Doubting the default is the first step to be able to think outside of the most common and saturated set of channels and marketing methods.
It is also a way to think offbeat and be able to come up with new ideas – for channels, growth hacks, platforms, and tools – outside of the default set of ways to do marketing.
How to build this mindset:
Start doubting the default way you do anything.
Apply this to personal life as much as to work and marketing experiments.
For Example: Think about “While most startups look for funding, is it really the right path for me? or “Is marriage really the best option for everyone?” or “Do we really need to go to an office to be able to work?”.
Doubt the default but don’t necessarily go against it – until you have sufficient data.
Make your decisions based on data after you’ve tested alternative ways of doing things.
How this mindset helps in growth marketing:
You must have heard that “marketers ruin everything”.
Most popular channels become expensive – as more budgets start flowing into the same limited channels.
High budget campaigns saturate audiences – as the same audience sees enough of a campaign.
Digital entrepreneurs and marketers copy and steal – and the users mostly understand the same content or service and can even identify marketing campaigns sales strategies after becoming used to them.
Most importantly, the most popular routes are often NOT the lowest cost and fastest.
Just by talking the alternative path, you might reach the top faster and with lower budgets in terms of time, money, and resources.
This is exactly what doubting the default allows you to go: it allows you to find alternative paths to your goal metrics.
Rather than following the same marketing strategy all other marketers are following, you can explore a better way to achieving business goals.