Should Data Alone Drive Marketing Decisions?
As a media sales executive, I might be slightly biased when it comes to how marketers are utilizing data to make decisions. Every day, I speak with clients from all over the country and across multiple industries; and there is not one single conversation that goes by without clients asking for data and access to it.
The problem is not the data, the problem is how it’s being used!
Don’t get me wrong, I love data! I started my career as a researcher providing data insights to executives to support their sales narratives. I myself, now depend on ratings and insights to make a more compelling argument to close multi-million integrated advertising deals.
I strongly believe that data provides endless insights about consumption, behavior, trends and pretty much anything you can think of. It can give us live feedback on CTA (call-to-action) campaigns, lead generation, brand awareness and audience engagement. Data can help us make a case or support marketing decisions.
However, there is so much data out there that marketers don’t even know what to do with it!
The main issue I have with data is when marketers rely 100% on this data to make decisions. This is because data can also misinterpret behaviors or consumer intents. It often misses the mark when it comes to niche markets and cultural nuances. And when it comes to targeting by race and language; it becomes an even bigger issue.
It is so important for marketers to do their homework, and yes, get educated and use data to enhance their marketing decisions to drive a higher ROI. But at the same time, there is something about the human intuition and creativity that can make a marketing campaign a much bigger success. Marketers need to be reminded why they are at the helm of companies or representing their clients. They were chosen for a reason: they were or are the best in what they do! Marketers are the experts on the subject and they need to be able to make marketing decisions that are not solely based on data.
“Skepticism and critical thinking are the human traits that are as important as data for running a successful marketing campaign and growing your business. Data enhances your decision making and keeps you better-informed.” Neil Patel
The best and most successful marketers in today’s day and age are those that manage to marry both, data and their personal intuition, to make educated decisions. These marketing leaders engage and challenge the numbers to dig deeper into the why or the how of data insights.
I consider myself an expert and a leader in the U.S. Hispanic marketplace. I live and breath multicultural marketing every day. It is extremely frustrating and concerning when clients that are not doing multicultural marketing are basing such decision because of misused data insights.
I recently attended a conference where, Marc Pritchard, P&G’s Chief Brand, said, “If you aren’t doing multicultural marketing, you aren’t doing marketing”. Mark is a marketing leader who is doing it right, while he has endless access to data across hundreds of brands; he’s also using his cultural nuances and marketplace knowledge to create some of the most successful and engaging campaigns in the multicultural space, such as My Black Is Beautiful.
In conclusion, let’s stop the madness! We must use data and AI as tools to guide our decisions; but let’s not forget to also trust our human traits and intelligence to make the best marketing decisions.
