Done is Better Than Perfect: Embracing Experimentation in Marketing

The endless pursuit of unattainable perfection seduces with the promise of idealized outcomes just one more tweak away. Yet it also paralyzes progress, turning bold creators into endless tweakers afraid to ship. This trap ensnares countless marketing teams that polish campaigns endlessly only to launch too late or not at all. The drive for perfection becomes perfectionism, and it is the enemy of effective marketing.

Fortunately, an antidote exists. It’s a mindset embedded in that deceptively simple phrase: Done is better than perfect.

‍

Done Gets It Out There

‍

In marketing, done opens doors while perfect hides behind them. Done ships products that customers can use. Done launches campaigns that inspire. Done sends emails people actually open. Done is about motion, while perfect is about hesitation. As Seth Godin wrote:  

“If you wait until the product is perfect or the marketing plan is flawless, you'll never make a difference.”

Particularly in the rapid iteration world of modern marketing, perfection is often an illusion that robs us of the joy of creation and of customers, too.

As marketers, our metric should not be perfection but impact. Did we spark positive change? Deliver memorable experiences? Make people think or feel something new? On these fronts, done provides the platform to find out while perfect leaves us guessing.

‍

Fail Fast. Learn Faster.

‍

Herein lies the deeper value of done. It opens the feedback loop that powers future improvement through real customer data. Done gets your product or campaign in front of actual people, offering the chance to observe what delights, confuses, or falls flat. Armed with these insights, you can then tweak, twist, overhaul or upgrade based on the voice of the people, not the assumptions of a fallible marketer.

Or, as design firm Ideo puts it,

“Fail early to succeed sooner.”

This concept of embracing failures as teachers rather than obstacles is captured in the technology sector’s motto of “fail fast, learn faster.” When experimentation rules over perfectionism, missteps become mile markers pointing towards better iterations ahead.

‍

The Power of the MVP  

‍

One framework for implementing “done is better than perfect” is the minimum viable product (MVP) approach. This approach emphasizes launching the simplest possible version of a product to start learning from actual usage. Spare aesthetics and limited features are acceptable compromises. The goal is to ship.

Gathering insights from an early, imperfect MVP beat waiting endlessly for finished perfection down the line. The product’s evolution relies not on the isolated opinions of a few decision-makers but on the collective wisdom of the people who matter most—customers.

‍

Unleashing the MVP  

‍

What would applying MVP thinking look like for marketers?

Here are a few ideas:  

Testing email subject line variants on a small list before finalizing for a full blast. Designing multiple thumbnail options for your new YouTube video to see which drives more clicks before picking a single option. Releasing an early digital copy of your new product guide to crowdsource feedback from friendlies before going to print.

Essentially, embrace every marketing campaign or asset as an opportunity for experimentation at MVP scale. Ship rougher versions to targeted (and forgiving!) groups first. See what provokes interest versus mehs before committing fully.

Does this mean brands must choose between quality or speed? Not at all. MVP experiments can still reflect core brand values while moving through iterations at pace. Prioritizing “done” means saving perfect for version three and not waiting endlessly for an ephemeral version one. For enterprising marketers, MVP provides the license to progress by learning.

‍

A Culture of Creativity: Three Takeaways

‍

How, then, to foster an organizational culture that prizes experimentation over perfection?

A few essential mindset shifts to embrace:  

First, celebrate lessons over failures. Reframe setbacks, whether an MVP flop or campaign blah, as data points lighting the way forward versus embarrassments deserving punishment. Applaud bold bets that may miss but offer critical learnings.

Second, incentivize velocity. Structure team goals and metrics to value rapid iteration and continuous small launches to achieve minimum viable impact. Judge projects based on how quickly key learnings were extracted versus simply whether they succeeded outright.

Finally, stop second-guessing. Perfectionism is often driven by leaders endlessly reversing or tweaking direction. Once the MVP-level path is set, empower teams to progress independently. Trust their judgment and resist restarting every time a new concern emerges.

Of course, balancing empowerment with alignment and coherence remains an art—no toolkit provides plug-and-play solutions. But by embracing experimentation over perfection as a cultural vision, modern marketing organizations can transform into nimble innovation engines that deliver impact, not just ideas.

‍

The Next Stage of Marketing Excellence

‍

Done sets things in motion. Perfect keeps them frozen as works eternally in progress. In a world demanding responsiveness and customer-centricity, marketing has no choice but to elevate action over elaboration.

Build momentum through a succession of small MVP victories instead of forever polishing one product. Send a good email today rather than a perfect one someday. Launch a helpful hub page now instead of a flawless site down the road. Delivery establishes credibility and trust. Endless delays erode both.

Done opens the door to user insights and market learnings that perfect leaves closed through hesitation and second guessing. Done powers the fail-fast learn-faster cycle. Perfect simply fails slower without the fasting learning.

Modern marketing excellence lies not in unattainable perfection but in perpetual motion. Done sets progress in action. Perfect stalls it indefinitely. As marketers, our work shapes perceptions, fuels trends and forges connections. That is too important to leave lingering as works perpetually in waiting. Customers deserve our best effort today, not our unrealized perfect tomorrow.

So, embrace that next creative leap. Hit send on that campaign. Launch that video. Get your ideas beyond the walls of your company and into the people's minds. See what resonates or where they shrug. Then tweak, twist, rework. And set the next cycle of perpetual improvement in motion once again.

Done for now? Congratulations. You are ready for what matters most - impact.

Because when done, it marks the start of better; there is no better place to be.

‍