The Paradox of Choice
What to do…What to do.
Chief Cattle Officer, Lefty, and I had a dawn ideation session today at the local dog park. It was a tundra-like experience but I like the air and the quiet and she's in it for the tennis balls. Balls are scarce at the park and competition is fierce for the right to be the keeper of the most fetching. As usual, I threw, they chased. I threw, they chased. I threw.....nothing happened. No return trip from any of them. So, I walked out in the field to see what was cooking.
As I approached the group of panting geniuses I noticed the weirdest thing: Through coincidence or design, where I expected to find one I actually found a cluster of frozen tennis balls had accumulated. It seemed the dogs knew what to do with one ball but, when presented with too many options, they were stymied.
I could immediately relate to the dogs' predicament. As a CMO, I've felt stymied by the sea of marketing options out there (I'm sure you have as well). They just pile up in front of you: Digital, print, TV, radio, content, events, video, blogging, social, OTT, email, Hubspot, Eloqua, Marketo, Salesforce, Dynamics, etc, etc etc. It can be daunting.
There's actually a name for this phenomenon: The Paradox of Choice (coined by psychologist Barry Schwartz). In his book, Dr. Schwartz describes the fallacy that a customer’s experience is improved by having more options. He found that the energy required to choose from all those options takes more away from the experience than is gained from the perceived breadth of choices.
So, what do we do about it? Here are some best practices when feeling overwhelmed by your marketing options:
Start with the need, not the product/tactic
Prioritize based on firm strategy and function (not vendor sales tactics)
Agree on the "R" before you make the "I"
Leverage talent - you can't and shouldn't do it all yourself
Ask someone who's done it before
Who wouldn’t be better off with someone in their corner who has seen it all before? Let Chief Seconds help you growth and thrive by helping to unstick the decision making process around your marketing.
Bruce
BONUS: to quote Mencken "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." There isn't going to be "one thing" amongst my list or yours that will satisfy all your needs (anyone telling you otherwise is selling something). It's complicated but that's OK. We can get it done and dialed in, together.
