the reality is we live in a different world now. We live in a world where a potential client will see you before they meet you. They’ll check you out. What is your website like? Are your socials up to date (hands up - we are rubbish on Twitter, and our curates section is out of date on our website). Do you look like a good company? Are you giving the right perception? Then you meet. Does the reality meet the perception? Does your crisp new branding match last year’s P&L? If it does that’s great, if it doesn’t, then imagine if your brand was on point, and it did help you attract the clients you want. What would the P&L start to look like now?

This doesn’t just go for winning new clients. What about looking for staff and growing your team? Are you attractive? Do you look like you have a great culture? Will the next superstar want to work for the company that isn’t aligned or doesn’t match their ambitions??

I’m not gonna lie - we had a new starter last week and yesterday they told me its the first place they have worked where the values really seem to ring true with their experience so far. That made me happy. However, I know we still have a way to go to get where we want it to be. But we are on the right path.\

This post isn’t about Cargo though, it’s about the Perception of a company vs the Reality of a company.

Are you a business owner, or a marketing manager? If so, have a think. Does the Perception of your company match the Reality??