A Question Ain’t Really a Question, if You Know the Answer, too.

I’m following up on Laws 4, 5 and 6 of the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by marketing legends Reis and Trout. I lead off this post with the words of singer and songwriter John Prine - a question ain’t really a question, if you know the answer, too – from his classic song, Far From Me. I’ve said before that clients tend to look for solutions (answers) to problems (questions) they’ve identified or, should I say, think they’ve identified. Why? The answer is that they think the problem, in order to really be qualified as a problem, has to be complicated. So with this in mind, let’s take a look at Immutable Law Number Four - Marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.

What we perceive we believe. Two great thinkers believed this. The Media Guru of the last century, Marshall McLuhan said, “All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.” Sure, blame it on the media. If it didn’t work, who would we have to blame? The penultimate Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci said, “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” So, if consumer perception is a problem – change it! If they have no perceptions – create some!

If perceptions are that powerful, then it’s true what Prine wrote and sang that, “Well, a question ain't really a question, if you know the answer too.” If we really know what the answer to the question is, then why do we bother? Maybe it’s psychological. Does it offer us some form of control or it’s less fearsome than admitting that we either don’t know what the problem is or we do, and can’t bear to deal with it? This is especially true in family operated businesses where one of the relatives is not performing as someone hired from outside the family would be expected to. The mantra I’m still working on goes as follows: perceptions lead to thoughts, which lead to actions. Which, lead to habits that, in turn, define behavior. Like behavior determines culture and so on.

You are the word! Don’t believe it? Do these words hurt when they’re directed at you? Bum. Sleaze. Fool. Thief. Should they? If they do, is it because you associate yourself with the word? More than likely. Immutable Law Number Five - The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind. What word do you own that customers immediately associate with your product or company? Why is that word associated with your product or company? Does it represent the same perception of your product or company that you have? If so why? If not, why not?

Changing a perception is more difficult than creating one. Once the perception is embraced by personal belief or an accepted belief system, it’s hard to change. The lament, when there is no other recourse is usually, say it ain’t so. Now, I’m not a sports fan but, that lament came about as the result of an early baseball hero’s involvement in the Black Sox Scandal, which was about a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series. A young boy supposedly coined the phrase - say it ain’t so Joe - as he tugged on Joseph Jefferson Jackson’s coat. Jackson was better known as "Shoeless Joe" and played for the Chicago White Sox. Scandal is a small word but it carries a lot of weight. Sometimes – forever!

Albert Einstein stated that two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Therefore, based on that premise, let’s look at Immutable Law Number Six - Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect's mind. Why? Because if you can’t distinguish or describe something, by defining its differences, there is then, cause for confusion. Confusion is conflict. Miller Beer’s less filling, tastes great campaign is a classic and one of the very few to use conflict to its advantage. Can you?

Since I started with John Prine, I’ll end with him and the song, Far From Me that this posting is titled after. In his inimitable style, he writes about how his girlfriend is signaling the end of their relationship as follows:

She asked me to change the station
Said the song just drove her insane
But it weren't just the music playing
It was me that she was trying to blame.

Verify your customer’s perceptions. Verify the word they most associate with you. Verify whether or not you are described or distinguished in a manner that differentiates you from the competition. With that in mind, here’s the end of Prine’s song and his lovelorn character’s perceptions, although evident, are now verified.

"Will you still see me tomorrow?"
"No, I got too much to do."
Well, a question ain't really a question
If you know the answer too.

Finally, with the spirit of the song still in mind, the title seems appropriate to end this posting. How far is the answer from you?