As much as we’d like to think it, brilliant ideas don’t just strike like lightning. Usually, a lot of hard work and research goes into play to accompany those bolts of creative genius. One of the most important steps when you’re designing a marketing campaign is to collect feedback. This set of data, which comes directly from the work you’ve already accomplished and the mouths of those you’re targeting, is vital when it comes to shaping the brilliant tactics you’ll take afterward. After all, the truest proof of success is to continually learn and improve.
Some people make the mistake of thinking that feedback is something that only happens after you create a marketing strategy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In actuality, feedback is a process that occurs before, during and after you launch your campaign. Let’s look at how these three aspects come into play using the example of a new ice cream stand that’s opening at the local park.
- Before: Testing groups. Prior to the debut of the new ice cream stand, its owners will want to make sure that they’re doing everything possible to offer and market what the parents, children and other visitors to the park are desiring. They might conduct focus groups to see which flavors of ice cream will be most popular. They can also advertise the upcoming ice cream stand in the weeks and months before the actual premiere and solicit ideas from potential ice cream buyers – for example: Should the stand open earlier on Tuesdays because there’s a toddler group that meets early on those days, or is before lunch an off-limits time for ice cream in the toddler realm anyway?
The people who are going to buy your product often have this kind of insight that can really make or break your company. You can also run surveys about where people usually get their ice cream in order to check out your competition. All of this information will help you secure the information necessary to make the sharpest decisions for future marketing – before you even set up shop.
Check back for next week for Part 2, which discusses the “during” and “after” stages of the three-pronged process of collecting feedback.