Marketing is increasingly “data-driven”. But that doesn’t have to mean “data-blinded”.
It feels like there’s a polarizing schism between the art and the science of marketing — the Mad Men and the Math Men (and women). Mad Men resent the Math Men for taking over the creative process with analytics and Math Men resent the Mad Men for making marketing decisions based on subjective opinions rather than data.
I drew this cartoon last year imagining data-driven marketing as the reason Don Draper’s silhouette falls from the sky scraper.
But marketing ultimately needs both. Data alone can’t create the next big inspirational marketing idea. And marketing ideas need to be data-savvy to be effective.
This creates a huge opportunity for the next generation of marketer. But, in the meantime, there will be friction.
I’d love your thoughts on how best to adopt data-driven marketing.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed cartoon print. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)