Measurement is often the watchword of marketers everywhere.

Measure what works and improve or eliminate what doesn’t, so the story goes. But there’s a little something many business owners are missing in their quest for the holy grail of measurement.

That something is testing.

Testing can save you a fortune and make you very rich.

You see, you don’t need to commit big money to marketing campaigns until you’ve tested them properly.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Direct Mail

If you’ve got 10,000 customers that you’re going to write to, the smart thing to do is craft four or five versions of the mailing piece. Maybe test different offers, or different headlines or different images. Then send 200 of each version out – so only 10% of your list receives a mailing.

Track the results and you’ll always find variances. Sometimes big variances. You then roll-out the version that performed the best to the other 90%.

That little delay and proper testing can make thousands of pounds of difference to your bottom line.

Adwords

The same is true with pay-per-click advertising on Google adwords. This is a real science – and its dead easy to master it.

Google make it really simple to test different wordings on the ad and different landing pages. I mean it is so easy. And a response of 4% instead of 3% translates into a 33% uplift in sales – this is big, big stuff people, yet so many business owners set up their marketing, don’t test and then run it forever without any effort to improve things and in blissful ignorance of the size of the prize if they did.

Email marketing

With email you’ll want to test different email subject lines, different headlines, different images and more.

(Here’s one sneaky trick with email – monitor the ‘unopens’ and, 2 days after you’ve sent the email, send it again – the exact same email – to all the ‘unopened’ but use a different subject line. I guarantee you’ll get a good portion open it.)

Customer surveys

Surveys can be a great way to test your thinking before you initiate. Quick and easy web-based surveys like www.surveymonkey.com are quick to use and get out. My good friend Ryan Deiss uses them regularly to help him formulate what products he’s going to create next, for instance.

You can’t survey your customers too often though, so be careful.

Always ask customers what worked!

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is to fail to ask customers why they bought from them. Ask your customers how they heard of you. They won’t always provide reliable data, but ultimately you’ll have good information on which marketing methods are working most effectively. (This kinda counts as Measurement, not testing but its sneaked in here somehow!)

I can’t emphasise enough how important testing is in marketing.

Don’t be afraid of trying new things – but test ‘em first. Please!

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is having a huge impact on smart businesses. Huge!

Buyers are searching Google right now for your products and services.

PPC could mean lots of sales and big business for you.

Maybe you’re not using PPC. Or maybe you’re one of too many business owners who create their Google AdWords strategy, set it on autopilot, and walk away. You’ll never know how many sales you’re missing.

Pay per click can pay off in big ways

Or, you can use PPC to grow your business month over month. Consider Charles Tyrwhitt’s www.ctshirts.co.uk AdWords campaign for shirts.

PPC has driven them to become the largest shirt maker for Internet retailing in England. But that’s not all. Much of their AdWords sales (about 40%) come from new customers.

Not a bad growth strategy.

PPC 101

If you’re new to this, think of Google’s PPC ads like an auction where businesses bid for keywords against competitors. When a prospect searches a keyword or phrase, the top bidders are displayed as a Sponsored Link. Sponsors pay Google when someone clicks of their ad.

Whether you’re new to PPC or not, here are eight ways to realize its full power:

1. Set your budget

AdWords worked for Charles Tyrwhitt because, for them, it was the most efficient sales channel with the best return on investment. Start out slowly. Don’t blow your budget paying for your learning curve. But you’ll soon need to put some skin in the game.

Tip: Use Google’s algorithms to estimate keyword traffic and costs, and set your budget.

2. Use Wordtracker for keyword selection

Google Wordtracker shows you current words searched by real people. Use this to make your decisions about what terms to target.

3. Get specific

The more specific the search, the more serious the buyer. Don’t be one of thousands using broad keywords. Target customers with specific words. Think “women’s Brooks Ariel running shoe” instead of “running shoe.”

4. Test continuously

PPC is hard science. It’s easy to test and learn what works best. So there’s no excuse for not testing different words and landing pages. Even the smallest changes can add up to big ROI. Test versions against each other based on ad copy and offers to determine the winning combinations.

AdWords is survival of the fittest at its best. To stay on top, you need to invest the time.

5. Go negative

Use negative keywords to keep unqualified clicks off your website. If you sell computers but not printers, your ad won’t show for searches for printers. This will save you money and move your ad up higher. Cool, right?

6. PPC from branding to selling

Charles Tyrwhitt has used PPC to reach customers from first encounter to purchase. They consider the sales process and use Google’s content network to build their brand with display ads. They also leverage search ads at the end of the cycle. When the customer is ready to buy.

This is how you use PPC to make money.

7. Focus locally

Entrepreneurs can maximize their budgets by setting their ads to target people in specific regions. Efficiency is the name of the game with small business budgets, and PPC delivers.

8. Measure and modify!

Always be measuring. Google provides a Placement Performance Report [link to http://www.google.com/AdWords/contentnetwork/#utm_source=gcn&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=gcn_redirect]. This gives you visibility into where your ads appear and performance analytics like impressions, clicks, cost, and conversion data.

I repeat—there’s no excuse for guesswork with PPC.

And if all this sounds confusing or ‘too much effort’ – trust me it isn’t. If you want success in business in 2010 and 2011 then you HAVE to master PPC…

The mistake that many people make, is thinking that it’s all about the words.

Consider the last speech/presentation/conference that you attended – can you remember what was said. Could you repeat any of the words of wisdom you heard?

If the answer to that question is yes, then the likelihood is that the speaker put on a show.

You see, what our brains file away and remember is the overall experience – not just what was said, and that’s why, to paraphrase those doyens of the 1980’s Bananarama ‘It ain’t what you say, it’s the way that you say it – that’s what get results’.

You need to capture an audience. Engage with them.And you can’t do that with just words.

Whether it is with a vibrant outfit,  a memorable video, a memorable gesture, humour, whatever it is you need to put onyour own little show.

Attach an image – your image – to the message and you mutiply the impact and the recall may many times.

Let me entertain you

Look at the music business: Musicians on tour are defined by their stage props, their stage sets and their presence. The words, the voices of the music, are not enough. The reason Take That’s 2009 Circus tour was so successful and so talked about wasn’t because of their songs – it was because of the show they put on. It was breath-taking and awe inspiring and brilliant – just like you need to be next time you go on stage!

This works in business too. Tony Robbins has people breaking wooden planks and walking across fiery coals – and look at his following and rave reviews. He puts on a show.

People have a physical and visual ‘memory peg’ to pair with his inspirational stories. You need the same – and even if they’re not at the same level of Tony Robbins, having them at all will put you miles ahead in your market – because noone else is paying attention to this stuff.

Adopting a Persona

It’s all about standing out. Even if your speeches are ‘just’ sales presentations if you can stand out as different and memorable you significantly increase your chances of getting the business.

So how do you do that?

Well, creating your individuality is important. For example, I am known for my colourful shirts. Whenever you hear me speak you’ll  notice my shirt, I promise you. It’s part of my personal brand. I could be just another suited figure but that would make me less memorable and I don’t want that.

Neither do you. Make yourself stand out. Put on a show.

Many small businesses believe they have to advertise to grow their businesses and be competitive. In many cases they’re right, but from that  point on the rest of their thinking becomes badly flawed and they end up running ads that don’t work.

Why then do so many businesses get very poor responses to their ads?

Well, I’ve studied this for years – and the answers are crystal clear for anyone prepared to pay attention. Here goes:

No direct response/lead generation

Ask a business owner why he/she advertises and the majority will say ‘awareness’, or ‘to let people know we’re here’, or ‘to build my brand’. This is such weak, lily-livered thinking. Get real people.

The goal of advertising for most small businesses should be just one thing: to get the phone ring/fill the shop/make sales online. i.e to do business.

• Branding doesn’t produce leads – and it won’t pay the bills.
• Branding doesn’t make the phone ring.
• Branding aint worth squat online.

Too many small businesses misunderstand this. They get disgruntled when their ad doesn’t double their business a month after its first insertion.

All small business advertising should be what we call ‘direct response’ i.e the purpose of the ad is to get someone to pick up the phone or visit a website (where there’s effective lead collection systems) or to go to a shop.

No Offers

This is the next big problem.

Why do small business owners run ads without specific offers to entice readers to respond. It’s bonkers.

Put a compelling offer in your ads and the response will double or treble, instantly.

No headlines
So many businesses put their name at the top of their ad. Their name or their brand is their headline. S-T-U-P-I-D.

I’ve got news for you – no one cares about you (or your name) until they know what you can do for them. So lead with a headline about the benefits a customer will get from dealing with you.

CLUE: Your offer can often make a good headline, and always remember that the headline has to be about your customer, NOT about you.

No Deadlines

Never, ever, ever have an offer without a deadline. I mean why would you?

The deadline is what drives the urgency and prompts people to respond NOW. Without  a deadline people will procrasticate and hesitate and your response diminishes. And don’t make the deadline months in advance in the mistaken belief that it will give people more time to respond. The opposite will infact be true.

As a rough guide, your deadline should be no shorter than 6-7 days and no longer than 3-4 weeks.

Me too, me too

Simply put, too many small businesses just look at what their competitors are doing and do the same. They run ads in the same publications, usually saying pretty much the same things and guess what – they get the same shitty results!

I’ve got news for you, 95% of people in your industry are wrong. About  everything. Think about it, only 5% of businesses in whatever sector you are in, are super-successful. They’re the guys you need to pay attention to – not the 95% who make up the ‘also-rans’.

Do something different in your ads. Be outrageous. Stand out. Be different.

Your response will soar when you do, AND people will talk about you.

Too Impatient
Because advertising is expensive, small business owners are often impatient. They want to change the message and tweak the ad at every turn. This can be disastrous. For an ad campaign to be successful, the message must be consistent. If an ad works and generates a good response – run it again. Don’t mess with it.

I have an ad for our My Mag business that has run, unchanged, for over 5 years. Why? Because it works.  If it aint broke don’t fix it!

So Should your small business advertise?

In most cases the answer to that will be ‘yes’.
Advertising can work really well for small businesses that follow the above rules and avoid the mistakes made by so many of their competitors and peers.

But it won’t always be the right thing to do. There may be much smarter, cheaper and more effective ways to reach your market.

There’s a lot of clutter out there. Sellers clamour to move their wares. Buyers build filters to keep the cacophony of sales and marketing messages out.

To reach your customers, you need to break down these barriers. This takes more than meaningful marketing messages and creative. It takes the right frequency of communication.

I’ve seen businesses spend too much time on the creative and messaging of marketing campaigns. Business owners and executives labour over font sizes and colour schemes.

They drive the real creative people nuts.

But then once the work is done, they’re afraid to reach customers frequently enough to get results. It all comes unravelled in the execution.

Get over your fear of offending customers

Stop worrying about over-communicating.

Note: If you’re blasting out pointless salesy emails with no relevance to your target audience, you should be worried. You need more help than I can give you in one article.

But for those of us with even a vague understanding of marketing, we know there’s a lot of competition for our customers’ attention. Do you think your customers are worried they’ll offend you by buying from your competition?

The truth is, if you’re not getting some complaints or unsubscribes, you’re not communicating enough!

Look at it like this. If someone’s not interested in what you’re offering, they’re not buying. They’ll opt out anyway. Don’t sweat it. Get over the fear of inconveniencing the recipient and regularly deliver communications of value. This can be weekly, or even more frequently, depending on your business and how well you target your audience.

In my business, I want my potential customers to hear from me at least 25 times a year – and there’s a school of thought that says that ain’t nowhere near enough and that I’m leaving money on the table for my competition. However, I know that 25 times a year is at least five times more than my most ‘aggressive’ competitor – which is why my sales are a ton more than his!

Avoid sales schlock

Don’t abuse recipients with marketing fluff. Avoid vanity announcements that only interest you. And, for goodness sakes, avoid “read all about our great product/latest promotion” rubbish. People aren’t interested (sorry to burst your bubble).

I keep getting this email from God-knows-what business imploring me to download their free brochure. Really, that’s the pull. The free brochure. Get real.

What’s in it for me?

Make it matter

One of my favourite direct marketing tactics was for an IT services company. They sent out email alerts with very timely news like viruses and breaking IT issues. Smart. This branded the company and kept them top of mind. They weren’t always selling. They gave value.

Give your readers useful information. Do a series. Tell a story. Have a pull. Make it count or you’re wasting your time and money.

Use offers and discounts whenever possible

People respond to special offers, discounts and drawings. They’ll open the envelope, sign up for the drawing, or opt into the list. Heck, they may even meet with you!

Mix up the media

Your marketing strategy can’t consist only of email blasts. Not even email marketing companies do that. Instead, integrate tactics. Boost the frequency and relevance by using direct mail, special events, public relations, advertising, etc. Integrate, integrate, integrate.

Know your market

If yours is a transactional consumer business, frequency will be vital.

Important: The easier it is to buy your product, the easier it will be to purchase elsewhere. In a global recession, customer loyalty is dead.

If you’re selling business services, you can communicate a bit less frequently. But use content rich tools like white papers, case studies and webinars. Give value.

Who’s talking to your customers?

If you think reaching customers once every six months is enough, ask yourself this:

How many times are my many, many competitors communicating with my customers? Your competitors are reaching out to your customers. Trust me.

You must control the conversation. Deliver content that’s interesting, and relevant with an incentive to take action, and you’re on the right track.

Send it out frequently using various tools and you’re ready to make money.

I learned a long time ago that every time I send something out I make money. It was a good lesson.