Marc J. Harmon Consulting — Narrative & Perception Strategy

A Narrative and Perception Strategy May Be the Right Move If

You feel that how your organization is perceived does not match the quality of what it delivers.

Your organization is losing clients, donors, or talent — and you suspect perception is a factor.

Your organization is preparing for a significant transition: growth, repositioning, or recovery.

Messaging is inconsistent across your teams and channels.

You want your organization to own a narrative position that no competitor currently holds.

You have invested in communications and seen limited return on that investment.

The gap

Shape perception. Build the narrative. Guard your reputation.

There is a gap between what your organization is and what the world believes about it. That gap lives in the space between your strategy and how it is actually interpreted — and it costs your organization credibility, differentiation, and growth every day it goes unaddressed.

The work never starts with the message you want to send. It starts with an honest read of where you actually stand.

Most organizations try to close that gap with better messaging. But perception isn't a messaging problem — it's a belief problem. People don't simply receive your narrative. They filter it through prior assumptions, competing signals, and deeply held frameworks about what is trustworthy and what is not.

In an AI era where content is infinite and communication is increasingly uniform, interpretation has become the last genuine differentiator. I work at the intersection of behavioral science and strategic narrative to help you align it.

Flagship Service

The Perception Audit

Discover how your organization is actually perceived.

Most consultants prescribe before diagnosing. The Perception Audit inverts this. It starts with evidence — what audiences actually believe, where trust breaks down, how competitors are framing the category — and builds strategy from those findings, not from assumptions. This is the starting point for every meaningful change.

The Research

Stakeholder Interviews — One-on-one conversations with internal leaders and external audiences to surface the gap between intent and lived experience.

Website Audit — A structured review of how your digital presence communicates, what it signals, and where it undermines your positioning.

Social Media Analysis — An examination of your voice, content patterns, and audience engagement across platforms.

Digital Reputation Review — How third parties — review platforms, forums, and industry communities — actually talk about and perceive you.

Investment starting at

$5,000 – $9,500

Enterprise scope available — $10,000 and above

Scope is determined by the number of stakeholder interviews, audience segments covered, and competitive analysis breadth. A discovery call establishes the right fit.

Deliverables

Perception Gap Map — A visual diagram of the gap between your organizational intent and how audiences actually perceive you
Full Audit Report — A 15–25 page written report with all findings, analysis, and narrative interpretation
Strategic Brief — A 3–5 page executive summary with core insight, priority gaps, and top recommendations
Narrative Framework — A repositioned narrative direction with key messages, language guidance, and proof point architecture
Implementation Roadmap — A phased action plan with prioritized recommendations and timelines
Presentation Deck — A 20–30 slide leadership presentation of all findings and strategy

Request a Discovery Call

Additional Services

Research-Informed Strategy Grounded in Behavioral Science.

Built on how people actually process information, form trust, and make decisions.

Brand & Market Positioning

Defining where your organization stands in the competitive landscape and why it matters. Built on audience research and competitive analysis, designed to differentiate where trust and interpretation drive decisions.

Narrative Strategy

Developing the story that positions you clearly in the minds of the right people — not just what you say, but how your organization is understood, remembered, and repeated by the audiences who matter most.

Messaging Architecture

Frameworks that align how your organization communicates across every channel and audience — ensuring the right message reaches the right people consistently, credibly, and without contradiction.

Executive Narrative Strategy

Positioning individual leaders for public authority and thought leadership. Defining the intellectual framework, voice, and content strategy that makes a leader's perspective recognizable and trusted over time.

Crisis Narrative Preparation

Pre-crisis positioning that ensures your organization has a clear, credible narrative before it's needed. Organizations that survive reputational challenges best are those who understood their narrative before the test.

Strategic Communications Advisory

Ongoing strategic counsel for organizations navigating repositioning, trust challenges, growth transitions, or a market shifting faster than their story. Available as a retainer or project-based engagement.

Who I Work With

Mission-Driven SaaS

You build tools with genuine impact. But in a market of lookalikes, your differentiation lives in your head, not in the mind of your buyer. Perception is where deals are won and churn quietly begins.

Founder-Led Companies

The story lives in you. The business needs it to live beyond you. Translating founder vision into a narrative the whole organization can carry is harder than most founders anticipate — and more consequential than most realize.

Nonprofits

You compete for trust and donor dollars against organizations with larger budgets and louder voices. Perception isn't a marketing problem — it's your fundraising strategy, whether you treat it that way or not.

Faith-Based Organizations

You serve donors, participants, and community partners who each bring different expectations. A narrative that aligns all three — without diluting any of them — is a precision problem most faith-based organizations haven't solved.

Executive Leaders

You know what you think. You're less certain the right people think of you when it matters. Building intellectual authority is a long game, and it requires a clear framework before it requires more content.

Organizations in Trust Recovery

Saying you've changed isn't the same as being believed. The distance between "we've turned the page" and "we believe you" is a perception problem, not a messaging one.

How I work

How a Full Engagement Unfolds.

The depth and scope of each phase scales to the engagement. Not every project requires all four steps.

01 — Discover

Research & Diagnosis

A rigorous audit of how your organization is currently perceived — through audience research, competitive analysis, and stakeholder interviews. No assumptions.

02 — Define

Positioning & Strategy

Defining where you stand, what you mean, and why it matters — built on findings and grounded in the behavioral science principles that govern belief and trust.

03 — Develop

Narrative & Messaging

Translating strategy into a clear, compelling narrative and messaging architecture that aligns your organization across every channel and audience.

04 — Deploy

Alignment & Activation

Equipping your team with the frameworks and guidelines to activate the strategy consistently — so the right message reaches the right people, every time.

About

Marc Harmon — Founder & Principal

Where behavioral science meets strategic narrative.

Most perception problems aren't communication failures — they're belief failures. I work at that level.

With a background in psychology and strategic communications, I bring a perspective most brand consultants don't have: a grounded, research-based understanding of how people actually form beliefs, interpret information, and decide what to trust. That foundation includes military service as a Marine Corps veteran, where I worked in public affairs — an environment where perception strategy isn't a boardroom exercise but an operational necessity with real consequences.

Over the past decade I've applied this lens across sectors — from Department of Defense programs and nonprofits to tech companies and mission-driven organizations — helping them close the gap between what they are and what the world believes them to be.

The result is strategy that doesn't just read well in a presentation. It changes how organizations are understood, valued, and remembered by the people whose belief matters most.

M.A., Mass Communications — Public Relations Management University of Florida

B.S., Psychology University of Central Florida

10+ Years in Brand & Perception Strategy Cross-sector

Clients include DoD, nonprofits, and technology organizations

U.S. Marine Corps Veteran — Public Affairs

Results

A decade of cross-sector engagements — measured, documented, and built on research.

SaaS & Technology

+23% Brand awareness increase

+31% Improvement in positive sentiment

+27% Growth in brand favorability

Developed the company's first formal brand positioning framework and brand health measurement system — moving top-of-mind awareness from 5th to 3rd among key competitors.

Department of Defense

+36% Community engagement increase (U.S. Air Force)

+16% Participation growth on a $12M DoD program

Designed and executed stakeholder perception research for a U.S. military installation, then developed strategic communications that measurably improved community engagement and program participation.

Nonprofit & Mission-Driven

+76% Increase in program participants (resiliency center)

+47% Customer growth (behavioral-science-based communications)

Delivered brand strategy and behavioral-science-based communications for faith-based and mission-driven organizations — producing measurable growth in both participation and trust.

What the world believes about your organization is either your greatest asset — or your most expensive liability.