<<But we all have our own pardigms and operate inside the box they construct. My career is to help companies think outside their paradigms.>>
Oh god. You're one of "those." Please save me from the corporate consultant that looks at "paradigms" as anything other than "twenty cents," and "thinking outside the box" is anything more than noticing all your Cheerios have been eaten and need to be replaced.
I really am saying this somewhat tongue in cheek, yet, halfway seriously. Mostly because of statements like "Perception is reality." Perception IS reality until the reality bites you on your proverbial posterior and bursts your perceptions. Perception, for the longest time, was that STP Oil Treatment was the "fountain of youth" for you engine. Reality came crashing down on people when engines started failing and when they opened them up, found the hard crusty residue, that STP had become, was flaking off and clogging vital lifelines to the engine's lubrication system. Why the stuff is still on the market is an amazement to me. Yes, perceptions CAN be realities in our minds, but, if I perceive that I reach into a fire and it will not burn me, I am in for a rude "reality check" upon thrusting my hand in the fire.
<<Purchasing is all about feeling. How are you going to feel after you purchase something is a strong driving force in your actions.>>
Yes, you're right. And, it's a sad, sad thing. Marketers are emotional "vultures," circling and feeding on the "feelings" of the innocent. As far as "caring" about the feelings of others "after" the sale, I don't believe that holds true any more. For instance, let's take the herbal diet remedy market. If you run a cable commercial, nationwide, once per hour -- "Operators are standing by, call within the next ten minutes . . . -- and you're reaching roughly three million people and you get perhaps a 10 percent response at 29.95 per bottle, even with a money-back guarantee, you know A) The higher percentage of buyers WONT return the product, and B) You're going to make a great deal of money off your "snake oil." And if people don't get the results they want, you're not worried about it. You'll let your promotion take its course, collect your money 'til sales begin to slump. Then, you'll take a break, come back in two or three months, and crank it all up again, targeting another demo, geo or psycho - graphic. One of the greatest oxymorons known to man is "truth in advertising."
<<Please don't kid yourself into thinking that the marketing departments of the world aren't aware of this fact.>>
Don't worry. I won't kid myself. I spent most of my 30 year career in the Advertising and Marketing business. It began to sicken me almost as much as chasing ambulances as a news reporter. I still have to write "convincing" copy -- much of it hype and and a lot of it pure boloney -- I just don't have to sell it, or buy the time to convince an all too naive public.