A Little Bit of Art and a Little Bit of Science

Is it a good thing to be constantly reinventing yourself to either keep up with the Jones’s, or try and get back into the race once the Jones’s have passed you buy? I hear business leaders say all of the time that they need a new marketing plan because the one they have has either stopped working, or was really bad and didn’t really work to begin with. The same is often true about sales plans, as well. Usually, once they get to that point, it is too late to do anything to save the business anyway, but why at that moment of truth and clarity do they think they are going to be able to do anything better the second time around if they made such mistakes to begin with? Makes me wonder, is it enough to simply do something for the sake of doing something if you know going in your ideas probably won’t work anyway?

What I like about marketing is that it is a little bit of art and a little bit of science. There are tried and true marketing techniques (direct mail, cross-media, television and print advertising) that make up the art, but the science lies in understanding exactly what works when trying to identify and connect with audiences in ways that move them to take action. You don’t do that by sending a postcard or placing an ad. You do that by sending a postcard or placing and ad with a MESSAGE that connects with audiences at an emotional level. By connecting emotionally with audiences, you motivate them to make a buying decision, or build brand loyalty that sticks in their heads until they are ready to make a buying decision at a later time. Just sending something in the mail without the proper message doesn’t work. Do that, you end up spending more time reinventing yourself, than you do being yourself.