Marc Binkley: Your Mental Model Might Be Wrong

Marc Binkley is an evidence-based marketing consultant, President of the Calgary Marketing Association, and co-host of the Sleeping Barber podcast. Through his consultancy, Quatical, he helps organizations apply marketing science to brand and business growth. This conversation explores how evidence-based thinking can improve marketing decisions, why digital measurement has distorted our understanding of effectiveness, and what marketers can learn from the scientific method. Marc and Pedro examine the limitations of the traditional marketing funnel, how people actually make buying decisions, and why better diagnosis often matters more than having more tactics. They also discuss mental and physical availability, the 95–5 Rule, the Theory of Constraints, and how marketers can build a stronger latticework of mental models without mistaking any single framework for reality. Resources talked about in this episode: A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp The Long and the Short of It by Les Binet and Peter Field The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt Future Demand by James Hurman Better Brand Health by Jenni Romaniuk Follow Marc Binkley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/ https://sleepingbarber.ca/ https://calgarycma.com/ https://www.quatical.com/ Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroportoalegre/ Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Marc Binkley and His Work 03:31 The Importance of Evidence-Based Marketing 06:10 The Evolution of Marketing Measurement 08:32 The Impact of Digital Marketing 11:00 How Digital Changed Marketing Thinking 13:37 The Limits of Digital Measurement 16:18 Why Small Brands Default to Social Media 17:21 The Importance of Asking Better Questions 20:36 Can Scientific Thinking Scale Across Marketing Teams? 22:55 Why New Ideas Threaten Core Beliefs 23:16 The Origins of the Marketing Funnel 24:59 The Strongest Arguments For and Against the Funnel 27:10 How Consumers Actually Make Buying Decisions 28:32 Mental and Physical Availability 29:48 Satisficing and the Reality of Consumer Choice 31:19 The Role of Mental Models in Strategy 33:18 Understanding the Theory of Constraints 36:21 Why Diagnosis Matters More Than Tactics 37:25 The 95–5 Rule and Future Demand 40:29 Alternatives to the Traditional Funnel 41:23 The 95–5 Cash Flow Funnel 43:05 Measuring Mental Availability 45:11 Turning Marketing Research Into Action