Marketing: People are people, not just numbers

As businesses and marketers we’re often driven by the ‘numbers’.

With digital marketing we can ‘measure’ the impact of pretty much all of our online marketing activity. We all use marketing ‘data’ everyday, most of us without really realising that’s what we’re doing.

Just think of Google Analytics for websites, the analytics available on most social media channels, the data analysis behind Google Ads, and any other online marketing activity.

This focus on ‘metrics’ is evidenced by increasingly common phrases used in marketing such as ‘data-driven marketing’, ‘data analytics’ and ‘marketing attribution’.

Being able to attribute and analyse where marketing successes come from, and having the opportunity to enhance performance is, of course, a good thing. It’s what helps drive improvement. However, it is incredibly easy to forget that ultimately we’re talking about people, not numbers.

Recent developments in marketing have ‘doffed a cap’ to this. The advent of Covid-19 has seen the rise of ‘empathetic marketing’, where empathy is key and where marketers should be ‘respectful of the situation’. An acknowledgement that marketing shouldn’t just be driven by the ‘metrics’ and that the feelings, wants and motivations of our target audiences shouldn’t get lost behind the numbers? An indication that we’ve been in danger of forgetting the human element of marketing?

Marketers and businesses shouldn't just be driven by the 'numbers':

• Humans still rely heavily on emotions when making decisions.
• Most of the purchase decisions people make are emotional, not practical.
• Choosing one product over another is ultimately powered by the consumer’s emotional relationship with the brand.

In his book, Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing  author Douglas Van Praet observes “The most startling truth is we don’t even think our way to logical solutions. Emotions don’t hinder decisions. They constitute the foundation on which they’re made!”

Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman identified that 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious and that when marketing a product to a consumer, it's most effective to target the subconscious mind.

So, has marketers’ pre-occupation with the ‘metrics’ led to one of the most crucial, influential elements of marketing – emotion – being neglected or even overlooked?

Is the link between brand and performance being missed because of the temptation to focus on ‘deliverable’ short term performance metrics rather than invest in the brand (because the outcomes are not so easily measured)?

Whatever the answer to these questions, they raise the importance of ‘emotional intelligence’ in marketing and the crucial role it has to play in influencing buying decisions.

If you’re still not ‘feeling it’ yet then maybe some numbers will help!

• In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Bruce Buchanan the CEO of ROKT identified companies with strong brands (organisations that have good emotional connections with their customers) outperform weaker brands in the same industry by 3:1 in terms of customer acquisition costs.

In a recent study by Deloitte Digital

• Of the 62% of consumers surveyed who said they felt a relationship with a brand, 76% went on to say that they have used that brand for four years or more because of the trust they have in it.
• 44% of those surveyed endorse a product based on emotional criteria. And, in these recommendations, 60% of customers tend to use language such as “love,” “happy” or “adore,” typically reserved for family or friends.