Huge Marketing Decisions: The Devil is in the Details
Over the last few weeks I’ve been sending and producing a decent amount of electronic event marketing materials for clients. Part and parcel of the emails is the data which the system provides. Collecting good permission based data has opened my eyes to marketing possibilities and other view points I would have never of considered.
As an example, have you ever had a scenario where you knew you were absolutely positively right about something? Then, you find out an important piece of information and what you were convinced was an absolute gets completely turned upside down.
Having good data tends to force us to consider other marketing solutions or ideas.
The above scenario plays out all the time with a numerous well meaning companies. Someone in senior management gets a marketing idea in their head based on a strong personal belief or hunch. In many cases they back up their decision with “I’m the boss and this (whatever it may be) is going to be done!” What they should ask themselves and what other people should diplomatically inquire about is providing data for their viewpoint. Obviously it can’t be for every marketing decision, but consider examining good supporting data for your most important marketing decisions. Why am I so adamant about data to backup big marketing decisions? I’ve seen companies needlessly blow valuable human resources and countless dollars on decisions that would have been different with very basic data.
The Idea of the Day
My suggestion for today is to always try and collect as much good data as possible. The data could be anything from email open rates, to link tracking, web stats, or even customer surveys. Online technology has made collecting data quick and very inexpensive. What took marketers weeks and months to accomplish in previous years can now be completed in a few short hours.
Multi Million Dollar Example
There was an interesting “testing and tracking” interview I listened to last week between Scott Hallman and Eben Pagan that really drives home the point.
In the interview Scott brings up the methodology of A/B split testing. He told the story of a “big realization moment” while presenting to a room full of high end marketers. During a pause in Scott’s presentation one of conference facilitators asked “How many people in the room A/B test?” Almost everyone raised their hand. The question was finally refined down to “How many people test daily?” Very few people in the room still had their hands up. The facilitator asked the few people who tested daily, “How much do you make a year?” Those people responded individually, “$20 million, $3.5 million, $6 million . . .”
If you’re serious about being successful with any type of marketing, data collection is quintessential.
Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:
- Choosing the Right Online Market
- Tracking Your Advertising, Old School
- Watch Your Pay Per Click Advertising
- Building Trust and Credibility with Follow Up
- Web Centric Marketing and Marketing Leverage
- Get Your Marketing Message Across
- Do You Test Your Web Site Often Enough?
- The Event Promotion System
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