A fine line between smart and stuck
If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you know that I am a big believer in having a plan. Strategy is king. Today’s marketing dollars are too scarce to be wasted. The fourth quarter and early January seem to have most marketers knee-deep in research, budgets, what-if scenarios and Gantt charts.
All of that is well and good. And important. But there is a serious danger that you can get paralyzed in your planning. Smart is good. Perfect is paralysis.
Marketing is a healthy mix of art and science. Exacting precision is for engineers and surgeons, not marketers. We have to settle for darn close. The reality is we don’t have the luxury of operating in a sterile space.We have to function in the nitty-gritty of the real world.We can’t control all the variables and factors. So at a certain point in the process, we have to walk away from theory and leap into reality.
It feels safe to stay in planning mode. After all, the plan looks so pristine and right. There’s nothing tainting the purity of it. Once you step out and actually launch a new initiative, things get muddy in a hurry.
Though we can be pretty smart and quite right during the planning process, it’s in the fray of the action when we get even smarter.We can observe reactions, listen to customers, make little tweaks and then reevaluate. Unlike an operating room, the marketplace brings nuances, unpredictable truths and quirks of human nature.
Remember, no one ever bought a product or service from a Gantt chart.