1. Don’t Quit While You’re Ahead…Or Soon You’ll Be Lagging Behind
This statement seems like straightforward, logical advice. And, if you asked most marketers they would probably say they are continually looking for ways to innovate and improve their marketing results. But are they taking the next step and testing those approaches? A mistake we often see is once a new marketing campaign is driving results, the team continues to implement that same program without testing fresh approaches. Then, over time, that winning strategy becomes a loser. This may be due to creative fatigue, changes in the market place or something else.
Test, Test and then Test Some More
Testing and applying your results should be an integral part of your marketing process. That means planning your marketing testing, tracking and analyzing results. Then, sharing the results with appropriate team members, adjusting and planning new tests. Tests may be employed within a single tactic, such as digital display advertising, print or broadcast advertising, direct mail or social media, or you may test one tactic against another within your campaign. While boosting results is the end game, don’t be afraid of small failures because you’ll learn from them.
2. Look Beyond Response Rates and CTR to Generate Marketing Results
Don’t make the mistake of focusing too heavily on response rate for direct mail or clickthrough rate for digital marketing. These are important indicators to keep your eye on throughout your campaign, but they don’t factor in your investment level. In your final analysis, consider metrics such as cost per lead and cost per sale. For online campaigns, total conversions is an important metric. Conversions can be defined in many ways: completing a contact form, downloading content, requesting a quote or making a purchase.
A recent success story illustrates how measuring cost per lead helped establish a new control and improve overall performance for a niche health insurance provider. By simplifying the messaging, visuals and design, we reduced production costs while maintaining a strong response rate. Cost per lead went down 30%! And we’re not stopping there. Get the full story.
3. Don’t Let Your Call to Action Get Lost
Sometimes in an effort to be creative or clever, marketers miss the basics, like including a strong call to action (CTA). Good CTAs make it easy for the reader to respond by providing clear instructions that describe what you want them to do and encouraging them to act right away. Further, to minimize risk (and promote action) a guarantee, free trial or no obligation statement is often included. Multiple response options such as a reply card, online form and phone number are important too.
For digital applications, we recommend using a variety of CTAs and offers throughout your website, display ad campaign or emails to test different approaches. Get right to the point with action-oriented words like Get, Start, Find and Download. Offer examples include an information kit, checklist, whitepaper or free quote.
Looking for more marketing tips?
Follow these three rules to set yourself up for marketing success. If you’re looking for more ideas to improve your marketing results, check out more articles from our blog and success stories featured in our portfolio. If you’re still hungry for more, contact us for a FREE copy of our tips booklet, Tiny Book: Big Results.
