Meaningless Data and Marketing

Did you know that 99.8% of the time you drop a meaningless, uncited but hyper-precise number people will take you more seriously and think you’re smarter than you really are? I’ll take instinct and art any day over just another direct marketer citing numbers only meaningful when they’re painted to make a case. Start with the data, but don’t let it dictate who you are, what you do, and the art you create. We’re not only dumbing down marketing. We’re dumbing down society when we do that. Seth Godin really nails it with this post: 

"They got us hooked on data. Advertisers want more data. Direct marketers want more data. Who saw it? Who clicked? What percentage? What's trending? What's yielding?

But there's one group that doesn't need more data...

Anyone who's making a long-term commitment. Anyone who seeks to make art, to make a difference, to challenge the status quo.

Because when you're chasing that sort of change, data is the cudgel your enemies will use to push you to conform.

Data paves the road to the bottom. It is the lazy way to figure out what to do next. It's obsessed with the short-term.

Data gets us the Kardashians."