For a long time I thought about writing an article explaining the virtues of using marketing theory when building any marketing strategy. The idea, however, sounded so pompous that I tended to resist it, even though my experience and observation of marketing practice told me otherwise.

Then I read a recent article on ClickZ.com entitled, "The Theory Trap". Here, the author, Chris Yeh, warned marketers to be careful about following theory and to instead rely heavily on practice. The basic argument was that business and marketing theory suggested that firms should dump millions of dollars into branding with the expectations of "building a national brand overnight." Also, that AOL's Steve Case became wildly successful in part due to his forgetting marketing theory and focusing on ease of use and blanketing the planet with free samples.

This is nonsense, plain and simple. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you forget marketing theory, your marketing plan, and your product are likely to fail. Why? Let's take a look at some facts.

WHAT IS MARKETING THEORY, AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

Theories in marketing (and business) go back a long way. Like in the physical and social sciences, they are a set of logical arguments usually empirically tested on not one particular case in time, but over a large number of cases over a long period of time. One classic example of this process is the work done by Rogers and Shoemaker on the adoption of innovations back in the 1950s. They showed, and tons of empirical evidence over the past 50 years supports this, that new innovations are more quickly adopted when they have certain characteristics, including ease-of-use and ease of trial.

That is exactly what Steve Case was practicing when he made AOL easy to use (when you could access it) and when he stalked everybody with free samples. This is exactly what we've talked about in previous articles on this site, including "How to Get Your New Technology Quickly Adopted"….and "What You Can Learn from Informercials".

Marketing theory has provided almost all of the present knowledge on branding as well (though you will often see tried-and-true knowledge repackaged as original branding thought). But one thing you won't find in marketing or business theory is any rule that tells you to haphazardly throw money at branding or advertising. That many dot.coms did throw away money hoping to brand themselves overnight was more the result of pushy venture capitalists and people who were ill-informed about the lack of a first mover advantage (again, the theory of communication effects could have helped them).

Not convinced? Look at what the people at the Industry Standard (that ceased publication last Thursday) said about their own hopes and dreams fueling the crazy spending on building an overnight brand name.

OF PRICELINE AND E-BOOKS

Last year when I wrote the weekly e-Marketing column for Upside.com, I often used theory as a basis for my provocative opinions (my editor asked me to write with a strong "voice"). Armed with theory, I treaded into some very controversial topics. For example, I used the marketing theories of benefit segmentation and consumer behavior to say that Priceline was crazy for going into the grocery business ("Gambling for Groceries with Priceline"). You should have seen the email I received. Here is one from a reader (who I later learned worked at Merrill Lynch, one of the underwriters of Priceline's IPO).

"I just read your article "Gambling for groceries at Priceline.com". I have used this service from Priceline. Your article is filled with assumptions and misinformation about how this buying process works. You obviously have never used this service before. In fact, I think you are doing a major disservice to the people who read your article. Why don't you try and do a little more research next time you plan on writing an article?"

Which was right, theory or the "out-of-the-box thinking" of Priceline? Well Priceline got out of the grocery business not too long after this article was published. And while Webvan had some diehard fans (I was one of them) they also couldn't change enough consumers' behavior (yes, as theory predicts, consumers don't change that fast) to make a viable business.

As I've said before, theory teaches us that innovations are slowly adopted under certain conditions. One of those conditions is that when the innovation is not compatible with the way people do things, innovations catch on slowly (almost no matter how cheap they are!). My article called "The Problem with E-Books" was based on these fundamental ideas, but it didn't stop practitioners from emailing me and telling me how I just didn't "get it". You should have seen the hate letters I received!. Here is one less hysterical example from someone in the publishing industry:

"While yours was a thoughtful article, it would have been nice if you'd been better acquainted with what's actually been going on in our industry before prognosticating about its future."

Have you seen many people reading e-books lately? Who will better predict the future…the companies who want consumers to accept what they produce, or the theories of psychology which understand that people don't change as fast as the technology that's often pushed on them?

IS THEORY A TRAP?

It is clear that theory can't provide all the answers. Part of the reason is that arguments take time to develop into theories, supporting or disconfirming evidence has to be gathered, and so there aren't theories to help with everything. For this reason there are times when you do need to try out new things. But don't make the mistake of thinking theory can't help you at all, or look for magic potions like "new rules." Most of the marketing problems you face on a daily basis - both on and off the web - have answers in theory.

Having problems with your affiliates? If you look at them as just a channel of distribution (they are simply middlemen, taking a typical "cut of the action"), there are many theories that can help you (see our tutorials on channels of distribution).

Have questions about advertising? Again, there are many theories that can help you (see our tutorials on communication and advertising). When the web advertising starts looking more and more like TV advertising, you can bet that there will be hundreds of articles written trying to understand how web advertising works. But, once again, these same theories can be applied to web advertising and they will help clear up all your confusion.

No, I wouldn't worry about theory being a trap. Not appreciating what theory can do for you…now that's a trap to worry about.