Testing is the keystone of successful marketing. Those that do it properly will flourish and those that don’t do it often lose a lot of money.

So why is it that almost no one does it?

Well, it may not at first glance appear to be the most ’sexy’ of things. It takes time, and often as business owners we’re looking for that quick fix, that ’silver bullet’ aren’t we?

Do you implement a marketing strategy (it could be your website, a direct mailing, some Google Adwords perhaps) and wonder to yourself  “is this going to work?”.

You’re not alone.

Even I Do Not Have A Crystal Ball

In fact I have business owners that ask me “Do you think this will work?” and “What about Google Adwords, should I do it?” and “What do you think about Direct Mail, does it work?”

And the short answer is “I don’t know – I cannot predict the future”.  I can often tell you if you’ve done something really stupid with an advert or a website or a Direct Mail piece..

But as far as predicting how your target market is going to react to your strategy then neither me or anyone else can tell you. This is why you need to test.

This Could Cost YOU Thousands…

So, why don’t more business owners do it then?

Well, in my experience it’s because they don’t know that they should be. They also don’t understand the implications of NOT testing either, which is scary.

I’ve also come across businesses that worry if they test a Direct Mail piece or a headline on their website and it fails miserably that they’ll do their business some damage, or will have wasted a load of cash.

This is utter rubbish.

Even if a strategy doesn’t work, all you’ll do is lose a few potential clients. But then that is why you TEST, because another Direct Mail piece (for example) may get those that didn’t buy before, to buy this time around.

Testing is NOT like changing the direction of your business FOREVER: you CAN change your mind, you can tweak it and possibly revert to how things were.

If You Want to be Successful

When you look at businesses with successful marketing systems you may just assume that they struck it lucky, or that they got some system “out of a box”.

I can tell you they didn’t.

Their systems were put together over a period of time, with plenty of effort and trials and tribulations, and there would have been mistakes along the way, no doubt about it.

But the scary truth is, if you aren’t testing ALL of your marketing, you are potentially throwing money down the drain, as well as limiting your income.

Your prospects’ PERCEPTION of you is critical to the success of you and your business – even more so than the actual TRUTH in fact.

How they see and perceive you is vitally important. based upon this they will choose to want to do business with you, or not. So there is a lot hinging on this, isn’t there?

I have recorded a short video for you that highlights 3 KEY reasons why your perception is critical to your business:

Click here to view the embedded video.

However, I thought that a recent radio interview that I had may help, and so do have a listen to this (by clicking on the button below) and feel free to leave any questions or thoughts below.

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Why? Because a creative advertisement or direct mailing has the ability to cut through the clutter of the hundreds of messages that we receive (directly or indirectly) each day.

So, how can you apply a degree of creative advertising to help your business become more visible and in turn, improve your ROI (Return On Investment)?

Be Different

Well the first thing you should be doing is be different. Here’s an experiment that you can do right now which will prove my point. If you look in our Yellow Pages under the section where your business is listed, you’ll see advertisements galore.

And if you do not advertise in the Yellow Pages, still have a look and see what I am talking about, as this is a critical issue for being found amongst the crowd.

Now can you see any that really stand out, other than the fact that they are a bigger advertisement than all the rest?

I’ll bet there aren’t many, if any.

Granted there are different sizes, some are colour and some are black and white, some are square, or rectangular or circle shaped.

But do any really have a compelling message, or catch your eye because they are really different?

This is one way in which you can instantly stand out amongst your competitors.

Now I am not talking about doing anything crazy, but I do think that you should put away any preconceptions that you may have about doing something a bit different, even a touch unconventional in many people’s eyes.

The fact is, this works and works extremely well. Its gets you noticed and gets people contacting you.

We have so much boredom in our lives these days, that being and looking and appearing to be different really do work.

Do you know who Churchill is, or the Compare The Marketing Meerkat, or the annoying Go Compare tennor singer.

I’m sure you do. Memorable aren’t they? Different aren’t they?

This works.

This is the third part of what I termed as ‘business marketing basics’ but in fact for many businesses, it is something that unfortunately they never seemed to have even considered. Well, not correctly anyway.

So I have explained about how targeting the correct market is vital and that it is impossible to market yourself to everyone.

And I have also blogged about how having the right message is crucial for the success of your business, so what now? …

HOW do you get that message to your market?

Well, there are of course numerous ways that this can be done and once again if you read enough of my work wither on this blog or in my book you will know that one of the keys to this is …. testing.

Whether you’re just starting out with a new business or not tracking your marketing results, you need to start testing (and tracking). It is relatively simple to do and can save you potentially thousands of pounds in advertising costs.

You may have a business that runs one (or more) Yellow Pages adverts each year. Do you have any idea how successful they are? You may do leaflet drops, or direct mail marketing… does that work well for your business?

Perhaps you have a weekly/fortnightly/monthly advert in the local newspaper, or on local radio. Have you any idea whether this is really working or not?

Well, if you’ve answered “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” or words to that effect then you’re potentially hemorrhaging money that could be resolved simply by testing your marketing strategies.

So the upshot of this post? Well, if you were expecting something magical and mystical you’re possibly disappointed. The fact is, there is nothing magical and unknown about marketing your business. Everything (to a degree) is under your control as long as your processes are implemented correctly.

Testing is all important, because what you measure, you can improve. If you are not measuring your marketing efforts then you have no way of being certain what is working and what is not.

The right message is vitally important for your business. This may sound a little obvious but why do I see so many businesses not doing it?

Also, there is something altogether more profound to consider, and again something that I see rarely, if at all.

Let me give you an example of why being and looking different is of absolute importance to the success of your business…

Grab a copy of your local Yellow Pages and have a look at your advert (assuming that you are in there), but also look at the adverts around yours. now look closer … they all look pretty much the same don’t they?

Of course, there will be different logos, different contact details, different names, but I’ll bet that the overall message is the same. What do I mean by that?

Well, I’ll hazard a guess that the adverts (including yours) will all say the name of your business, telephone number, website (if applicable), perhaps an address, and then a list of services that you offer. You’ll sometime see things like “established over 25 years” or some tacky slogan like “your local handy man” – but what do any of these mean to your prospective customer?

Why should they buy from you rather than any of the other businesses that are advertising. The adverts all essentially carry the same message. More often than not they list features but not benefits, and this is a massive error.

Benefits tell a prospective customer why they should use your services. A well written advert can have your prospect visualising using your services, or at the very least wanting to call you first before anyone else.

So to sum up this post, you can do a lot worse by making your adverts stand out and look different to the rest, even if it is a little whacky, creative or even controversial, different gets noticed, and this is exactly what you want.

In my next post I’ll talk about using the Right Media.

If you answered ‘everybody’ then I am afraid you are making a massive mistake. The fact is it is impossible for any company to market themselves to everyone, and so if you are doing this right now you need to stop immediately.

Even large companies, FTSE 100 companies that have multiple products and/or services will segment their marketing. Sure, overall you could be marketing your range of products or services to a large percentage of the population, but you simply cannot market everything to everybody.

So, how to you select who your target market is?

Well, a good place to start could be to look at your existing customer base. What similarities do they have? Age? Sex? Income? Location? You see, this is what you need to be thinking about, as it will enable you to become smarter and more effective in your marketing, and ultimately your profitability, as trying to market to all and sundry is like throwing mud at a wall!

Once you have established who your market is, you then need to target them. You need to advertise in places where your market will see you; so this could be newspapers, magazines, trade publications, billboards, the internet, the Yellow Pages – the possibilities are endless.

You could even use direct mail and target a list of prospects. You can buy lists of target prospects that fit a number of criteria that you want to focus on and this is still a great and effective way to develop business if done correctly.

So, we’ve discussed the importance of targeting the right market. In my next post, we’ll look at using the Right Message.

Very often business owners are so keen to get their business noticed that they just launch themselves into what they believe is the right way to do this. The fact of the matter is that unfortunately they often do it incorrectly, and the results can be catastrophic.

I was taught by the great Dan Kennedy (amongst others) that there are three (3) key things that you need to consider when marketing your business, and they are:

• Right Market
• Right Message
• Right Media

These are the cornerstones of any good marketing strategy and are essential in order to ensure that you have the necessary foundations in place.

In my next post, I will cover the first of the items listed above; Right Market.

You need what I call a ‘direct response’ website.

This is a website that actually does what it is supposed to do, and that is to convert visitors into paying customers.

Below are some of the key elements that I feel are essential aspects in the success of not only your website, but your business, as without utilising the tactics below you could be leaving thousands of pounds on the table.

Here are the key items your web site must have :

• A compelling headline
• A call to action
• Contact details on every page
• A system that makes it easy for people to buy from you
• Details of what payment methods you accept
• Information regarding your hours of business
• Photos of you and your team
• Testimonials from current customers – social proof is hugely effective
• Details of any awards you’ve won
• Information pertaining to qualifications or accreditations that you have.
• Video showing how your products or services work

This would be a great start for you. Simply by using the above could drastically improve the amount of business that you are currently doing.

So if you are one of these people, you may find the following advice will help you with getting started with your business.

One of the most important things to try and do is to do the things that you love doing and get someone else (outsource) to do the things that you’re not so keen on.

As you will be spending lots of time and energy on your business, it has to be something you are really interested in doing. Now, I realize that in the beginning, it is not always easy to be able to outsource, and naturally you do end up doing a lot of the work yourself.

If this is the case, then you need to try and get to a point, as quickly as possible, where you can concentrate on the areas of your business that you enjoy, and have someone else do the rest.

Another piece of advice is that if you can, you may want to start a business while you are still earning from your ‘day job’. This is because you never know when your business will be earning money for you and it takes a little financial pressure of you.

If you are employed while getting started on your business, you are sure of having money in your pocket when you are in the start-up stage of your business.

Have a support system when you start a business

Though you may venture into starting a business on your own, it is always advised to start a business with a support system, and not to do it alone. Have a family member or friend as a partner for getting ideas and for listening to your ideas and views on the business.

Alternatively, a better option is to find someone who can be your mentor, as experienced, impartial guidance is always better for a business.

Before you actually start up a business, it may also be an idea to create a network. You will need clients and customers for your business to flourish; and it is through networking that you manage to make contacts to sell or give away your products and services.

These contacts may be through friends and family, as this a powerful way to get trusted clients, as they will have been recommended by people. This always carries more weight than someone off the street who does not know you.

Writing a business plan can also help to ensure that your business heads in the right direction. Without a business plan, you may end up spending your time and money on starting a business that will in no way at all end up as a success.