Make Direct Response Marketing Fun - Test It
by Abe Cherian, Multiple Stream Media

Of all the businesses running ads and measuring success, there is one thing that's needed to point out. If you run an ad once and it doesn't work, normally it's suggested to change one of the variables or the variable that you guess is the most likely culprit as the reason why it didn't work. Sometimes you'll never figure it out, but always make an educated guess.

Let's say you change the headline in what you think is a good paper and a good section on a good day. 

Let's say you tried one paper and now switch it to another paper. If you do the second test, and the ad still doesn't work, normally at that point you can scrap the campaign and move on to another theme, or another headline approach, or whatever.

See, there is no emotional effect that is measurable and useful when it comes to direct response marketing. In fact, just the opposite. Normally, if you ran, let's say a $40 ad and got 50 responses, and you run it again and get another 50 responses over a period of time, instead of your results going up, they will tend to go down to the point where the ad is not working, and you have to either switch to something else or at least give it a rest.

As long as direct response advertising is still producing, I still hear " I ran an ad for $75, and I got 15 responses." What's interesting to note when asked "Well, in your prior attempts at advertising, if you spent $75 on an ad, how many responses did you get?" they might answer, "Oh, three or four responses over the course of a year."

Running the ad 10 or 15 times and only getting three or four responses total! Now they're complaining that they ran a $75 ad and got 15 responses on their first attempt. It's kind of like asking, "Is the glass 1/2-full or 1/2-empty?" 

Look at it this way:

If you are getting responses that are under $10 a response, even below $5 a response, then you have a winning campaign. If your initial tests result in numbers that are too high in costs-per-1ead, then just scrap the ad and start something else. Don't ever get talked into multiple runs beyond one or two by any newspaper or advertising sales people. They will give you the "emotional effect" story. Don't be misleading. Give it your test. If it works, expand it - if it doesn't, stop it!

Now, let's say you only got 15 responses for each time you ran an ad. And let's say you only picked up one client out of each 15 people who responded. Let's say you ran the ad once a week, and it cost you that $75. So, now you have spent $300 in the course of a month, and get four new clients. If each sale is worth $3,000 to you, that's $12,000 a month in revenue for a $300 advertising expense. 

It doesn't take a lot of responses to make this work. It just takes the right kind of advertising based on the right knowledge and attitude about direct response marketing. But, there's still another tip: Any business must keep track of their results. There's only a few good ways to test, but You cannot tell if a campaign is working, is mediocre, or poor and needs to be scrapped unless you keep track of your numbers.