If you’ve ever worked with DMA, you know that we’re not satisfied with only generating great results. We’re students of analytics, so we want to know why something performed well, or why it didn’t. So it’s no surprise that one of our core values is to “seek the why.”
“Seeking the why” is the reason we don’t necessarily believe in “error.” If you tried something and it didn’t work out, don’t beat yourself up or consider it a failure, study why it didn’t work and make a note to change your approach the next time. How will you ever understand what works if you don’t know what doesn’t? This is why the phrase “trial & error” isn’t the end of the story.
At DMA, we’re fans of A/B testing. If you aren’t familiar with A/B testing, it’s just a term for comparing two different versions of an ad, webpage, email, etc. against each other to see which performed better. Essentially, A/B testing finishes the story of “trial and error.” Try something, see what works and what doesn’t, learn from it.
Here are a few ways you can implement A/B testing into your marketing strategy:
Social media advertising
If you’re familiar with advertising on Facebook, you’ve seen the option to A/B test your ads. This is one of the best ways to see what works for your specific audience. At DMA, we work on countless social media brands for our clients, but what’s interesting about seeing so many results and analytics, is that what works for one brand can be completely opposite for what works for another. This means that Googling or copying a competitor’s tactics isn’t what will earn great results. A/B testing the image used in your ad, or even the tone or length of the copy will give you clear results as to what your audience responds well to vs what they don’t.
Email marketing
While there are several platforms that host website pages and databases, at DMA, we’ve found our favorite to be HubSpot. HubSpot allows endless possibilities for A/B testing and we’ve especially found this useful with email marketing. While creating the perfect email is definitely an art, with A/B testing, you can get it down to a science. You can test the best time of day or time of the week to send your email, or even which CTA is most effective in driving link clicks. Not only does understanding this intel help your email marketing, it should also impact all other marketing efforts. If your database responds strongly toward one messaging over another, consider using that messaging on your website, social media, and all other marketing efforts across the board. Figure out what resonates with your fan base and double down.
Consumer media pitching
While there isn’t necessarily a program to A/B test consumer pitching, we can still learn manually. If you send a pitch to the media and receive multiple responses and product requests, GREAT! What did you do right? Was it the timing? Your writing? Your vetted media list? Make a note and do it again and again. If you sent a pitch and heard nothing but crickets, what could you do differently?
Really, A/B testing applies to all of our marketing efforts. Even if you aren’t using a platform like Facebook or Hubspot that automatically compares results for you, we can always take a deeper dive on our results to continuously learn from our efforts. “Seeking the why” should be a core value for all marketers as we seek to redefine “trial and error.”
Interested in a free brainstorm with our team? We’d love to connect. Schedule a call with us today!
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