MSI Blog

Has one of your promotions ever bombed? Sure! It has happened to all of us. Somehow we did something wrong and our dreams of huge sales numbers, grand publicity, and a truckload of new clients all went out the window.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to share the steps you can take to make sure you never launch a stinker promotion again; but to preface those steps I want to share something that warrants some serious consideration: our ability to deliver on our promotions.

The only thing I can think of that is worse than not pulling a response on a promotion is pulling a response larger than we expected to the point we can't deliver on our offer. Make sure you enter a promotion in such a way that you don't risk turning your audience off after garnering their attention and response.

The poster-child case study for such a mess is the "Unthink KFC" campaign of earlier this year. The dust settled has on my experience with it, and I'm ready to share my findings and thoughts.

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There are those who get it. And there are those who don't.

The people who get it are the most successful people I know. And not just in their marketing, but in all areas of their lives. ‘It' is the thing that makes them get up in the morning. ‘It' drives them to be the best at what they do. ‘It' is what attracts others to them and makes them better people.

So what is ‘it'?

‘It' is the abundance mentality. The abundance mentality says, "I will make my business stronger by making my clients' businesses better." "Today, someone's life will be better because I was around to help." And, "I have more than I need. Who can I share my wealth (of knowledge, time, resources) with right now to improve their situation?"

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Last week I shared a few elements that need to be in your ads to improve response. Now I'd like to share a quick and easy way to accelerate your response. It's called split testing.

As you know, I believe in testing EVERYTHING. None of us should be so smug as to believe we've nailed a campaign or other marketing activity squarely on the head until the marketplace has spoken.

We can either complete a test, tweak as necessary, then test again (a serial approach), or we can test multiple versions of our ad simultaneously (a parallel approach). This latter approach is called split testing.

When we split test, we can test different headlines, offers, deadlines, demographics, or just about anything else we choose. Split testing allows us to get the information we're seeking on response rate much more quickly. Here's a quick, real-world example:

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Are you getting the response you want to your ads? If not, perhaps you're not asking for it. Response ads follow a few simple rules that make them work.

FIRST, you must have a headline that draws attention. It's the ad for the ad. The headline will largely determine whether the rest of the ad is read, viewed, or listened to.

SECOND, your body copy must develop interest and connect with the prospect. It must then go on to create desire in the prospect to obtain whatever you are offering. (Note: the smaller the step, the higher the response rate. Requests for more information or small initial purchases bring higher responses than requirements for full purchases. What you offer is determined by the purpose of your campaign.)

THIRD, your ad must lead the prospect to take action! This is accomplished through a direct call-to-action and a response mechanism (or multiple response mechanisms) that allow the prospect to easily act on his or her desire.

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