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Allen Weiss Bio |
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11.06.06
Can Marketing Tactics Be Proven?
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The other day I was reading a press release. The company said it wrote articles on "proven tactics" that marketers could use. This got me thinking about whether you can prove anything works in marketing....
After all, you can't prove anything in science. What you can do is provide a growing number of studies that tend to support a theory. But as any scientist knows, a theory (or the eternal viability of any marketing tactic) can be "falsified" by one test that doesn't support the theory.
Since human behavior is certainly as difficult to understand as, say, chemical reactions and physical interactions, it seems quite silly to believe that anything related to customer reactions can be proven. In fact, in my other life as an academic, you won't find one piece of research that has been published that will use the word "proven."
So, while this looks good in a press release, I would caution people to be quite skeptical of this claim. In other words, while this might work to get people to read the articles that purport to show "proven tactics," I would look at them as entertainment and not something to be seriously believed.
What's your view on this?
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Comments
Hi Allen,
Cause and effect has always been difficult to prove in marketing. Does investment X translate into deals signed at companies Y and Z?
It's important to realize that a specific deal signing, or individual consumer purchase is the result of an intricate and diverse collection of influences (one of which is marketing).
Marketing is usually just one variable in a pretty long equation string.
Posted by: Paul Barsch | 11.07.06
It is a challenge and yet despite the lack of proof, and the lack of investment made by most business to business organisations to explore the real impact of marketing, still we see a huge amount of faith in the marketing machine.
Posted by: Kathryn Howarth | 11.09.06
Hi Allen
Rather than having the usual 5 secrets of this and 10 steps to success and of course talking about "proven" tactics which will make you a marketing genius after reading them, it would be nice to have a daily comments on existing marketing campaigns. Like the excellent post on this blog about the Borat film with some analysis of how and why it achieved so much coverage and hype. This time of comment (usual for political commentators) where an actual event is discussed and reflected upon is more powerful (and interesting) than a million "how to's".
Sorry about the long comment and well done on a fantastic blog.
Jackie from London UK
Posted by: Jackie Thumber | 11.13.06
Hi Allen,
I am currenlty writing the first book in my "Mosquito Marketing Series" and offer "tried & proven techniques that worked for me" as well as timelines showing when I took each step, what the result was etc. I think it is very true what you say in your post, and I stress that the techniqes that I provide a timeline for, worked for me. That doesn't mean they will work for everyone, but I figure if they worked for me, there is no harm in someone else trying those same techniques. Hopefully they will work for others as well as they did for me.
Posted by: Michelle Dunn | 11.13.06
Hi All,
Thanks for the interesting comments. Well, as you might imagine, I'm just a bit of a skeptic about proven techniques in marketing. I know there have been things that have worked for us, especially at a tactical level, but I'm wary about telling others they will work for them.
To your point, Jackie, I agree that having comments on existing campaigns makes sense (those are kind of like case studies), and helps people see what might work but gives them a better understanding of "why" it might apply to their unique situation.
Posted by: Allen Weiss | 11.13.06