Balancing Utility with Magic

Early on in my relationship with the extraordinary Robert Senior , he delivered a keynote talk on the opening day of a marketing conference. His speech, Balancing Utility with Magic, invited business-to-business marketers to think beyond the utility of KPIs and maths and to embrace marketing’s ability to perform magic in the mind. In a marketing discipline where everything has a tendency to be reduced to numbers, Robert’s opening shot at the show was an invitation to think bigger.

Stories have a beginning, a middle and an end.

In the comments following his talk, one of the hosts said: “Not many of us need convincing of the importance of storytelling”.

That’s not what I see.

The B2B sector talks a lot about storytelling, but talk is all it is. Most go straight for the utility, the rational, the middle bit. But, every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Without context and conclusion, the middle isn’t interesting.

B2B practitioners talk about purpose but immediately ask for short term evidence that a “new purpose is working”. But, it doesn’t work like that, at least not where I come from.

Maths-led marketers begone

Recently, Chris Wilson pointed me to an OpEd titled Weaponizing the Wannamaker Paradox by Paul Worthington that expresses this far more eloquently than I have the ability, time or desire to do in this newsletter edition. You should read it. We’re working to get Paul onto the Unicorny podcast. He has views that need to be shared (tl;dr: An end to the emasculation of marketing? Maybe).

The reductionist urge of maths-led marketers is never far from the surface and we must fight it. Because magic isn’t about maths, statistics, data or KPIs. Magic is about the unexplainable, the impossible, the astounding.?

It’s all about the magic

[Spoiler alert] Of course, real magic doesn’t exist. Magicians’ performances look unexplainable, impossible and astounding, but they’re not. In Christopher Nolan’s movie, The Prestige, he even describes the three essential components or formula of magic: the pledge, the turn and the prestige. Each part of a performance contributes to the appearance of a magic result, when actually, it’s nothing more than a well-practiced and well-rehearsed process. So it is with marketing.

Marketing is a process. So, the magic part of marketing isn’t magic at all.

But, making the work look like magic requires a superior knowledge and understanding of behavioural psychology and the principles of influence (among other things). Changing a customer’s opinion, creating an affinity, brand love or even brand liking (thank you Paul Cash ) is a ‘magic’ not a rational practice. You can’t utility yourself to love.

I second that emotion

At just about any B2B marketing conference and on many marketing podcasts, practitioners talk a lot about emotion. The debate usually runs along these lines (this is edited, but is a snippet from a real conversation):?

Person A: “People think B2B is a rational sell, whereas B2C is an emotional sell, but B2B is more emotional than B2C, because the stakes are frequently so much higher.”

Person B: “I agree! The wrong decision on a tube of toothpaste has far smaller consequences than on a new tech platform/ wrong insurance etc.”

Face plant.

This is thinsight, not insight. Thinsight is something I’ll write about in a future edition.

The issue isn’t about being emotional, it’s about what emotion is at play, the context of the moment, the motivation of the recipient and more. All of this affects the marketing and communication approach and it’s explained in detail by the extraordinary Bill Harvey in a future episode of my podcast (follow us to be notified).

Whether B2B is more or less ‘emotional’ than B2C is a fallacious argument. It’s the middle of a story without context or conclusion. It’s how non-marketers might look at a problem.

It's all about Drivers

The thing that should differentiate us marketers from our peers is our ability to understand the drivers behind an emotional reaction. We use those drivers to create the thread through our stories. That is our magic.

As I look back over previous marketing conferences I’ve attended and marketing podcasts I’ve listened to I feel like we’re stuck in a loop. The same issues are discussed again and again. When will it stop? Sadly, I’m not sure it will.

Robert Senior tells us that our job is to balance utility with magic.

So, while I diligently plan apply a dose of utility to my daily detail, I am making it my business to find magic as well. Enough magic to drown out the Groundhog background noise.

I don’t know where I’ll find it yet.

Maybe in the way my friends at AML Group come up with such simple ideas that hide complexity from view to deliver simply astounding outcomes for their clients? Or maybe in the work of the Radish es who drive account-based growth for enterprise SaaS vendors and make it look easy? Or in the stunning storytelling abilities of the creative team at LAW Creative ? I’m not a crier, but their work moves me to tears. Who knew an automotive component manufacturer could tell a story so well?

If you like the sound of this, please be sure to follow the Unicorny podcast.

Next time... I think we need to address thinsight?

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