Embracing the tension between creative and data-backed growth decisions
Your digital house vs your digital home
When I visit a new city, I always head to two places: a local history museum and a contemporary art gallery. There is something about the duality of understanding a new place through these two opposing lenses that I am drawn to. This same tension between structure and freedom, historical data and creative instinct has become the foundation of my approach to business growth.
When I first branched out as a freelance consultant 5 years ago, I pitched my approach as performance marketing through an organic content lens. It worked. I think this was because, firstly, it reflected my experience, I began my career in editorial and content strategies for brands like Pamono, MINI, Sonos, before moving into performance roles and, secondly, the market was crying out for performance marketers who looked beyond the numbers.
Driving low acquisition costs was still the name of the social media ad game but, at the time, lots of ads were completely unrecognisable from a brand’s organic content. I approached ad channels with a larger focus on brand and storytelling and it worked.
I have since phased out working with brands on ad strategies but this duality remains at the core of my approach to growth. I now support early-stage brands to grow sustainably online without over-relying on social media. I think of this like building a digital home rather than a digital house.
The data-driven decisions are the structure: the walls, beams, floors, and foundation. They provide stability, measurement, and direction. For example, deciding which new products to launch based on your Total Addressable Market, demand, and competition. Or prioritising work on the backend structure of your website to increase traffic and conversion.
The creatively-driven decisions are what make your house a home. The colours, furniture, and garden design that bring the space to life and make it uniquely yours. These kinds of decisions could look like declining collabs with partners whose values don’t align or investing in a physical space that won’t bring immediate returns in revenue but helps you forge deeper connections with your community, brings joy to your week, and is a brand asset.
Without data, we have a beautiful brand that no one will ever know about. Without creativity, we have a technically sound online business that no one will connect with. The magic happens at their intersection.
This tension shows up in my own business every month. The data loving part of my brain tells me to take the well paid project with a company whose product I don’t totally love. The creative part of my brain tells me to go with the less well paid project that will be creatively fulfilling or leave space for personal projects.
It’s an ongoing tension that I’ve learnt to embrace rather than worry over because the reality is both parts are vital to creating a financially viable, creatively fulfilling business.
As you build out your growth strategy, consider where you might be over-indexing on one side of this equation. Are you so focused on the numbers that the heart of why you do what you do is lost on us? Or could the drier, more technical parts of your business use some love? Balancing both is an ongoing work in progress - if it feels a bit wobbly at times you are not alone.
Hey if we haven’t met yet I’m Matilda Lucy, a Digital Strategist supporting early stage brands to grow sustainably online. I’ve also recently opened up a handful of 1:1 strategy sessions for creative freelancers and solopreneurs to map out specific growth opportunities beyond social media.
You can find out more about my work on my website or book a free intro call here to discuss working together. Thanks for reading Broken Growth!
Absolutely agree! I feel like the marketing world has over-indexed into data-driven activities in order to show its value but we really need the best of both worlds, head and heart!