How To Never Make A Major Marketing Mistake Again (Part 3) - Adult B2B Marketing Tip

[AdultB2B]

How To Never Make A Major Marketing Mistake Again - Part 3

Still more on testing your advertising:

Another wholesale diamond seller found that his business became increasingly profitable the more he tested his advertising. His main selling point had always been lower-than-retail pricing. He had successfully run ads in the university newspaper with the headline "WHOLESALE DIAMONDS" for several months in a row. He was encouraged to test three or four other headlines based on low prices, including this one: "If you're planning on spending $2,500 on a diamond engagement ring, I'll send you home with either a ring worth $3,800 - or $1,000 still in your pocket."

This simple re-articulation of the selling point 'low prices' graphically illustrated just how low the prices were. It brought the ad alive to the readers. Inquiries and sales immediately increased by over 60%. But this story doesn't end there. The advertisement with the headline just mentioned, "If you're planning on spending $2,500 on a diamond engagement ring, I'll send you home with either a ring worth $3,800 - or $1,000 still in your pocket." became his "control." He then tested some other concepts against the low price one. One of these concepts was based on the observation that people usually knew that wholesale diamonds were less expensive, but that they were leery of buying from a dealer that didn't have a big, fancy showroom. Basically, the customers' confidence in wholesale dealers was not very high. Remember, the advertiser's job is to raise confidence and lower risk. In this case there was high risk and low confidence.

The next newspaper ad to come out combated this concern head-on. The headline read "Most peoples' greatest fear about buying their diamond engagement ring from a wholesale jeweler is that they'll be fooled into paying too much for an inferior diamond." The ad went on to explain how this wholesaler never considered any sale binding until the customer had the diamond appraised by a certified gemologist of their choice. It also described in detail the "better than money-back guarantee" that ensured total customer satisfaction. See how that lowers the risk and allows the customer to take specific steps to raise the confidence level.

The huge increase in response to this ad brought it home the importance of testing to this business owner. No advertiser has the right or ability to tell the market what it will respond to. Experience can show you what types of things tend to work best, but only testing can empirically prove what works best in every single situation.

Start immediately to test every ad you run against another one with a different headline or price or layout. Send two relatively well-matched salesmen out with different pitches and see which one works best after a week. Test new and different ways to articulate each of the points of your case until you find one that works best. When you find approaches that are making you money, keep testing to find out, 'How High is High?.' You never know how high is high, how fast is fast, how far is far until you've tried several different things.

Yes, it takes longer to test then it does to not test. But by scientifically testing every facet of your marketing, you'll find in the long run your advertising will be more effective, make you more money, and help your business grow more rapidly. Do what's known as an A/B split. What this means is to run two different ads, both at the same time. Let's say you're sending a mail piece. Instead of sending one piece to the entire list, try sending one piece to half the list - that's piece 'A' - and a test piece to the other half of the list - that's piece 'B'. See, it's an A/B split. You can do this with other media besides just mail. It works great with email and telemarketing as well. Some newspapers and magazines may be able to actually print every other copy with a different ad. This allows you to see which ad pulls better in a real live situation.

The point is to test, test, test. Become a test-aholic. Don't just fly by the seat of your pants. You'll find it to be very rewarding in the long run.

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