By Kristin Shawd

Has the digital age, with all its data, killed the artistic side of marketing? It’s a valid question as metrics and analytics are increasingly hyped as the sure-fire solution for many of today’s marketing challenges.

If this is true, it suggests that marketers (and thus all business owners) should focus more on data and analytics, even if it comes at the expense of the artistic side of marketing. 

Let’s think about that. Do we really believe that science can replace art in marketing? 

Online Engagement: Balancing Art and Science

Today we share an infographic that outlines our guidance to small and medium-size business clients about where to put the focus between art and science when it comes to online engagement, a key element in the marketing plan of small businesses. 

We believe it's a purposeful balance of both art and science!

Key Takeaway

Marketing was once all about exposure— eyes (or ears) on a brand’s message via TV, print, or radio. 

This is no longer the case. Today marketing is increasingly about interaction and engagement, not just exposure. 

Each time a customer interacts with a brand via a computer or electronic device that engagement is trackable, giving rise to the (historically) new scientific side of marketing — data. Some believe data is now overtaking art in the realm of content marketing and pushing it to second-class status.  

We reject this notion. Forsake your right-brained creative team and your left-brained analytical minds will soon be showing you metrics on the decline!

Instead, enable your data-driven, "science-minded" team members or partners to use their skills to:

• help set online engagement goals
• track data
• measure success
• tweak documented goals and plans
• produce reports that demonstrate ROI to the C-Suite

And, enable your right-brained, artistic team members or partners to use their creative instinct and intuition to produce content that engages your target audience through:

• emotion
• storytelling
• humor
• human issues
• design

The human brain has two sides (logical and creative, left and right). So, use the whole-brain approach when trying to engage with customers and potential clients online...remember...they're humans.

Contact Mulligan Management Group

Need help striking a balance in your online content strategy? Give us a call at 330-472-7673 for a free 30-minute consultation!