How To Use Testing For Breakthrough Marketing Results

How To Use Testing For Breakthrough Marketing Results

By Yanik Silver
www.SurefireMarketing.com

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Advertising is expensive. And it costs you the same amount of money to run an ad (or mail a letter) that brings in 2 customers as one that drives in 20 customers. So that difference is in your ad (or letter).

Let’s say you’ve come up with what you think is a good ad (powerful headline, good offer, sizzling copy, etc.), now you’re ready to test.

Testing will help you:

1. Save yourself a bunch of money.

2. Improve any results you’re currently getting.

3. Stop guessing about what works.

I’d say those are some pretty good reasons to learn all about testing and how to apply it to your business. So before spending loads of money on your new ad you can (and should) do a few low-cost/no-cost tests:

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The Sleep On It Test
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First, you should let your ad sit for at least a day. Then the next day you can come back to it with new eyes and a fresher perspective. You can find errors that weren’t apparent before. Also, your chances of writing a good ad are significantly improved with rewriting. (I will rewrite an ad or letter 3, 4 or 5 times before I’m done.)

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Reading Aloud Test
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I don’t know what it is about reading something aloud versus reading to yourself, but you’ll pick up lots and lots of insight into how good (or bad) your ad really is by reading it aloud. All the bumps and rough spots jump out at you.

Or a variation on this is to have someone else read it you. This is even better. As they’re reading it, you should take out a copy of the ad and make notes on it. One big advantage of this is your reader is completely impartial. They won’t stress certain phrases or words to make the meaning clearer. And if the reader is having trouble you know that’s an area to edit.

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Sneaky Opinion Test
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This test is really great. Take your ad off your printer and make a photocopy of it. Then go around to a few people who should be in your target market and say something like, “Take a look at this, I just found this in a magazine.” Key point: Do not tell people you wrote the ad because they’ll say how nice it is.

You’re gauging their response. If they say something like “Did you write this?” or “This is really good.” What that really means is your ad stinks.

But if you start hearing “Do you know how I can get this done?” or “Do you do this?” then you know you’re on to something good and ready to spend money on your test.

Opinions are great, but the only votes that really count are the ones that are paid for. The first thing you *don’t* want to do is call every newspaper, magazine, throw-away, etc. You need to start by testing small. And that means spending as little as possible to get accurate results.

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Test Small
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Joe Sugarman (He sold millions of Blu-blocker sunglasses) tells how he would test all his ads in the Southwestern edition of the Wall Street Journal. Because this was the cheapest and smallest edition of the Journal to test.

That way he was able to read results quickly and then decide whether or not to ‘roll-out’ to other editions. So how can you apply this information to your business?

Easy.

Let’s say you’ve been running ads in your local paper. Well, usually newspapers have zoned editions based on postal codes. So instead of paying for your ad to appear in the entire circulation, you simply put it in one of the cheapest and most representative zones available.

And by tracking the response (using a specific phone#, person, extension#, etc.) you can safely predict what results you’ll get once you go out to the entire circulation.

One more point: It’s better to run your test ad in a daily paper instead of a monthly magazine. Simply because you can ascertain information more quickly.

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Don’t Fall For Your Ad Rep’s Traps
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You cannot multiply zero. That means if there is no life in your ad — kill it before it drains more money and time from you.

Don’t listen to your media rep’s b.s. about repetition and getting discounts for multiple insertions. Remember, these guys have no clue about how to create advertising that works. If they did, they’d be running ads in their own magazines and making tons of money.

Infomercial marketers realize this point. Imagine spending $100,000.00 to produce one single 30 minute spot and then buying $400 – $1,000 in media to test it out. That’s whatbinfomercial companies do.

They know if the phones aren’t ringing after a couple of TV spots — they’re definitely not going to ring if they throw tens of thousands of dollars in media at it, either.

Follow these tips and you’ll be able to save a lot of money plus increase response. Just test until you come up with a winner and then keep running it!

(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.

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Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on
creating automatic, moneymaking websites…and he still
doesn’t know how to put up a website.

He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-
selling online marketing books and tools, which can be
found at http://www.SurefireMarketing.com/?52513
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Using a Database

Every business should have a database. Actually, you need to have a database. It is crucial that you get one and build on it. I will explain why in a minute.

Firstly – what is a database? A database is where you store all of your clients names, emails and details and also your potential clients. This is where you put your leads’ information so that you can contact them later.

You use your database to collect details of your website visitors. Generally people need to see your business or your products 5-7 times before they will act upon buying. Most of the time, people will not buy off your site on the first visit. So your main purpose of your website should actually be to capture these visitors’ details so that you can email them later with specials, great offers etc.

How do you do that? You use capture devices. A capture device is normally in the form of an ebook, or competition and people still to this day use “sign up for my newsletter” (why would I want to do that???) make your capture device exciting – let potential visitors know that you have something free to give them if they just enter their first name and email address in this little box…

Hey presto – you have a database!

Then you can use your marketing efforts to contact these people again to convert them from leads to sales!

More information on capture devices in the brand new Start Up Marketing Kit – Get yours today!.

Discover 7 Ways To Generate Qualified Traffic Overnight & Turn Your Website Into a Marketing Machine!

Diva Promotions is proud to support this event.

Are you faced with lack of qualified prospects?

Email Signatures for Marketing

Using email is one way that many businesses communicate with their clients and potential clients. By inserting a simple signature at the bottom of your email, you can increase the chance of turning a lead into a sale.
A signature is a small footer placed at the end of every email. Diva Promotions signature looks like this:
Kind Regards,

Emma Rhoades
Diva Promotions
t:1300 76 36 76
e: admin@divapromotions.com.au
w: www.divapromotions.com.au

Just Launched…. “Start up Marketing Kit“…. All of your marketing resources and tools in the one kit!

 

You will see the elements in this contain my name, my Business name, my phone, web and email contact details. This is so the reader has quick access to contact me if they need to clarify something in the email itself. Ensure you put clear contact details in your signature.

You will also see a small ‘tag line’ at the end of the signature. This helps to inform potential clients about new services they might not yet know about. It also provides a link back to my website therefore increasing visitors.

Using an email signature helps to build brand awarness and promotes brand recognition and reinforcement. It also helps to convey a professional image for your business.

Whether or not to use html or plain text is a common question and is best answered by you thinking about the receiver of your emails. Are they tech savvy? Do they microsoft outlook, or web based email? Often going plain text is the safest, however the most boring option! Try both and send a few emails and get some feedback as to how it’s being received.

Diva Promotions- not just advertising.

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Happy Marketing!!

Social Media and your business

There has been much talk about Social Media recently and how fraudsters are honing in on places such as FaceBook and MySpace etc.

How can you protect your identity and that of your business when moving into this marketing medium?

1) Always be suspicious! Before giving away some personal details, ask yourself why they need it. Do some more digging.

2) Always remember your password! Don’t write it down online anywhere, or keep it near any other related documents. Make your password something you can remember and always destroy emails containing passwords – or change them asap.

3) Don’t put personal information on the web. Simple really. What is the first question a business will ask you if you have lost your password? You can bet it’s one of: Mothers maiden name, birthday, street address, dogs name. If you have this info anywhere online, all a fraudster needs to do is click on one of those “Forgotten your password?” links.

4) Don’t put anything up that you wouldn’t want your grandmother seeing. I remember a story about a teacher who put a photo up of her drinking. This action got her fired from her job. Why? Because her employer saw it, and she was only a student teacher at the time, and underage. A prospective business owner will more than likely check out to see if you have a facebook or myspace profile before working with you, so keep it professional.

5) Remember this golden rule – if someone walked up to you in the street and asked you for your street address, would you give it? If someone asked you to walk behind a building because they have some fantastic wares selling cheaply, would you go? Use this same commensense when it comes to online networks.

6) Don’t put it up, thinking you can always take it down. Search engines cache a page, and someone might have already seen it, and pasted it around the net for others. Best bet – just don’t put it up.

Have fun venturing into the world of Social Media, and just remember to use your commonsense!!

PR & Publicity

I’ve recently been looking around for some information products on PR and Publicity. One website I stumbled across is The Publicity Hound. Although they are in the USA, plenty of the advice and information in her ebooks are still relevant to us here in Australia.

Joan Stewart is the Publicity Hound, and is now the resident PR expert on Entrepreneur.com. She also a former newspaper editor and a small business owner, so she knows her stuff!

How to create a Media Plan is an 8 part course that will teach you all about a 12 month media plan, blogging, podcasting, how to manipulate story ideas, using social media to spread your message, targeting TV & Radio, how to follow up plus the most amazing tips on what to do and what not to do!

If you are really serious about doing your own PR and publicity – then this course is just what you have been waiting for – plus, you can do it from your own home!! Check out the rave reviews!

Plus, there are so many other ebooks on the Publicity Hound – take the time to read through the tips and sign up for the weekly publicity tips.

Diva Promotions- not just advertising.