Ellis Communications, L.L.C.

Give Your Marketing A Trial Run Before Rolling It Out;
Seven Tips On the 'How' and 'Why' of Testing

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT:  Tom Ellis
May 7 , 2003	Ellis Communications, L.L.C.
	Phone (623) 780-4558
	E-Mail tellis@nutritionalmarketing.com

Nutritional retailers sometimes wonder why their marketing effort didn’t work as well as they had hoped or why it completely failed.  Perhaps they didn’t test the marketing before they rolled it out.

"When a retailer asks me about a disappointing marketing campaign, I turn the tables and ask them if they tested before the campaign started," says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Nutritional Marketing. "The responses are interesting:  I didn’t have time to test the concept; I know what works, so why waste my time on a test; testing is a waste of money; testing is only for big companies; I’ve never heard of testing a marketing effort."

  "Here’s my advice - if you think testing is more work than it’s worth, you’re wrong.  It’s money well spent."

            Baird offers the following seven tips on testing a marketing effort before it is launched..

Number 1 - Retailers need to test because it works.  "For example, by testing the headline of an ad, you can see how it affects your response rate," Baird says.  "By testing one offer versus another, you can often save money and generate even better results."

Number 2 - One headline can outperform another by tenfold.  "I’ve seen changing one word double the response from an ad," Baird notes.

Number 3 - Changing more than one variable during the test is a big mistake.  For example, changing the headline as well as the day the marketing materials are mailed very likely will ruin the test, Baird explains.

Number 4 - For testing to be successful, you can only make one change at a time.  "If you’re working with headlines for a mailer, that could mean changing only one word or the font so you can prove what works best," Baird suggests.

Number 5 - Have a sample that’s large enough to generate solid data.  "With direct mail, it’s often said that a ‘good’ response is .5 percent," Baird says.  "That means if you mail to 100 prospects, you should get absolutely no calls.  To get usable data, you may need to mail one concept to 1,000 prospects and the variable to another 1,000."

Number 6 - Once you have identified what works, use that as the control for your testing going forward.  "This will be your baseline to see if you can do better," Baird says.  "Once you have an offer or marketing material that outperforms your baseline, it becomes the new baseline."

Number 7 - Don’t test too much.  "You need to test to see what works best, not test just for the fun of testing," Baird notes.  "If you’re like most people, you’re in business to make money.  Testing costs money but when properly executed, it’s an investment that can pay handsomely."

Nutritionalmarketing.com is the premiere Internet-based source for free marketing advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented nutritional retailers who are demanding information that helps them market their business, meet the needs of their customers and increase sales.  It offers such services as a free weekly electronic newsletter, free reports on how to conduct different kinds of marketing and evaluation of retailers’ marketing materials that is provided at no charge when the critique is posted online for all nutritional professionals to read.  Nutritionalmarketing.com also offers an electronic forum where retailers can learn from each other by discussing common problems, sharing ideas and gaining new insights from their peers. 

Nutritional Marketing may be reached at 480-991-6421.