LEVERAGE: GETTING THE BEST RESULT POSSIBLE THROUGH TESTING

Very few companies ever test any portion of their marketing, and then compare the test results. They "place all their bets" on arbitrary, prejudiced decisions and conjecture. This is unfortunate and unwise for a number of reasons.

First, we don't have the ability or the control to prejudge and decide for ourselves what the marketplace really wants, what is the maximum fair price the market will pay to get it, what kind of package they'll be most receptive to, or what approach will be best accepted.

It's not our right to make arbitrary decisions concerning what our customers and prospects want. It's our obligation to test and then let the market tell us what they really desire as they "vote with their pocketbooks" (which is the only kind of vote that counts in marketing ...because it's totally "honest").

When you test, you effectively set the stage for your prospects and customers to give you their "unbiased votes"

It's important to test prices (one price against another), headlines (one headline against another), guarantees, ad concepts and offers, plus where (and when) you place your ads and offers. The list goes on and on, but these are the most important aspects to test (and they'll have the most impact on your responses... and on the increases you'll see in your "bottom line").

Your reward for all your extra effort can be astounding (and this is proven true time and time again). When you test the above aspects (always one at a time and with a small but representative segment of your market) and then carefully record and analyze your results, you'll almost always discover that one of your test prices, headlines, guarantees, etc. always seems to "out pull" all the others in your test by a substantial margin.

Think about what this means to your profit potential...now with the same amount of effort and expense as before you can begin using this same approach to more of your market and enjoy a multiplication of your previous results. (But do exercise caution at this point and gradually expand to include the rest of your market ...small tests need to be verified with larger tests before you decide to "roll-out" to everyone).

When you systematically test in this way you "leverage" your marketing and begin to demand (and get) maximum performance from every marketing "dollar" and amount of time spent.

REMEMBER: You owe it to yourself to get the absolute best result possible from everything you do! You do that through testing.

If you would like to know more about how to market your business effectively, e-mail the "Marketing Guy" at marketingguy@biznetonline.com

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Last modified: November 08, 2002