In marketing, data is everything—until it isn’t. While numbers and analytics provide valuable insights, great brands don’t just follow the data—they lead it. This means knowing when to trust the numbers and when to trust something deeper: intuition, experience, and conversations with real people.
I’ve built my career on blending these two forces—data and instinct—to help brands make bold, strategic, and effective marketing decisions. Here’s how I do it and why it works.
1. Data Shows Trends, But People Make Decisions
I love a good spreadsheet. Give me conversion rates, engagement metrics, and heat maps, and I’ll happily analyze them for patterns. But, data is historical. It tells us what has happened—not necessarily what will happen next.
That’s where instinct comes in. I don’t just read reports—I read the room. I ask friends, family, and even strangers about what’s driving their actions. This informal, real-world feedback often outpaces what national-level data suggests—especially when you’re working with a niche audience or local market where audience nuance matters more than broad statistics.
2. Much Data is Too General for Effective Marketing
Industry-wide reports are useful, but they don’t tell the full story of how your specific audience behaves.
For example, a national study might claim TikTok is the hottest platform for engagement, but if your target customers are local business owners who prefer LinkedIn, blindly following the data is a waste of resources. Instead of making assumptions, I dig deeper—running small test campaigns, talking to customers directly, and analyzing hyper-local insights to make marketing decisions that actually move the needle.
3. When Data Conflicts with Reality, Trust the Human Experience
I’ve seen it happen over and over—the numbers suggest one thing, but the real world tells a different story.
For example, data might show that long-form video content has lower completion rates. But when I actually talk to customers, they say they love in-depth content that provides real value. The solution? Instead of blindly cutting video length, I might adjust the format, break it into a series, or make it more engaging.
Data is powerful, but it lacks context. That’s why I always pair quantitative research with qualitative insights—listening to what people are actually saying in the comments, in conversations, and in their buying behavior. That’s what turns a good campaign into a great one.
4. Data Can’t Predict Trends—But Instinct Can Set Them
By the time a trend shows up in the data, it’s already old news. If you’re only making decisions based on historical numbers, you’re playing catch-up—not leading.
The brands that truly stand out are the ones that sense a shift before the numbers confirm it. That means being willing to experiment, trusting creative instincts, and taking calculated risks.
Some of the best marketing moves I’ve made started as educated hunches—backed by small tests and later confirmed by data. Sometimes, you have to lead with instinct and let the numbers catch up.
The Sweet Spot: Where Data & Instinct Work Together
I’m not saying to ignore data—far from it. The best marketing strategies live at the intersection of numbers and intuition.
Here’s how I strike the balance:
✔ Use data to identify patterns—but don’t let it dictate every decision.
✔ Validate instincts with small-scale tests before making big moves.
✔ Listen to real-world feedback alongside hard analytics.
✔ Stay ahead of trends by watching behavior before the data catches up.
The best marketers trust the numbers, but never forget the humans behind them.
In an industry obsessed with metrics, true marketing mastery is knowing when to listen to data—and when to lead beyond it. Because the best campaigns aren’t just optimized—they’re visionary.
@ 2025 Alissa Paik Consulting