I love marketing best practices. I love how many articles are out there just a Google search away should I ever need more information on how to do something. I love how easy all these best practice articles and posts make it to learn more about an area of marketing I’m not familiar with.

However, as an ex-journalist, ex- non-profit researcher re: campaign finances & private prisons, and a former marketer for a market research firm; I’m also acutely aware of how fallible “best practices” can be and how often shaky methodologies are accepted without question.

There is a lot to love about accessible, established wisdom. There is also a lot of reason to question it. 

I’m a firm believer that we should nurture our courage to do things differently as marketers and entrepreneurs. Here’s why.

No. 1: The first person to try every marketing best practice didn’t know it was a best practice yet.

If you’re only ever willing to do marketing that has already been established as a “best practice”- you’ll always be a step or two behind the curve. That makes it harder for you to differentiate and easier to be disrupted.

Of course, marketing is time, effort, and often cost-intensive- so I understand wanting to mostly rely on tried and true strategies. But not to the extent that you don’t innovate at all.

No. 2: Experimentation is the best part.

Honestly, I think experimentation is the most fun part of marketing.

Sure, your efforts could crash and burn. OR they could skyrocket you into beloved notoriety. YOU could set a trend. YOUR brand could corner a new market. YOU could find a more efficient way to do something.

Your experimentation could help you figure out something better than the current marketing best practices.

It’s been well documented that the freedom to fail leads to greater creativity and innovation with bigger wins.

No. 3: Statistics can be easily manipulated or accidentally misleading.

Digital marketers love their statistics. They love their trend reports and their studies.

But, here’s the thing: just because it’s a number, doesn’t mean it’s accurate.

So many things can skew results. For example:

• An inappropriately small sample size for the research methodology

• A sample that is limited (by geography, demographics, circumstance, etc.)- and whose results aren’t broadly applicable

• Outdated data (tech, social media, etc. change quickly)

• Missing context

• Sponsored research (paid to find evidence for a hoped-for result)

• Exaggerated conclusions drawn from inconclusive data

• Unrealized bias on the part of the researchers

• Quoting statistics from a dubious source

Even sound research methodologies based on different datasets can turn out wildly different results. 

No. 4: We won’t reach the people who have been historically left out of marketing by doing marketing the same old way.

It’s not surprising that in a country where racial segregation was legal less than a century ago, mainstream U.S. marketing has not exactly been woke for much of its history. (See Aunt Jemima, H & M’s “monkey in a jungle” sweatshirt, Kendall Jenner solving racism with a Pepsi, etc. etc.)

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) is finally, rightfully, a major consideration for companies and marketers. And if we want marketing to be more diverse, equitable, & inclusive, we can’t rely on our grandbosses’ notions of what’s “normal” and “appropriate” for marketing without continuing to overlook and slight the historically marginalized. 

No. 5: Who calls the shots?

This brings me to the final point for today: who calls the shots on “best practices”? As buzzy as DEI has become, I haven’t noticed sudden gender parity in terms of marketing pay rates nor sudden diversity in leadership positions. I’m not sure VC funding for startups has made significant strides in evening out how often white male-led businesses are funded as compared to everyone else.

So, currently, mainstream marketing best practices are best practices for whom? For what types of businesses serving what types of people? 

For those of us disrupting old-school power dynamics, let’s learn from the marketing best practices that are out there- but let’s keep making our own.

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