Reflections of Our Better Selves

Have you noticed that marketers have a tendency to view customers as they view themselves? Their customers are smarter-than-average, savvy and sophisticated. Half of them have iPhones, and the other half have Blackberries.

In short, their audience projections look more like the how the marketers want themselves to be, not how they really are.

But your customers are like this, too.

Like us, they see the world through their own prisms without as much as the proper vocabulary to describe a worldview different from their own. Even in those extremely rare occasions when they change worldviews, their descriptions of this new perspective to those still in their old worldview come across as nonsense.

The fact remains that we are a diverse people with motivations that defy rational comprehension. But that doesn't change the fact that we wish for ourselves greater achievements -- however we define "achievement."

Our fear often keeps us from achieving it. It is true, as François de la Rochefaucauld said:

"We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears."

Instead of focusing all of our energy on those who meet our vain and selfish criteria for success, if we recognize this aspect of the human condition,  we can help our customers feel as if they can overcome the fears that are preventing them from becoming the people they want to be.

Knowing what your customers want to be, and how you can help them, requires an understanding of both their hopes and fears. Ask them, and then learn how to read between the lines.

What are they telling you? What are they not telling you? How does their actual behavior differ from what they're telling you?

How you choose to apply this advice will vary depending on if your worldview is closer to Hugh Hefner's or James Dobson's. This doesn't negate the premise, though. Rather, it can help us put the debate in perspective in a way that can lead us to identify the consequences of getting it wrong. - Cam Beck

Comments

[Stephen Denny]

We market to the customer that often meets our expectations, as opposed to the other way around. Odd, but true.

And when we're successful, we often attribute our success to the reasons we like best - all the things we did, regardless of causality -- and ignoring the unflattering parts of the picture (including just plain dumb luck).

We all have a desperate need to be consistent with our self-perceptions -- which is a bias we'd be wise to overcome, as well as a wonderful approach to giving your customers what they deeply, truly want.

[Cam Beck]

Stephen -
This is a better summary than my own. Thank you for contributing it.