RM Blog

Ever wonder about the value of the advice from an “outside” marketing strategist? Just ask your local neuroscientist.

Keep it Simple Stupid

Hold the phone kids. Although I’ve known for years that agency marketing strategists provide clear and unbiased opinions for marketers, I am happy to report that my faith in the value of my own profession has now been scientifically proven! And it all comes down to how human beings make decisions.

This has come to light in a book called “How we Decide”. It’s a fascinating look at the neuroscience of decision making. For a quick overview of the book, check out the review on Boing Boing

When you  think about it, we all always have something on our minds. We are constantly thinking about work decisions, personal decisions, family decisions, short-term decisions, long-term decisions, heck, even what to have for lunch. Could it be true that our brain chemistry may limit our ability to make good decisions? According to this book, the answer is YES. It turns out that the much-used phrase “information overload” reflects an actual fact detectable by neuroscience.

The neuroscience behind decision making seems to make it clear that (thank goodness) our brains are naturally wired to decide. However, research outlined in the book proves that when something goes awry in our brain, (because of trauma, or chemical alterations, information overload, or whatever) we make decisions differently. And differently isn’t always a good thing.

Every day I help clients make decisions about how to spend their marketing dollars, how to position their company, how to integrate social media into their marketing mix, etc. Why is my decision better than theirs? After all, they work for this company, and I’m an outsider. They have more information, more experience in their market, and maybe even more years in marketing (although the older I get the less that’s the case). Shouldn’t they be able to make better decisions than me? And with the wealth of information available to them on the internet, shouldn’t they be able to solve just about any dilemma they face?

 So, how do we know that information overload impedes our ability to make decisions?

An experiment demonstrating this phenomenon is cited in the book. One group of MIT business students was given very detailed reports on companies and asked to buy and sell stocks based on what they learn. Another group was only given the stock-prices. The latter group — betting blind — bets better than the “over informed” group, who have so much information that they can’t decide what is and is not important. The science shows that no matter how good we are at multi-tasking, we might not have the right wiring to sift through all of the information provided to us.

Faced with an increasingly complex world of data streams, we’re all looking for ways to do more in less time, using the data available to us to make better decisions. And we’re starting young: studies indicate that people aged 12 – 24 are racking up 23 cumulative hours a day, engaged in up to five activities simultaneously. Sounds like a typical day for me too, but apparently, this isn’t the way to make a clear decision.

How can we make better decisions? Simplify. At the end of the day, that’s what I try to do for my clients: see the problem or decision in simple terms. Don’t over analyze it. Don’t over think it.

So even in the fast-paced information age, there’s still a place for outside perspective that is not burdened with the complex information available inside the business. I guess my dad’s advice still holds true, “keep it simple stupid.”