Image: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s a famous quote from the famous and quotable American author, Mark Twain. It’s also true. In advertising and marketing, we call it “research”.
I’ve used research as both a buyer and a seller of advertising media. One thing I learned early on is that figures can be manipulated to highlight what the seller wants and to hide what they perhaps don’t highlighted. I don’t blame the sellers, they need to showcase their product in the most positive possible light. In fact when I was a seller of advertising in national magazines, we met after the research was released twice yearly to review our numbers and also the numbers of the competing titles in the category to determine our strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of the other titles and how best we could showcase our strengths and how to address any concerns buyers may have over our weaknesses.
I don’t mean to imply that all research is bad or that it is biased. I mean it needs to be interpreted with caution and with a keen and skeptical eye toward the source and what it purports to prove.
The first thing I look at when I evaluate a piece of research is to look at the source. If it’s championed by a major industry trade organization, I won’t say I discount it completely, but I do look carefully at what it says and seek 3rd party source to corroborate it.
Image Credit: Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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