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!

If It Hasn't Been Tested, It’s An Opinion, Not A Fact (Part 1)

Ever heard this (or said this) before?

“[x] doesn't work.  I've done this for years and I know this to be true.  Experience (or conventional wisdom, or experts, or whatever authority you want to pick) says so.”

The thing is, sometimes that statement is absolutely true. And sometimes, well, not so much.

As we've discussed, your gut could be lying to you.  Or maybe a mentor might have implanted this opinion in your brain a decade ago and you've held it as a core belief ever since.  You might have heard someone trying [x] with disastrous results (or did it yourself, even).

Here’s the thing: unless you verify that [x] “doesn't work” – how do you really know?

Without verification and testing, all you have is an opinion. Yes, it could be an informed opinion.  And yes, it’s not always possible to test every idea the way you’d like, for a variety of reasons, and you can’t hold up everything you do because it hasn't been tested.

100% unadulterated marketing savvy!

But don’t let your opinion become the barrier to your success.  Be open to trying – and testing – new things.  You might find the old ways no longer apply – and things that didn't work, might work now.

How do you test?  How do you get the “facts”?

Let’s assume that [x] – the thing that does or does not work based on your opinion - is any given marketing tactic.

It could be social media, newspaper ads, yellow page ads, radio and television, search engine optimization, direct mail, email, online advertising, door hangers, trade shows, sponsorship, customer service, existing customer referral programs… the list of marketing tactics are longer than your arm and change constantly as new channels come online and old ones die off.

Before we move on, can you articulate who your ideal customer is?  Do you have your message in mind?  No? Contact me NOW!

Yes?  Good, now let’s consider tactics and testing... in Part 2.

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