From a sales and marketing perspective, which of the following do you think gets the best results?
- A sign on your customer entrance that says “We’re open”, or a sign that says “Come in”?
- A message in your marketing, which gives your “opening hours”, or a message in your marketing that gives your “drop-in hours”?
The second option in both those examples almost always performs better (sometimes by factors of hundred’s of percent) in tests.
There are 3 important points from that short exercise.
1. Small adjustments can produce massive improvements
Minor adjustments to your sales or marketing can create breakthrough results.
In the above examples, tiny changes to the text were made. However, by increasing the number of prospective clients (or customers) who take action, those changes can result in a very tangible, positive impact.
For instance, a recent client of mine made a change I suggested, live on our first Zoom meeting. He was able to see a clear, measurable improvement with a tiny textual change to a call-to-action button on his website that same day. He then rolled it out to all his relevant pages the following day, with equally outstanding results, but this time across his entire range of services. We tested, measured and adjusted until he squeezed out close to a 175% increase in the click-through rate (CTR) from those pages, to his sales pages.
Test, measure and adjust?
Yes.
If you’ve followed my work for any period of time, you’ll know that every marketing adjustment you make needs to be tested and measured.
- Tested: Put into play in a real world setting.
- Measured: Results compared against past performance. If it improves things, you keep it and then seek to further improve it with your next adjustment.
That process is then repeated until you see no further measurable improvement. Then, you move on to the next marketing element to adjust and improve.
2. Low risk
The type of subtle adjustments I’m referring to here, either cost nothing or very little for you to put into play. This means they can be deployed quickly.
So you now have the freedom to make adjustments to each part of your sales and marketing. In fact, that’s exactly what EVERY professionally marketed business already does.
3. One size does not fit all
Different marketing adjustments, tactics and strategies work differently in different industries. And even within the same industry, there are dozens and dozens of things that will determine how effective any change to your marketing will be, for your specific business.
Some of the most common factors include.
- The profile of client you sell your products or services to.
- Your pricing; whether it is higher, lower or around average for your industry.
- How well (or poorly) any changes you make, work alongside your current branding.
- Your location.
- The effectiveness of your competitors.
Small, low risk adjustments that are specific to you
You don’t need to make major changes.
You don’t need to spend major money.
But you do need to find out what works best for you and your business.
You can waste a massive amount of time focusing on the wrong things to adjust. You can waste even more time, making the wrong adjustments. And in both cases, you’ll be leaving a potential fortune on the table.
This is one of those areas of marketing where it makes no sense to dabble with it yourself, unless you absolutely have to. So, if you can afford to invest in expert marketing help, do.
[Note: I explain why in more detail here.]
When done correctly, this strategy will give you a huge spread of improvements that will combine to increase your sales. It’s a proven, low risk, highly effective and exceptionally robust way to grow your business in any economy.