If It Hasn’t Been Tested, It’s An Opinion, Not A Fact (Part 2)

Okay, so, you've accepted that your opinion is just an opinion, and you want to know the facts.  What now?

You really should have a written marketing budget and plan, as your channel choices will be constrained by this.  For example, if your ideal customer prefers radio most of all, but you can't afford to run any ads, you'll need to find other less optimal options within your budget OR you'll need to divert other resources into that channel.

Evaluate your current marketing tactics.

1. List all currently active marketing channels and expense on a monthly basis.  Is this something you can or want to do yourself, or do you need or want to pay someone else to do for you?
2. Do these channels match the preferences of my ideal customer (yes/no).  Your channel provider should provide pretty detailed demographic/audience information to you.  If your answer is "no"or "don't know", test phasing out those channels first.
3. Are there any channels you are not using that your ideal customer may prefer (yes/no).  If "yes" or "don't know", consider testing phasing in a new channel that you have a high level of confidence is preferred by your ideal audience.

Wait, how many times do I measure, again?

How do you test?  That’s entirely dependent upon the tactic. There are best practices for each.  Consult with the expert(s) in that channel to do your test (or, you could, y’know, contact me and I’ll point you in the right direction).

Note in point 2 above, I said, " TEST phasing out those channels".  In some cases, it will be obvious that a channel isn't working for you, but sometimes it isn't so clear, and you shouldn't drop a channel outright without testing its effectiveness (with the hypothesis being that the channel provides no lift in sales).

You might have a channel that's actually working for you and it isn't directly obvious without testing, or the combination of a few channels are working, but if you eliminate one, the effectiveness of others suffers.

Always make sure you have an evaluation plan, a hypothesis, and success measures.  For example, "My direct mail campaign is successful if it gives me more than three new customer phone calls a week" is a possible hypothesis and a success measure (assuming three leads is what you need to have a "profit" in sales over the cost of the direct mail campaign).

Run the test, evaluate the results, and implement the result.  Be aware that some things you believe to be true with all of your heart will turn out to be untrue, and be willing to implement the result, no matter what they are.

Because things constantly change, plan to do this process every so often – it may be a regular schedule, or, it may be if certain business indicators (such as the number of leads you get in a month from that channel) seem to be not growing (holding steady or declining).

That how you convert opinions into facts.  You want to operate your business based on the facts.

If you need help working through this process, I'd be happy to lend a hand.  Contact me and let's get started!