Perspective is everything, and the ability to see issues from varied perspectives is a skill not to be underestimated. Put another way, never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
Setting aside the economic motivation a barber might have for always saying you need a haircut, a barber, even if honest, is more likely to notice imperfections in your coif that others will miss just because of his or her training. In other words, no one other than the barber will notice that you could use a haircut.
And that’s why it can be beneficial to add new members to your team as you evaluate changes like a website update, brand refresh, or even changes to a marketing campaign.
Certainly, you should be examining the data you are gathering through your analytics program, and let that information guide you. But you should also be looking at your marketing with a fresh perspective. The questions you should be asking are:
- Is there a different approach?
- How would I do this if I couldn’t do it this way?
- How would _______ do this? (Fill in the blank with someone from a completely different industry.)
Notice that we’re looking for alternative ways to achieve the same goals. We’re not immediately asking, “Is there a better way?” That hinders the process. We can evaluate later whether an approach you hand’t previously considered offered enough advantages – or even the possibility of advantages – to justify the expense of change.
If you adopt a more abstract approach like this, you’ll ask different questions, arrive at different answers, and increase the probability of making larger-than-incremental improvements in your marketing.
