5 Irrational Leaps Marketers Make Every Day — and How to Avoid Them

April 15, 2010 By Ethan Boldt

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In April 13's "Direct Mail Testing in 2010 — Copy, Offer, Lists, Formats, Personalization and More" webinar, we heard from two prominent direct marketers — Grant Johnson, president of Johnson Direct and author of "Fairytale Marketing," and Steve Cuno, chairman of Response Agency and author of "Prove It Before You Promote It." Both have rosters of big and small clients that still test, and both discussed why testing is more important than ever in the current climate. (The webinar is available for the next 90 days via on-demand; click here if interested.)

During one section of the hour-long webinar, Steve Cuno illustrated, in his colorful fashion, "five irrational leaps" that marketers use every day in their businesses, thus demonstrating in a fun way why everyone must test!

Leap 1: "Everyone knows"
Cuno gave the example of 10 things that "everyone knows." Then he asked which five are the myths?

1. Eating chocolate makes acne worse.
2. More babies are born when the moon is full.
3. Red cars get an unfair share of speeding tickets.
4. Bats are blind.
5. Each year, lemmings drown themselves en masse.
6. When countries go to war, capitalistic trade between them is often a contributing cause.
7. Erin Brockovich proved that water pollution by Pacific Gas & Electric caused cancer.
8. Stress causes ulcers.
9. Acupuncture has been clinically proven to be an effective medical treatment in some cases.
10. Crime in the U.S. has been on the increase for the past 25 years.

Okay, ready for the answer? All are myths.

Leap 2: "My tummy tells me … "
I admit that this one immediately reminded me of Stephen Colbert's send-up of former President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner ("That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. Now, I know some of you are going to say, 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.")

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