The first thing that you need to do is be able to define the return you are getting on your marketing projects. You need to know what works and what doesn’t.

How to successfully test and measure your marketing:

You can do this in a number of ways.

• Ask the people who enquire where they heard about your business
• Keep a note of this information over a defined period of time and analyze it
• Run specific offers in selected marketing options and keep a record of responses
• Test headlines on adverts or flyers in smaller batches until you find out which gets the best result
• You can do the same with sales letters sent by post and email
• When you run an event or speak at a networking group keep a record of how many contacts you make and whether any business results from them
• Do the same for networking events you attend as a participant
• When you write an article for a business publication offer a free report that requires the reader to make contact with you. This way you will not only get the details of some potentially good prospects but you can test how many people read and responded to your article
• Before and after sales data is useful when you are running a brand awareness campaign

Marketing evaluation

• Decide how you are going to evaluate your activities in advance
• Keep a record of the evaluation data you collect
• Work out which has been the most successful marketing activity
• Plan to repeat all successful activities
• Ask yourself why certain activities have not been successful
• Check that the marketing activities you have chosen are right for the audience you wish to target
• Stop any expensive marketing activity that is costing more than the return it gives you

How to use this information

Over a period of time, monitoring and measuring the success of your marketing will enable you to build a very clear picture of how to spend your valuable marketing budget. There will be no more last minute decisions or hazard trial and error as you will have the evidence you need at your fingertips, and be able to use the information to make informed decisions.

How to increase the return you get

There are many reasons why marketing activities are not bringing the return you expect. It could be an advert that is poorly targeted or written, a telemarketing campaign that is poorly conducted, a sales call that is badly structured or delivered, a website that is too complicated, a weak sales message or an outdated brand identity, to name a few.

To increase your return needs a proper analysis of all sales and marketing activities and the results they are achieving and then a defined improvement plan to fine tune each activity as appropriate. There are more ideas in my book which is available at www.85ways.co.uk.

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