Are you testing every aspect of your marketing efforts?
- If you send out emails, are you testing different subject lines to see which gets opened the most? A simple A/B test can increase the number of people who read your email and the test is free.
- Are you testing packaging design in two markets to determine if one label is more effective than the other at gaining awareness? Yes, it costs more to test two ideas, but what if one might hurt sales by double-digit?
- Did you test your promotional offer last month with your distributors to see if one offer is more effective versus another at getting customers to place an order for something new you are selling?
- When you designed a new logo, did you show two similar groups of consumers/customer the logos to gauge their reaction, or did you just show one? Packaging change requires lots of tests.
- In creating a new tradeshow booth, did you just present one idea to your sales team or did you ask them to choose among two concepts?
Taking the Marketing Test
Marketing is a series of tests. When a new client asks me if a new approach will work, I always tell them I don’t know, but we can create a small test to learn if we are on the right path.
Making sweeping changes can be dangerous, just ask big orange. When Tropicana changed their 
packaging several years ago, it was so disastrous that sales plummeted by 20% at a cost of $30 million dollars nationally. Why they didn’t test the new packaging in a limited region is still a mystery.
They could have prevented a national headache but testing it in limited markets. And why Tropicana changed all the elements (logo, type, slogan, lid, graphics) at the same time meant that consumers no longer could find their beloved brand. Testing each element could have avoided this expensive mistake. Lesson learned: Test one element at a time to control variables.
Marketing is Continuous Testing
Whatever the strategy, the tactics need testing over and over and over again. You never finish testing since the marketplace keeps changing every day. From price to place to promotion to the product – every element of your marketing needs to be tested to achieve your goals.
What did you test today?
Are you testing enough in your day-to-day marketing to keep learning? Need help? Let’s talk. Text me at 919 720 0995 or you can use your text machine to call me too. It is amazing. It is called a telephone. Or email me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
