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When I am consulting with businesses about advanced strategies to increase overall bottom-line profits, the one part of the business plan that I rarely see being implemented is a solid testing strategy as it pertains to marketing result tracking at www.breiterstrom.com.

In fact, often times when I begin talking about testing, I see the eyes of my client's sort of 'glaze over' as I put them into a silent slumber'until I mention a few magic words'. 'And once you do this'and then that'you have increased profits of x''waking them up immediately'as they rustle in their seat saying 'wait'what'what did I miss'what did you say about increased profits?'

I must admit, while testing may not be the sexiest conversation, nor is marketing result tracking as a subject, it is certainly by far the most valuable thing you can do in your business. Did you hear that? Testing is where the money is made with your advertising. PERIOD!

Many people then ask the most natural question next. Why test? What does testing have to do with marketing result tracking? Great question!

Ok, let's say you are sitting around with your sales managers and you decide to write an ad for this coming weekend's sale. Perhaps you are an auto dealership, and you are going to place 25 cars 'on ad' as well as advertise an increased rebate from the manufacturer.

Ok, so, you need to ask yourself, is this the only time throughout the entire year that you will run an ad that is similar to this ad? Or is this a one time occurrence? You may even go as far to ask yourself if marketing result tracking is important along with your testing.

So, you and your team finishes writing the ad, you call your newspaper representative, he/she runs down to your dealership to 'take your order'. Now the weekend comes! People come in'buy your cars'and you start all over again the following week.

Now, let me ask you a question, in an effort to answer the question about WHY to test.

Do you know with 100% certainty that the ad that you and your team had written was the ad that would get the maximum result from your target audience? Do you see any need for testing and marketing result tracking?

If you can unequivocally say yes'well'congratulations. You have accomplished in one weekend what the advertising industry has tried to get 'right' for over 100 years. Now, I am not trying to be a wisenheimer'I am merely just trying to make a point. Testing and marketing result tracking are mandatory if you are interested in growing your business.

Marketing Result Tracking lets you know what is really going on!

You don't know! You do not know if it was the best ad for your target audience, and you will not know until you test the different components of the ad that you are placing.

So, the only answer to the question of 'why do we test' is a simple answer, to ensure that we are getting the absolute best results with each and every ad that we place for our target prospects and customers. Only through a testing procedure will we actually be able to constantly improve our results incrementally. Marketing result tracking is, as I like to put it'the way of the JEDI!

Now, the next question that I am asked is' 'Ok Margaret, what do we test'? This is where client's ears generally perk up, as they begin to 'see it' and the huge benefits that testing and marketing result tracking can give an organization over its competition.

I usually like to begin with all of the ad copy that an organization uses. We would go through the newspaper ads, any spot ads they may like to run, and then finish up with any other print advertising, finishing up with the all important Yellow Page advertisement. Next we would dive into audio media such as Radio and TV. We want to engage marketing result tracking in all areas of the business.

After examining all forms of advertising of an organization, it is important to identify what the objective of the testing strategy is.

Let me give you the simplest answer right here'the objective of the testing strategy is to give your company incremental increases in response. By employing proper marketing result tracking methods, we are able to gain these incremental increases.

Let me give one simple example of a test from beginning to end.

Let's go back to that newspaper ad that I mentioned above. Remember the team of managers that wrote the ad. They sit at the table in the sales office'construct the ad, look at each other when completed and say hey'. 'That's a good ad'run it!'

Ok, good, you have to start somewhere. Now, this is where the marketing result tracking and testing comes in.

But, what would happen if you broke the ad down into distinct components. The HEADLINE, the Sub-Headline, the Offer (or body of the ad) and the Call-to-Action (what ever it is that you want the prospect to do'whether it is call your dealership'visit your dealership, etc.).

Ok, so'If you are in a larger city, this next part of the process is a little easier, if you are in a smaller city or town, it may take a little longer, but you will ultimately get the same results. Marketing result tracking does not discriminate; it just takes a little longer in smaller areas.

So, here is what you would do. You would run the ad that you have written in ' of the city'and the exact same ad that you have written, with 1 exception, in the other ' of the city. The one exception would be the headline. Now, you will have the exact same ad, with the exception of the headline running throughout the entire city. Now comes the test and the actual marketing result tracking.

You will simply track the amount of calls that you receive from each ad and record them in your marketing result tracking log.

At the end of the weekend you will have a winner. Now, I have oversimplified the process for the sake of time, but the objective here was for you to understand the objective of testing and marketing result tracking.

The objective is to test each of the four components I outlined above, then utilize the strategies of marketing result tracking, in order to come up with the perfect advertisement for your particular market.

Now, let me ask you a simple question. If you ran this simple strategy, for a period of 3 or so months'with an ad that you routinely run, do you think that you would be able to ultimately be able to create an ad that can achieve a higher response rate? Well, if you were not able to, you would certainly be the anomaly.

You see, by testing your ad in your market, your target audience will always tell you what they want to read, and respond to. Then by deploying a proper marketing result tracking system, you will be ahead of the game.

I hope that this was something that has at least piqued your interest as to the possibilities of increased profits that testing and marketing result tracking can deliver.

It truly is nothing short of amazing'and you will be dominating your local market in no time with ads that turn the heads of your prospects and customers while your competition is trying to figure out what happened.

We strongly recommend that you and your organization implement a testing and marketing result tracking strategy immediately, don't wait for your competition to figure this low-cost high-reward technique first.