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• Why its vital to test the way you promote your business products and services 

Why should you test the way you promote your products and services?

 It is surprising how few businesses actually test the way they promote their product or service in order to discover which of the present methods of promotion is the most effective in terms of sales and enquiries or what price and package of products appeal to markets.

It simply is not possible to know in advance what aspects of your products and services will appeal to markets.  How do you know for example what price will make your products attractive and remember that the lowest price is not necessarily the best price.

The answer is to test. But what should you test? Begin by looking at all the aspects of your business that have measurable results and you must include the service you provide to your customers and your customer buying processes.

Test for example advertisements and where you place them, your web site copy and headlines, variations in your customer ordering systems so that you can discover which is the most effective and productive. Really look at the way your products are communicated to your market.

So how do you test your marketing?  

Advertising and direct mail campaigns are not an exact science and it’s impossible to tell in advance what type of headline on a flyer or advertisement will attract customers. So you should for example try different style advertisements, use different headlines on flyers, try positive and negative data together. 

 Imagine you are a health and safety consultant, use data which supports a positive image e.g. 50% of companies using an independent health and safety consultant reduce accidents in the workplace by 25% 

At the same time try using negative data e.g. 65% of companies don’t have a dedicated member of staff to deal with health and safety requirements and consequently employees have an increased risk of a work placed accident.

 You can effectively test a direct marketing campaign by targeting different headlines on the mailing with similar groups of people in different geographical areas.  Test offers, prices, services and guarantees against different and similar groups of people.  Test simple and subtle changes against big changes.

Remember to sell the benefits and advantages of your product or service as well as the features. Use different Unique Selling Points, try new phrases and wording, introduce new offers and try bundling your products and services together.  

 And finally make sure you monitor responses to different campaigns. Use codes or ask responders where they saw your advertisement, so that when customers ring in with orders you know which advertisement or flyer they are responding to.

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