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# Daily Lab: More like darts than archery
- URL: https://kelfordinc.com/daily-lab-more-like-darts-than-archery/
- Published: 2023-10-12T10:24:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-01-27T17:25:31.000Z
- Description: What happens if you miss?
- Author: Joel Kelly
- Tags: Daily Labs, books, commentary, strategy, risk, thinking, model

To grossly oversimplify some sports I barely understand, in archery, the closer you get to the bullseye, the better.

It’s logical and straightforward.

**But in darts, the best points are laid out between lower ones.**

Rory Sutherland, in *Alchemy*, explains how this applies to marketing:

*“Most darts players aim for the treble 20, because that's what the professionals do. However, for all but the best darts players this is a mistake: if you are not very good, your best approach is not to aim at treble 20 at all, but instead to aim at the south-west quadrant of the board, towards treble 19 and 16\. You won’t get 180 that way, but nor will you score 3\. It is a common mistake in darts to assume that you should simply aim for the highest possible score — you should also consider the consequences if you miss.*

*Many real-life decisions have a scoring rubric that is more like darts than archery.”*

Marketing is more like darts than archery:

**It’s not about just doing *something* and hoping for the best.**

Sometimes, aiming for the wrong place, at the wrong time, is worse than doing nothing at all—because it costs us money it won’t return.

In your own marketing: Are you aiming for the 20, or are you aiming somewhere safer?

**And what will happen if you miss?**

🧠

This post contains 100% organic content, no generative AI was used in its creation.