Data In Marketing Is Useful, But What’s Another Tool You Need?

My job is about emotion. My job is about feeling. This might be controversial to say, but I feel like sometimes data gets in the way of that. - Bozoma Saint-John

Data in marketing is useful and important. Any successful company needs to track their performance and make insightful decisions based on data.

BUT data isn’t everything. Data will show you part of the story, but not the whole story. It can’t always be 100% accurate on whether something will perform or connect with an audience, and sometimes flawed conclusions can be drawn.

So, what else do you need? Bozoma Saint-John, ex Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix, talks about the Creative Power of Intuition in her Ted Talk, and that in marketing, there’s often an overreliance on data. Instead, we should trust and lean into our intuition. 

Oxford Dictionary’s definition of intuition: 

“The ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.” 

Learning how to work with your intuition is powerful, but it can still feel like one of those airy-fairy words that’s just thrown out there. How can you put using your intuition into practice to make intelligent decisions?

If you haven’t yet watched the talk, Bozoma does a really good job at explaining this herself, but one of the examples she uses is of an airline that decided to free up the middle seat when Covid first struck the world. 

Despite likely losing millions of dollars on that middle seat, Bozoma goes through the thought process, “How will you feel safer? How will I feel safer? This feels like the right thing to do.”

Intuition can be a gut feeling and an inner knowing that this is just the natural next step or the right thing for your business.

And all businesses are different, with different scenarios, goals and audiences! So, the way you need to approach your marketing should be tailored to you and your individual needs. 

Using your intuition can feel like a huge leap of faith when data feels more concrete, but an overreliance on data can lead you in the wrong direction. 

Success and Intuition

Many successful people attribute their success to intuition.

Take Steve Jobs, for example. In his famous speech at Stanford University in 2005, Jobs recalls the time he spent in India. 

After sleeping on the floor, exchanging coke bottles for food and becoming curious about India’s spiritual culture, he continued to follow his intuition to lead him to treasured experiences that shaped the way he approached work throughout his life.

To his biographer, author Walter Isaacson, Jobs said, “The people in the Indian countryside don’t use their intellect like we do, they use their intuition instead, and their intuition is far more developed than in the rest of the world. Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That’s had a big impact on my work.”

And Oprah said, “Trust your instincts. Intuition doesn’t lie.” Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist around, said “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”

So, implement the data in your marketing! Data-driven decisions have a huge place in marketing strategy to reach customers more effectively, improve performance and increase efficiency, but just don’t forget about your old friend, intuition!

Intuition is a tool to consider in your decision-making process. You might be surprised at how reliable it can be to help you navigate your business and lead you onto new marketing pastures! And if you’re looking for some writing tips, check out our blog, Is Copywriting Easy? Writing Tips From The Great Margaret Atwood.

If your intuition is gently nudging you in the direction of more marketing support for 2023, to set you up for less overwhelming moments and more results, book yourself in for a free, no-strings-attached discovery call.