Trusting your gut

My mother used to say, “If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you.”

Many marketers believe that the head thinks, while the gut knows. Even when challenged by others, you still know what’s right. You just do. Even when the data contradicts your plans, you have a vision for what’s possible, and you believe it will work. You just do. Eventually, you will face that critical moment of choosing to either listen to your intuition or ignore it and follow conventional thinking.

Meanwhile, I once had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Clancy, who co-wrote an award-winning book, “Your Gut is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head.” Mr. Clancy taught me that marketing has traditionally been gut-driven, undisciplined, and often unaccountable. He explained that disciplined marketing is important in every crucial type of marketing decision. He made a compelling argument and I was convinced. I believed that if I had the data to back up my decisions, it would prove to be better than trusting my emotions.

On the other hand, Steve Jobs said, “You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Steve did everything based on gut. In fact, when asked if he used focus groups to design revolutionary products, he said, “It’s hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

Although, I still rely on multi-variant testing and performance measuring to inform my next marketing moves, I sometimes wonder if perhaps my gut is smarter than my head too. If Steve had ignored his intuition, and gave preference to the focus group results, we’d all still be using mobile phones with dozens of tiny buttons and slide-out keyboards.

Maybe what came forth from inside Steve has saved us all.

Myles Bristowe

Myles Bristowe

Myles brings 20 years of executive leadership and practical innovation in the disciplines of digital, mobile, social media and integrated marketing. He leads the Make Your Money Matter movement for ... Web: www.pscu.com Details