Most brand strategists treat data like a crystal ball.
Feed it enough inputs, and it'll tell you the future. Build the dashboard, run the sentiment analysis, and track the brand health score.
Then they're shocked when their "data-driven" positioning flops.
Data doesn't predict the future.
It never has.
It shows you what already happened. The strategists who win understand this isn't a limitation, it's how you're supposed to use it.
Here's the fundamental mistake: thinking data generates strategy.
It doesn't.
It can't.
Data tells you which positioning angles resonated last quarter. Which message variants converted better. Which customer segments bought versus browsed.
That's valuable, but it's descriptive, not prescriptive.
When you let data create your positioning, you're averaging your way into mediocrity. You're asking "what did customers respond to before?" instead of "what will differentiate us tomorrow?"
Netflix didn't pivot to streaming because data told them to.
Apple didn't reposition around "Think Different" because focus groups suggested it.
Those were strategic bets about where the market was heading, not where it had been. (This is where most positioning projects die.)
Data's job isn't to tell you what your brand should be. Data's job is to eliminate what your brand shouldn't be.
Use it like this:
Bad approach: Survey customers → find patterns → build positioning around what they said they want
Good approach: Form hypothesis about future positioning → use data to stress-test it → kill what contradicts reality → execute what survives
Data shows you behavioral signals: which customers stay longest, spend most, refer others. Which touchpoints drive decisions. Which competitors are genuinely vulnerable versus just noisy.
Strategy uses those signals to make an informed bet about where the category is moving and how to position for that future state, not the current one.
The strategists making seven figures understand this distinction. They use data to validate strategic hypotheses, not generate them. They ask, "What would need to be true for this positioning to work? What signals suggest it won't?"
Then they make the call data can't make for them.
Look at your current positioning. Was it built by asking "what does data say customers want?" or "what strategic bet are we making that data suggests is viable?"
If it's the former, you're driving forward while staring in the rearview mirror.
Data narrows the field of possible positions. Strategy picks the winner.
If you confuse those roles, you'll keep wondering why your "data-driven" brand work doesn't drive revenue.
Your brand strategist,
Shashank
P.S.
If you found this edition valuable, I'd appreciate you forwarding this email to one person who might need this perspective right now.
And if you are the one who received it, you can subscribe here.