Perception is one of the most abused words in our MBA life. Whenever we are asked something, we give an answer and if it turns out to be wrong, we simply say “There is nothing right or wrong. This is my perception”. Marketing is all about perceptions – “How my customers/stakeholders perceive my brand?” is the most important thing a marketer needs to understand. You may take actions, be it preventive or corrective, all based on perceptions, or to change perceptions. Facts don’t matter, all that matters is the perception. People perceive things, situations, events and other people in different ways. Superficial issues often dominate their impressions of new people and situations until "more information" impacts their knowledge, understanding and comfort. When perception is such an important part for a marketer (or any other manager), we need to know how people perceive it and this is why we use this technique called Perceptual mapping.
Perceptual mapping has been used as a strategic management tool for about thirty years. It offers a unique ability to communicate the complex relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by buyers in making purchase decisions and recommendations. Perceptual maps may be used for market segmentation, concept development and evaluation, and tracking changes in marketplace perceptions among other uses.
Now, the best part is that we have known how to do, understand and interpret a perceptual map using the data available to us. This learning is really important to us and I’m glad I learnt this!
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