• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 25, 2016

Cross-channel marketing is already a daunting task when it comes to execution of each channel, considering planning, creative, and vendor communication challenges.

And then there is data.

Speaking at the MediaPost Brand Marketers Summit, Erin Everhart, senior manager of media strategy for The Home Depot, has a more common sense approach.

She doesn’t get pinned down into the “exact specific number of everything.” This is “because every different source I pull data from is going to show a different number. I’m going to spin my wheels in figuring out which is the right number.”

And that will cause other troubles: “I won’t have time to do my actual job.”

Everhart says when it comes down to analyzing results or figuring out where campaigns should be, there’s another approach: Trends. “Do the trends make sense from the different sources? Then I can plan effectively. Ultimately use your data more responsibly.”

Still lots of data can be good. “It’s a great time to be a marketer.” She adds: “But just because we have this, doesn’t mean we have to suffocate.”