Keeping Up with Change: How Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety Can Transform Your Marketing

As a marketing leader, you’re living the ulcer-inducing challenge of adapting to rapid shifts in customer behaviour, market conditions, and technology. It’s a nightmare. It's like trying to hit a moving target.

But what if there was a guiding principle that could help you manage these changes more effectively? Or one that could help you explain to your colleagues why an annual budget to hit fixed targets in a VUCA world is going to lead to failure?

Enter Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety, a concept that, while rooted in cybernetics, has valuable implications for marketing.

Dr Steve Morlidge a leading thinker, speaker and writer joined the Unicorny podcast in May 2024 to explain how a new approach to business organisation can help marketers drive success. The answer lies in Beyond Budgeting and Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety features large in The Little Book of Beyond Budgeting  (use UNICORNY25 for a 25% discount).

As Dr Steve says in the book: “Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety explains how complex, purposeful systems – such as businesses – interact with their environment. Ashby’s Law tells us that, in order to reliably achieve its goals, the flexibility of the control system needs to (at least) match the volatility of its environment.”

You and Ashby’s Law

The goals in your business are your business and marketing objectives. The control systems in your business are: your marketing budget, your marketing plan, your policies and procedures. The environment is the nightmare I opened the blog with.

So, translating Ashby’s Law into your and my world goes like this.

If you have rigid systems - a fixed budget, a fixed plan and tight policies and procedures and the environment is volatile (or unpredictable), your results will also be volatile.

Conversely, If you have fixed goals, i.e. targets that absolutely must hit, and the environment is volatile, you must match the variability of the market in your systems in order to achieve results.

What does that mean?

Option 1: Increase system flexibility to match the market

It means that in tough times, you need to reduce the rigidity of your systems instead of increasing them. That might seem counterintuitive. When the going gets tough, the marketing budget gets scrutinised and controlled. Ashby tells us that if you tighten control, you threaten success.

So, to increase your chances of success in this market, increase agility, decentralise and give those closest to the customer power to make choices.

Option 2: Reduce market variation if you want to keep your systems and processes in place

If you work in a business that is not likely to allow for decentralisation and the relaxation of centralised controls, the only way you can hope to hit your targets is to reduce market variation.

In this case, that means niche down and increase focus to reduce the amount of variation your systems are exposed to. In practical terms, that means communicating to your CEO and CFO that if targets are to be hit and systems, controls and budgets are to remain in place, your strategy must be to focus your efforts.

Interestingly, as I write this... I realise, we’ve opted for option 2 in my day job and guess what? Broadly, it’s working.

Practical Steps to Apply Ashby’s Law in Your Marketing

1. Conduct Regular Reviews: Periodically assess your marketing approach and tools. Are you too reliant on one method? What are the new trends or tools that you haven't tried yet?
2. Experiment Continuously: Test different approaches to see what works best for your audience. Use A/B testing for ads, try new social media platforms, or experiment with different messaging to see what resonates.
3. Gather and Use Feedback: Listen to what your customers are saying. Feedback can guide you in adapting your strategies to better meet their needs and expectations.
4. Stay Educated: The world of marketing is always evolving. Stay up-to-date with the latest tools, trends, and technologies. Attending workshops, webinars, and conferences can also provide new ideas and perspectives.

Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety isn't just a complex cybernetic theory; it's a practical approach to staying flexible and responsive in a world where customer tastes and market conditions can shift overnight. By embracing this principle, you can build a more resilient and adaptive marketing strategy, ready to face whatever changes come your way. You can also explain to your CFO why rigid controls in tight markets almost always leads to underperformance.