(Note: In Spring 2006 I worked closely with two companies preparing for Initial Public Offerings. This transcript is from a curated series of late-night sessions I recorded to train the corporate marketing and sales teams. In these private trainings I answered their specific questions about the strategies and tactics (and art) of establishing your branding and positioning as unique and special, to give you the edge in a crowded marketplace. These have never been shared publicly before now, and even though the recording quality is poor there are some golden nuggets of information in each that will expand your understanding of these key topics and give your business the edge as well.)
I think one of the things that I encounter as I’m working with companies the most, is a distorted concept of what a test is. Often, I’ll get asked the question, “What do you mean? When do we stop testing? What do you mean test?”
As though test is something that you do, and then you’re done. And you just “roll out” whatever it is, and you move on to whatever the next thing is you need to do.
In marketing, the concept of testing is totally different. At least in Direct Marketing. For me it’s,
“I am testing: I am constantly looking for areas to improve.”
So the short answer for these people is the testing stops when you’re making too much money!
Because in my mind, every single time I do a campaign, I’m watching the numbers. That’s what Direct Response is all about. And in that sense, every single time we put something out there, we’re testing.
So the testing never ends.
It’s always a test as I put on my face to my website. Yesterday’s best is tomorrow’s test. Because what whatever our best was the day before, or the last campaign that becomes the baseline for the next test to see if we can beat it.
And we always want to beat it.
The minute that we find ourselves in a situation where we are slipping, or where we’re stale, where we’re not getting better results, we’re just maintaining results… That’s the challenge for me to find a new way, a better way, a more efficient way to reach the market with a message that resonates, that will create results, responses and conversions that are higher than whatever it is that we’re getting at the time.
I have offered famously to Guarantee that no matter what a campaign is, what kind of results I’ve had in the past on a campaign, that I can beat it.
And that’s real simply because I’ve never been engaged in a campaign that I was not able to improve the results of. And that includes my own, as well as some of the larger names in the industry. Some larger marketers are more well-known marketers in the industry.
So testing is all about watching results and trying to figure out ways to improve them. And every day, there’s a new benchmark.
The testing only stops when you can’t handle making any more money, any more customers or any more success with your campaigns.
And THAT’S what I mean by test.
