| MARKETING |
TRUST YOUR GUT MARKETING
IS A BUST
Trust in intuitions is understandable but it is not good enough
by Chrissey Breault
D
ata-driven decision making is increasingly valued
above the “trust your gut” way of thinking. In
the very beginning, there just were no tools
and information needed to conceive and measure the
effectiveness of our efforts. We all were forced to rely on
our gut feelings when it came to assessing the success of
our marketing initiatives.
According to the Harvard Business Review, 45 percent
of executives “rely more on instinct rather than facts and
figures to run their businesses. That’s an alarming statistic!
Even now, as more effective tools to collect analytics
are available, many in marketing prefer to trust intuition
over data. Intuition is highly valued in C-suites across the
country, and acting on gut feelings has been valued over
the hard work of crunching data and formulating rational
strategies.
The trust in intuition is understandable. But it’s also
dangerous. Intuition does have its place in decision-making,
and you should not ignore your instincts more than you
should ignore your conscience – but anyone who thinks
that their gut is a substitute for reason is indulging in a
dangerous delusion. Detaching from proper analysis for
intuition is irresponsible and undependable. It is more likely
to lead to disaster rather than success.
Unfortunately for marketers driven by creative instinct,
today’s businesses are increasing demand for marketing
teams to have the ability to show a tangible ROI to justify
their budgets. Simply-stated, marketers must do better. Gut
feelings just aren’t good enough anymore.
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IS IT ART OR SCIENCE?
Marketers didn’t always have data analytics tools
available to discover the quantitatively and qualitatively
measurements that determine the effectiveness of their
strategies or campaigns. In the past, determining marketing
success really was an intuitive exercise.
John Wanamaker, an early marketing pioneer, once
famously said, “I know half my advertising is wasted; the
trouble is I don’t know which half.” Despite a growing and
acute recognition of the need for more transparency, the
technology just wasn’t there.
Neil Borden, who wrote “The Concept of the Marketing
Mix” in 1953, started with the following statement that
described the state of the art at the time:
“Marketing is still an art, and the marketing manager,
as head chef, must creatively marshal all his
marketing activities to advance the short and long
term interests of his firm.”
He was chiefly interested in determining how the elements
of a marketing program could “be manipulated and fitted
together in a way that will give a profitable operation.”
Borden highlighted the need to ask, “what overall
marketing strategy has been or might be employed to bring
about a profitable operation in light of circumstances faced
by management?”
Despite the progress marketers have made toward a “use
of the scientific method” to test which configurations of
a marketing mix are most effective, Borden was critical
about marketing still not achieving the goal of establishing