At Create, being a medical communications agency, we do tend to ask quite a lot of questions, especially when we’re working with new clients. For us, it’s an important part of the creative process, and helps us make sure we’re helping clients spend their marketing budget effectively.
If it’s not possible to find the answers with certainty, we might recommend research. Of course, no one should commission an “insight” project they don’t need; the trick is to work out where the line is between what you need to know to make good marketing decisions, and what is just a “nice to know”.
However, the opposite pitfall is to assume that your team knows all there is to know.
5 common assumptions or “pitfalls”
- One person’s experience can all too easily become the universal truth, and applied to your whole audience. Anecdotes similarly can become gospel truth, despite there being no evidence at all
- The sales team only see what customers are prepared to tell them or show them, but assume it’s everything they need to know. The marketing team see even less of the real picture – and they may not ask the sales team for their insights
- The marketing approach may be based on solid knowledge of existing customers, but miss the mark on new prospects who may have very different barriers, motivations and needs
- Times, markets, customers change – the “insights” on which marketing activity is based might be outdated
- The team may be so afraid of how audiences might react, that they’re afraid to make the decisions and changes which are sorely needed. If they can gauge likely reaction first, they could mitigate that risk.
Taking action to be more confident about what you think you know, or solving your unanswered questions doesn’t always have to mean expensive focus groups or surveys; click here to see some of our alternative solutions.
And of course, it may be cheaper in the long run, than making a bad decision.
