The 6 steps of decision making are: problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, purchase action, and post-purchase evaluation. That sequence describes how buyers move from awareness of a need to a final choice, and it has been a cornerstone of consumer behaviour theory for decades. Most marketers know the model. Far fewer…
Product marketing managers sit at the intersection of customer insight, competitive positioning, and commercial strategy, which makes them one of the most qualified people to shape how a product is priced. Not to own the number outright, but to ensure the number reflects what the market will actually bear, what customers genuinely value, and what…
Privacy regulation has done something the industry spent years resisting: it has forced marketers to be more deliberate. The era of cheap, frictionless targeting built on third-party data is contracting, and what is replacing it is not chaos. It is a return to marketing fundamentals that were always more durable than the shortcut. The practical…
Most marketing teams track too many KPIs and make too few decisions with them. The problem is not a lack of data. It is that KPIs have become a reporting ritual rather than a decision-making tool, and the two things are not the same. If your weekly dashboard has 40 metrics and your team cannot…
Strategic leadership decision making is the process of identifying, evaluating, and committing to choices that shape an organisation’s direction, resource allocation, and competitive position over time. Done well, it is disciplined, deliberate, and grounded in commercial reality. Done poorly, it is expensive theatre dressed up as strategic thinking. Most leaders do not fail because they…
A decision making strategy is a structured approach to how choices get made inside an organisation, covering who decides, what information they need, and how quickly they act. Without one, decisions default to whoever shouts loudest, whoever has the most slides, or whoever booked the meeting room. In marketing, that pattern is expensive. Most marketing…
Misleading correlations occur when two variables move together in a way that looks meaningful but shares no causal relationship. In marketing, they are everywhere, and they are expensive. When you build strategy around a correlation that does not hold up under scrutiny, you are not making data-driven decisions. You are making confident mistakes. The problem…
Competitive intelligence resources are the tools, sources, and processes that help you understand what competitors are doing, why it might be working, and where the gaps in the market actually sit. The best ones give you decision-grade information, not just a data dump to populate a slide. Most marketing teams have access to more competitive…
A competitor analysis chart is a structured visual tool that maps competitors against a defined set of criteria, typically capabilities, positioning, pricing, or market presence, so you can identify gaps, overlaps, and strategic opportunities at a glance. Done well, it turns a sprawling research exercise into something a leadership team can act on. Done poorly,…
The make or buy decision is rarely just a cost calculation. Buyers weigh capability, control, risk, and trust, often in that order, and the vendor who understands that sequence has a significant advantage over the one leading with price. Most marketing misses this entirely. Whether the buyer is a CFO evaluating whether to build an…
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