Cue the scene: me, 14 years old, sitting in the bleachers at my middle school dance. Not one girl wanted to dance with me. I couldn’t figure it out. I had what I thought were top-tier dance moves. But there I was, sulking in a dimly lit corner, on the top row where no one could even get to me.

I didn’t get it then, but let’s use that as an analogy for advertising. I was invisible, inaccessible, and worst of all, I didn’t even try. My biggest enemy that night? Me.

Brands, much like my middle school self, spend time figuring out how to get people to like them—crafting their best version of the “Michael Jackson moves” they think people want to see. But they rarely ask themselves the most important question: Why don’t people like us? Why are we being overlooked, skipped, or worse—avoided? Let’s unpack it.

Reasons to not believe

Most brands are obsessed with their “reasons to believe” but almost never stop to think about their “reasons to not believe.”

Why are people skeptical? Is it because there’s a competitor doing it better? Is it because your brand hasn’t lived up to its promises? Is it that your messaging is a little too … corporate? Once you start asking these uncomfortable questions, you’ll find that the answers unlock more than just a few tweaks. They unlock strategy.

Maybe there’s an elephant in the room that your brand needs to address before people can trust you again. Maybe you’ve got a history of being inconsistent, making promises you didn’t quite deliver on. The thing is, understanding why people don’t trust or like you is the first step in building a strategy that can change their minds.

Is it just a misconception?

If people don’t like your brand because of a misconception, congratulations—there’s a fix for that. When your brand is misunderstood, misjudged, or misaligned in the eyes of the public, you can course-correct.

But here’s a pro tip: Don’t just fix the misconception in your messaging; fix it in your product. Remember, as the old adage goes, good advertising can help a bad product fail faster. Address the product’s shortcomings first, then let your advertising do the heavy lifting. It’s a lot easier to change perception when you’ve got a product that backs up the new narrative.

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