The danger of half-brained marketing teams
Ramli "RJ" John ??
Product onboarding for B2B companies. Bestselling author of "Product-Led Onboarding" (+40K copies sold). Founder @ Delight Path.
Marketing Power-Up no. 9: Great marketing lives at the intersection of head and heart.
As marketers, we LOVE data.
I’ve written in a previous issue of Marketing Power-Ups that the dark side of marketing’s obsession with data is that we could end up drowning in meaningless information.
But there’s a more catastrophic effect of an unhealthy attraction to data.
Data-obsessed marketers are at risk of cultivating only half a brain.?
Great marketing lives at the intersection of head and heart.
Before I continue, I want to invite you to?join 2,611 other marketers?who subscribe via email to Marketing Power-Ups. I share downloadable resources and bonuses exclusively with my email subscribers.?
A few weeks ago, I shared an illustration of the qualities of a left-brained versus right-brained marketer on Twitter and LinkedIn. I asked people which type of marketers they were.
Most said they were both left-brained AND right-brained.
In reality, being perfectly balanced between the emotional and analytical self is rare.
I’m sure it’s what we’d like to have. But, most probably, lean toward one over the other.
?? Ramli’s unofficial brain quiz
Here’s a non-scientific quiz to determine if you’re more of a left-brained or right-brained marketer.
It’s Friday, and you’d like to end the week on a high note. If you could only complete one task today, which one would you pick?
When friends recount a story, you usually prefer that they?
Whenever you meet someone new, which one do you remember the most?
If you chose mostly ‘1,’ you’re more left-brained than right-brained. On the other hand, responding to more questions with ‘2’ means the opposite.
But if you said that you’d do both ‘1’ and ‘2’ in all three scenarios, congrats, you’re perfectly balanced! ??
?? Compensating for blind spots
The point of my brain quiz is that most people lean on one part of their brain more than the other.
Knowing that helps you become a better marketer because you’re more self-aware of where you’d overinvest your time and resources towards. Thus, you can act and adjust your approach in three ways:
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1. Hiring people ??
Knowing your blind spots also helps you when hiring. You want to find people who are different but complementary to your natural inclination. Having a team full of left-brained marketers might only sometimes bring the most creative ideas. A diverse team is a winning team!
2. Time management. ?
If you’re a more right-brained marketer, you probably lose track of time while creating, writing, and building things like I am. It’s easier to get in a flow state when you’re doing things that give you energy.
Knowing that helps us be mindful of time to ensure analyzing data, going through the details, and organizing work aren’t left behind. We’d have to schedule that into work intentionally, or else it’d likely get done last minute!
The same is true for left-brained marketers. Take the time to visualize the bigger picture and understand the emotional triggers to get customers to buy.
3. Working with others. ???? ??
It’s human nature to be around people like us. As a right-brained marketer, I often get thrown off working with others who are purely logical.?
But working with people who are unlike us is a power-up! It helps ensure that our blind spots are covered by others who might catch a detail we missed.
So, now I have a mental note of who on my team prefers digging into the numbers. And when I’m working on something, I purposely get feedback from them. Often, they see something I don’t!
Which one are you?
I’d love to hear from you!
Could you take 10 seconds and let me know if you’re more left-brained or right-brained?
Leave a comment below.
?? Mini power-ups
Fun-sized blurbs to help boost your marketing.
? How to win in a recession: Patrick Campbell, Co-Founder of ProfitWell, shares his tips for winning during a recession. My takeaway: Focus your 2023 planning on why your software is necessary, not optional.
? If not Twitter, then where?: With the uncertain future of Twitter, Amanda Natividad writes in The Menu that "when you’re building on rented land, your landlord can change the terms at any time." It's best to diversify your social channels quickly as soon as you get great at one.
? Product-Led Summit 2022: I’m sharing a new framework based on Super Mario Kart to help improve your user activation and retention. It will most likely be a new book I’m writing for late 2023 or early 2024. I heard it here first! ?? So, get your free tickets for the Wes Bush 's ProductLed Summit.
Have a powered-up day!
Ramli John
P.S. Thanks for reading Marketing Power-Ups! Subscribe for free to get downloadable resources and bonuses that I share exclusively with my email subscribers.?Join 2,611 other marketers below.
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2 年Thanks for sharing the summit! Can't wait to dig into your new framework. Love mario kart!
Helping B2B Marketing leaders create wicked cool content | Copywriter & content strategist | Marketing consultant
2 年That’s why you every member of the marketing teams needs to be like a good corpus callosum and either bridge the gap between those skills or otherwise learn to recognize strengths and weaknesses from every member of the marketing team and how they complement each other.
Modern Law
2 年This is great. I took the quiz and I’m a lefty. The more data, the more confident I am in my creative approach. Analysis can feel addictive at times. A key moment of self awareness for me was when I realized that when my creative abilities were diminished, usually my mental well-being was as well. My right brain skills are surely secondary at times. This has allowed me to really check in with myself sooner than before to reduce stress so I can go back to kicking ass with both sides of my brain ??
Turning my online presence into paying customers through personal branding and helping you do the same
2 年Fantastic Lessons Ramli - Diving into the post later tonight.
Grow your Brands to their potential
2 年Its true that very few of us are balanced left and right, thats why we have to avoid hiring someone just like us. Together, a team can be balanced if we harness diverse strengths.