Small Scale Testing as a great way to improve « Escalate

Small Scale Testing as a great way to improve

The budget that big brands can spend on marketing and advertising can be startling. Take AT&T. Their 2007 us ad spend was estimated by ad age to be $3.2B. Given there are about 300M people in the usa, that makes $10 for every man woman and child in the country. It’s a startling number, but with my cell bill running over $100/month it’s still a small portion of their revenue. Large brands tend to everything on a huge scale, but that makes them miss on some of the refinements they could make along the way. If you were going to spend $3M for 30 sec of superbowl time, you really only get one or two shots at getting it right. One big splash rather than a number of consistent dribbles.

The internet, however is an entirely different animal. It’s possible to revise ads on a very regular basis, and test numerous combinations of webpage elements. Its as close as a credit card and a bit of creativity. There are even plenty of agencies that can help measure the return on investment of your efforts.

The smallest brands can play this game. Bet it all on one backpage newspaper ad, or try to create a facebook page? Experiment or go with tried and true? Display or search? Try it all in very small scale and pick the winner. True results trump a focus group and the added benefit is the sales along the way.