The MarketingProfits4.0 Challenge

How Does Your Marketing Measure Up?

Here are some quick acid tests to see whether or not you have an effective and evolved marketing process in place

The Marketing or Advertising Material Test

Take your latest marketing or advertising materials and see if they can pass these simple tests for being compelling. If your marketing cannot pass these simple tests then I guarantee that your prospects are thinking:

"So What Who Cares"

1. The "Cross-out/Write-in" Test: Take your latest marketing piece and cross-out your company name and write-in the name of your top competitor. If the ad is still pretty much valid you fail the test.

Example: Say you own a custom blind and drapery company. Your marketing pieces have pictures of blinds and drapes, your headline is your company name and you list a menu of services and brands. Congratulations! Even though this is the most general and easiest of the tests to pass you have failed and you really have crappy marketing. If it is any consolation your competitors are probably failing this test too.

2. The "Duh, I Should Hope So" Test: If your marketing is filled with the most obvious facts and descriptions that your prospects either already know or fully expect to be true without ever having met you then you fail this test.

Example: If you are an auto mechanic shop does your marketing list things such as "We fix all makes and models", "air conditioning", "power steering", "brakes"... blah blah blah. The only conclusion your prospect or any sane person can draw is "Duh, I should hope so!"

3. The "Can Anyone Else Make These Claims" Test: If your marketing piece is filled with "platitudes"* that any of your competitors can easily claim (and likely are!) you fail this test.

Example: If you are a home builder and your ad contains phrases such as "Highest Quality", "Built with Integrity", "Innovative Designs"... blah blah blah then you know that your marketing is not compelling and will fail to deliver.

*A platitude is a trite, meaningless, biased or prosaic statement that is presented as if it were significant and original. The word is derived from the French word "plat" which means flat

The Unique Value Proposition Test

Do you have a UVP crafted that you can easily recite when someone wakes you up at 2:00am?  If you think you do then write it down and then run it through the 3 SWWC tests.  Does it pass the tests or does your UVP really stand for Uninspiring Voluminous Platitudes!

The Process Test

Take 5 minutes. Can you lay your hands on the metrics for every decision point in your marketing process? For example do you know...

• Your delivery rates? 
• Open rates?
• Unique clicks/visitors?
• Time spent on your site?
• Opt-ins?
• Sales?
• Up-sells?
• Cross-sells?
• $ earned per marketing $ invested?

How about your sales process? Do you know your number of:

• Contact attempts?
• Contacts made?
• First meetings?
• Second meetings?
• New accounts?

Chances are you failed this test. Most businesses do. The simple truth is you cannot control and improve what you cannot measure.