The intersection of Wall St. and Madison Ave.

There are conceptual similarities between stock market investing and marketing.

Momentum and psychology play a key role in investing. Many studies have shown that when it comes to making decisions on how to invest money, investors often move together in a herding fashion. They feel safety in numbers, likely stemming from our ancestors long ago who banded together for survival. That mentality, and fear of moving against the grain, was a large part of what fueled the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s and real estate bubble in the 2000s.

In the world of investing, running with the herd usually isn’t wise. As your mom used to say, just because everyone’s doing it, doesn’t make it right.

“Me-tooism” permeates the marketing world as well. Think about social media. Businesses built Facebook pages and tweeted en mass, without understanding the purpose, setting goals or tracking return on investment. They jumped aboard the hype wagon in fear of missing out. Now, much like a burned investor who dove head first into a hot stock, many of those companies are retrenching, developing measureable plans around social media and asking questions about value beyond just the number of Facebook “likes.”

The intention is not to discredit social media or those early adopters. Some of the companies who first engaged in social media are the most successful today — and the brand engagement value they have generated is off the charts. Sometimes being first to market, even with no plan or a flawed strategy, can have learning curve advantages.

The point is that too often companies engage in marketing activities for the wrong reasons such as: “everyone else is doing it,” or “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Like investors, each business has (or should have) different goals, customer attributes, market positioning and budgets. Sometimes the smart play is to contradict the herd, or challenge the status quo, and question the direct impact of what you’re doing as marketers. Ask yourself some difficult questions about the end value on your marketing investment. Evaluate your marketing approach from the outside in. Connecting the dots between marketing activities (especially online) and leads/customers has never been easier.

Bucking trends and forging a path away from the herd can be counterintuitive for some. So use data to support decision-making, or experiment with new strategies before fully engaging them. Just remember studies have shown that investors who follow the herd typically underperform. Businesses who fail to do their own due diligence and venture into new marketing territory are likely doomed to do the same.