Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed – Dan Zarrella
Opinions can be interesting/enticing, but when not backed by solid evidence, can be dangerous.
The wrong information can spread like wild fire, leading to strategic decisions based on opinions – not facts.
It can spread so far and fast that everyone assumes it’s a fact, but no one stopped to ask. Before you know it, you have gone so far up the garden path, returning feels impossible, but in some cases inevitable:
In 1985 Coca-Cola replaced its original formula with “New Coke” based on taste tests, underestimating customer loyalty to the original. The backlash forced them to bring back “Coca-Cola Classic” within months.
In 2009 Vegemite named its new product “iSnack 2.0,” assuming it would appeal to younger audiences, but public backlash led to a quick rebranding to “Cheesybite.”
In 2019 Peloton released an ad portraying a woman receiving a bike from her husband, assuming it would be seen as motivational, but it was criticized as sexist and tone-deaf, leading to stock drops and backlash.
Marketing is a science. It’s not a stab in the dark (guesswork).
What’s ‘stab in the dark’ marketing look like:
- Target audience assumptions
- Creative campaigns driven by personal taste
- Channel selection based on whats trending
- Ignoring negative feedback
- Pricing strategy based on intuition
- Geographic expansion without market research
- Assuming brand loyalty
- Relying on anecdotal success stories
- Marketing budget allocation based on past experience
- Ignoring competitor activity
No matter where you are right now… more stab in the dark, less science perhaps…it’s never too late to move into a place of making smarter, informed choices. This shift can completely transform your business culture for the better.
Questions that can aid better decision making:
- How do we currently make decisions? What’s the process / framework and who is involved?
- What information or data do we have to assist in making this decision? Is this data reliable, relevant, and up to date? Are there gaps in the information?
- What are we missing in our understanding or data, and how can we fill these gaps? Are there additional resources, tools, or perspectives (e.g., customer feedback, market trends) we could access to inform our decision?
- How do we evaluate or review our decisions after they’re made? What criteria do we use to measure performance, and how frequently do we conduct this review?
- What is our process for learning from past decisions to improve future ones? How do we document and apply lessons learned, and can this process be refined to ensure continuous improvement?
If you don’t know where to start please talk to me.
At Run Partners, we’ve created a Marketing Dashboard that puts real-time, data-driven decision-making at your fingertips. This all-in-one tool centralises your marketing data and is available 24/7, making it easy to access instant insights.
Celeste
