How To Test Potential Adds On A Budget Using Marketing Software

A successful business man once said "I know that half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half". Now with the availability of marketing software connecting with customers no longer needs to be a guessing game.

Nobody knows whether your target market will respond to your new campaign, that's the problem. If you have a huge advertising budget you can always hire a firm of market researchers, consult with psychologist and run focus groups to test your ad. But they regularly get it wrong anyway. For the small business owner who can't afford consulting and test groups the situation is even worse. You're really stabbing in the dark. Hoping that your message will generate the business you need.

But there is hope. By using testing in combination with marketing software you can assess the market prior to launching a campaign and over time build up a library of proven advertising messages that give you excellent returns time after time.

Run your own small test runs before launching your campaign in full. Experiment with different messages, formatting or advertising mediums to find out what really speaks to your market. Be creative. By doing test groups of 100-500 letters or impressions you won't break the bank. If it is a fail, so be it. But you might just strike marketing gold. You might find your original instincts were correct or discover that your market is more concerned with one product point over the others. Testing is the only way to know for sure.

The trick with testing is recording and tracking the results. Until recently results had to be recorded manually and due to the man hours and money involved it was beyond the reach of all but the largest corporations. Using marketing software you can quickly and easily track the results of your test campaigns. And many of these marketing software packages are surprisingly inexpensive.

Both online and offline activities can be tested using your marketing software. And you should record more than just the mini (test) campaigns. Track all your advertising. It's not uncommon for successful ads to suddenly go dead, unless you're recording the results you won't know (and keep wasting money on an ad that isn't bringing in business). By tracking all your marketing activities you will know which campaigns aren't performing and drop them. You'll also be able to identify profitable campaigns to replicate in new areas or in other advertising mediums. For example you might have a web page that generates a lot of new customers, you could convert that web page into a long copy sales letter and try mailing it direct to households .

Sometimes it is not as simple as failure versus success. Certain marketing messages may work better in particular locations or appeal to different demographic groups. A brochure might be a complete failure in one neighborhood but achieve success in another town or suburb. By testing and recoding the source of all your customers you can determine which campaigns work best in defined areas, to specific groups and according to season. This will give you the ability to plan your marketing strategically and generate greater returns for each dollar spent.

Do you know which half of your advertising works and which half is an utter waste of money? Testing is much less expensive than repeating an ineffective campaigns over and over again, so why not give it a go?

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