Media Spike #14-There is NO Failure When you Test. Only Results
Greetings and let me ask you,
How much is too much? When do you know if you’re spreading yourself too thin? Powerful questions. All the more reason that you need to keep testing. Testing your media. Testing your creative. Always measuring what works and what can get relegated to the sidelines. Testing can reveal concerns on a small scale before they become huge, costly blunders. No-one, big or small wants to discover they’ve blown the annual campaign budget on a strategy and selection that didn’t work.
It can take a long time to recover from that kind of scar. More than a few clients have disdained the value of Testing. Dismissing it as inconsequential. Their gut is usually a good barometer of what works. In fairness, sometimes they’re right. They play a hunch and it pays off. But I’d like you to rely on something more reliable and repeatable than a ‘feeling’ for the right strategy. Would more sales convince you? What if you could double your sales? (No?) How about triple them? (Still not enough for you?)
How about 19 ½ TIMES More sales? Would that be enough to convince there is merit in constant testing? Legendary copywriter John Caples was forever testing what worked and continually refined it until he hit that repeatable Grand Slam home run with his ad. His most memorable experience is distilled on our article entitled Now’s Your Chance. You’ll find it by clicking this link.
What Mr. Caples revealed was that in Testing there is no failure. There is NO Failure…there is only Results. When you have the results from your testing, then you can better determine How Much is Enough. And how to not spread yourself too thin.
Two good rules of thumb, especially if you’re starting out are as follows:
1. Work hard to secure as much free, complimentary, no charge exposure as you can to build up your name and product or service. Write articles. Provide free tips. Do speaking engagements if your industry calls for it (maybe especially if they don’t). Get as much mileage on a shoestring as possible.
2. If funds are kinda tight, probably best to stick to one media and watch it very closely to see how it performs. If you generate enough sales to cover the ad, plus some left over, then keep reinvesting till you generate enough sales and revenue to consider adding another media to your mix. Remember you’re testing all along.
Don’t just take your sales rep’s word for it. Test each newspaper ad you run. Monitor closely how great a response your radio ads deliver. Did the onion ads drive enough traffic to your site? It’s only by testing will you truly appreciate how much you need and what works on a small scale before rolling it out on a bigger platform. It’s much better to fail small to win big than to reverse those.
Stay tuned.
P.S. In case you were wondering, John Caples wrote the legendary ad: They Laughed When I Sat Down to Play the Piano, in 1926. It remains a classic by which thousands of successors are measured.
How much is too much? When do you know if you’re spreading yourself too thin? Powerful questions. All the more reason that you need to keep testing. Testing your media. Testing your creative. Always measuring what works and what can get relegated to the sidelines. Testing can reveal concerns on a small scale before they become huge, costly blunders. No-one, big or small wants to discover they’ve blown the annual campaign budget on a strategy and selection that didn’t work.
It can take a long time to recover from that kind of scar. More than a few clients have disdained the value of Testing. Dismissing it as inconsequential. Their gut is usually a good barometer of what works. In fairness, sometimes they’re right. They play a hunch and it pays off. But I’d like you to rely on something more reliable and repeatable than a ‘feeling’ for the right strategy. Would more sales convince you? What if you could double your sales? (No?) How about triple them? (Still not enough for you?)
How about 19 ½ TIMES More sales? Would that be enough to convince there is merit in constant testing? Legendary copywriter John Caples was forever testing what worked and continually refined it until he hit that repeatable Grand Slam home run with his ad. His most memorable experience is distilled on our article entitled Now’s Your Chance. You’ll find it by clicking this link.
What Mr. Caples revealed was that in Testing there is no failure. There is NO Failure…there is only Results. When you have the results from your testing, then you can better determine How Much is Enough. And how to not spread yourself too thin.
Two good rules of thumb, especially if you’re starting out are as follows:
1. Work hard to secure as much free, complimentary, no charge exposure as you can to build up your name and product or service. Write articles. Provide free tips. Do speaking engagements if your industry calls for it (maybe especially if they don’t). Get as much mileage on a shoestring as possible.
2. If funds are kinda tight, probably best to stick to one media and watch it very closely to see how it performs. If you generate enough sales to cover the ad, plus some left over, then keep reinvesting till you generate enough sales and revenue to consider adding another media to your mix. Remember you’re testing all along.
Don’t just take your sales rep’s word for it. Test each newspaper ad you run. Monitor closely how great a response your radio ads deliver. Did the onion ads drive enough traffic to your site? It’s only by testing will you truly appreciate how much you need and what works on a small scale before rolling it out on a bigger platform. It’s much better to fail small to win big than to reverse those.
Stay tuned.
P.S. In case you were wondering, John Caples wrote the legendary ad: They Laughed When I Sat Down to Play the Piano, in 1926. It remains a classic by which thousands of successors are measured.
- Dennis Kelly
About Me
Dennis KellyDennis is the author of “ 9 Secrets of How To Improve Your Advertising” and is available to Masthead Reader for $197 through a special offer at this link
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