Marketing: Science vs. Art

This question was posed to an ad agency executive the other day by the EVP of a franchise company: Is marketing a science or an art?

The first response from the executive was to say 'art'. He seemed to think about it for a second and then allowed that there was science involved. The question is an important one, depending on how large your company is and whether you're an upstart or the dominant player.

Marketing is both a science and an art for the largest of companies. Focus groups, reams of research data, and teams of internal and external resources cover every nook and cranny. The best and brightest minds working within ad agencies then take a stab at visually representing the conclusions and, at its best, advertising is elevated to an art form.

But for smaller guys, companies that buy limited ad space every year, companies that need each ad to generate sales and not just 'create awareness' or 'build the brand', marketing and advertising needs to be a science first and foremost.

Consider:
- 10x more people read the headline than the body copy
- 6x more people read photo captions than read copy
- Direct marketing companies know that long-copy sells
- We know that a $ figure in a coupon draws better than a % off
- Frequency is more important than reach
- Demographics and psychographics can predict results before you ever put pen to paper
- Marketing degrees are handed out by Colleges of Science, not of arts

The point is, too many designers and agencies give you the "branding" argument too early in the life of your company. Branding is important, no denying it. But the right message, presented to the right audience, using the proven methods honed throughout the history of advertising, drive sales. Everything else is just pretty.

So if you're a small business, developing your first advertising campaign, be a student of the craft. You're about to spend a good chunk of money on media that might not work, on creative that "looks killer" but doesn't sell, or on offers that don't achieve your goals.

'Art' isn't necessary to drive sales. 'Science' is.