Doesn’t Everyone Think Backwards?
Focus on the end goal & then define pathways.
“Backwards planning keeps the final goal in sight.”
A research study from Korea University Business School points to the possibility that people who think backwards are more likely to succeed.
Explained another way, people who think backwards tackle a problem or challenge by focusing on the end goal, and then identify steps needed to achieve that goal.
When I read this Inc. article about the study, it made complete sense to me, and I even wondered, “Is this really backwards thinking?”
Maybe it’s because I’m a practical optimist, but thinking backwards seems intuitively normal to me. Even in marketing.
Yes, it can be frustrating as a marketer.
Marketing automation tools are never truly automated.
Direct attribution tools are limited when you consider the multitude of online and offline brand experiences.
Truly understanding customers on a 1:1 level can be daunting, especially if your business sells via a relatively anonymous sales process (i.e. consumer packaged goods sold through retail or other distribution methods).
So, instead of always being focused only on what current resources and technology can accomplish, why not envision where you want your marketing to go?
Instead of being paralyzed by limitations (or the status quo) dig deeper by thinking backwards.
What type of customer understanding or marketing efficiency are you trying to achieve in the end? What problem are you ultimately trying to solve, and what will solving that problem allow you to do?
It’s by looking far ahead, and then thinking backwards to identify pathways that innovation happens.
Steve Jobs imagined ordinary people owning a personal computer and the ways it would make their lives easier. That was a daunting vision at the time Apple was trying to break into the market. By always looking forward and imagining what could be, and then thinking backward to how to develop and design the as yet unknown, Apple has become a prescient tech company.
How could you look forward and then think backward to introduce innovation at your company, and in your industry? Who could you partner with to develop the pathways needed to achieve your ultimate goal?
