Testing for your lead generation engine – 2

campaign, constraints, lead generation, Marketing, single target market, Testing

Yesterday I wrote about why testing is important for me, inspite of having worked on this for so many years. One is the theoretical part and I shared that yesterday. Next is the practical part and why I insist on testing.

I was advising someone, who does video production, for how their Google Adwords should look, the kind of phrases they should have etc. I had also advised them on the audience they need to cater to and the kind of headlines and lead magnet they need to look at.

After launching the advertisement, there were no clicks, no one was clicking on their ads and giving their emails. As usual, my first target to deduce was the market, so I got them to check for the market they were targeting, checked if they had the single target market defined clearly. Then added a couple of geographies, just in case the market we initially identified was too small, still no response.

Then we changed the keyword phrases of when the advertisement should show up. Still no response.

Till now I was giving them ideas from a distance and they were executing. I understand I can make errors, but not getting any response is extremely low for my ego. So today I actually sat down with them to understand when the advertisement gets shown, how does it look. That’s when I started seeing a horror movie.

The way the ads were getting shown because of the limits on the headlines and content lines, the whole advertisement was gibberish. It was not making sense. No wonder, no one was responding. The medium has its constraints and you have to live with it. But if you know the constraints, then you can always find ways to solve.

Luckily we were playing at a low scale to test for the lead generation and hence the impact was not very high. Testing at a small scale to figure out the “gotchas” is a God send. Even with the best of intentions and capabilities, its absolutely critical in marketing to test every element of your campaign.

Now we are getting a new set of ads getting launched. I will keep you posted on how the new things progress and the impact the changes had on the campaign.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Games – constraints – enjoyment

constraints, ego, Energy, problem solving

As children we love playing games. If we don’t have any games to play, we even create our own. Even when we create our own games, we tell the others about the “rules” of playing the games. You can’t have any game without rules because then the children won’t know how to play.

However within the rules, the children have so much fun and so much creativity. Even professional sports have well defined rules , but each player playing the game, is different in the way she plays. We love sports simply because we see how players use their talent to win against the competition.

However when we are faced with challenges in our work life, we end up thinking of all the constraints because of which we are not able to achieve our dreams and goals.

If we were to think of problems and constraints as rules of the games that we are supposed to play , wouldn’t life become much more enjoyable and fun. We would be at our creative best in trying to find a way out of the situation.

Children don’t have a fear of losing therefore they find different ways to win within the situation. If they lose, they dust it off within minutes and are ready to play the next game.

Our problem is that our ego comes in the way and we adopt a fixed mindset. This ego creates fear, which in turn stops us from trying out different things.

If you have been reading my blog posts, then you will know that fear is a way that our brain plays games with us so that it can conserve energy.

As with games, the more you practice the game, the better you become. Similarly the more problems/constraints you work on the better you become at solving them. Go at them with ferocity

Till next time then…enjoy life

Carpe Diem!!!

Reframing the assets that we have

Abundance, assets, constraints, creativity, Leverage, possibility thinking, problem solving, Uncategorized

Inspite of the fact that I write about marketing, product management, finance etc. The fact is that I am also learning every day. While I have some theories like “Riding the Elephant ” , I am actually a Work in Process.

So when I come across something which I have used earlier and I read a book in which a similar idea is written, then it becomes a validation of my ideas.

In marketing you will constantly come across constraints. Actually in life itself, you will constantly come across constraints. But in case of marketing, I have noticed that Murphy’s law decides to become applicable at the most inappropriate times.

At those times you have to be as resourceful as possible. One of the ways of becoming resourceful is to first identify all the assets at your disposal.

Next see how the same asset can be utilized in a different way.

Third “who” could benefit from the reframed asset and last

How could you benefit from the assets that person or organization has and then go about showcasing them, about how it could be of mutual benefit to both the concerned parties.

One thing which I have used very effectively is the spare technical manpower in our company. I have actually gone and spoken to partners to check if they’re facing technical problems in going to the market.

We have been able to work with partners because of just this one asset that we have and they can’t afford. Due to that they take us to the market, we help them sell and give us all the services.

Sometimes it could be the internal setup or processes or messaging that you have built, which could be repurchased for the other side, in return for something that they have.

In marketing you always need to keep looking with an abundant mindset of how you could reframe the assets you have to get what you want.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Welcoming constraints

constraints, creativity, Fear, Human Brain, possibility thinking, problem solving, Uncategorized

I have written multiple times before how I used to be scared when problems came my way.

One of the first people to influence me against being scared was the writing of Jay Abraham. One of the things that has stuck in my mind is one statement – the bigger the problems you solve, the more you can earn.

Over the years, as I have matured the ability to handle challenges has also changed but still there are times when constraints baffle me.

Realizing that its the rain which tries to create all our challenges has helped me in managing the thought process around handling constraints.

A book that I found useful with a good set of tools for welcoming constraints is A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden.

While a lot of people will talk about looking at the positive side of things and about, thinking out of the box etc. This book gives practical tools which if you use make your brain actually look for options and find solutions.

The more I read about the challenges that we face, the more I realize its our brain which creates mountains out of mole hills.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!