Marketing promotion: Is your marketing plan effective?

How to put a good idea into practice? Are there any risks in practice? How to verify the validity of an idea?

When we are doing projects, we often encounter this problem: Is this solution effective? What if it doesn’t work?

There are too many variables in marketing success, and no one can guarantee that an idea will achieve the desired effect. But if an idea is always questioned to the point that even you don’t believe in it anymore, that’s also a very sad situation. If you are not even sure whether your plan is effective, how can you convince companies that your plan is effective?

In addition, some people put their ideas into large-scale use as soon as they are put forward, only to find out in the end that they are going in the wrong direction and pay a heavy price for their mistakes. This is also not a wise approach. Because the cost of such trial and error is high and the trial and error cycle is long.

So, is there any way to determine whether an idea is effective before making a big investment?

There are many methods on the market, but after many practical summaries, Monster believes that the most effective one is the " minimum viable product " method proposed in the book "Lean Startup".

What does this mean?

That is to say , before making large-scale investments in an idea, we need to find out whether the idea or direction is wrong in a low-cost and fast way. This thing can be one of the experiments or a small-scale test.

For example, before we held a restaurant free meal event, we would use some users to do process testing, so as to minimize the error rate when actually launching the event or test whether the idea is suitable for this restaurant and business district. For example, the waiter's reception process, the front desk's speech skills, etc. So this small-scale test is the "minimum viable product".

Some time ago, I saw a speech by Zhang Xiaolong of WeChat where he said that before releasing WeChat version 7.0, their internal staff would first use it for a period of time to see if they were accustomed to the new version, and then release it to 1 billion users. This is also the “minimum viable item” way of thinking.

I even see some of my friends using Taobao or JD crowdfunding platforms as the smallest viable supply in order to verify at a low cost whether their products have market demand (it seems that some people who do project roadshows also have this function).

Therefore, before making a big investment, if you want to increase the success rate of your ideas, it is best to find a minimum viable product to help you verify them in advance.

So how do we find this “minimum viable item”?

The situation of each enterprise and industry is different, so it is difficult for Mr. Monster to specifically say how to help you find this "minimum viable product". But Mr. Monster recommends a seemingly simple but very effective thinking method to you, which allows you to better utilize the minimum viable thinking to verify at low cost whether your ideas or plans are effective.

The specific approach is : hypothesis - test - optimize.

Perhaps some top students will say after seeing this that this is just the common experimental procedure in our high school biology or chemistry books. But ask yourself, are you making good use of your marketing efforts? Even if you use it, have you used it well?

Most of the really good ideas that are finally proven to be effective are made by following the steps of “hypothesis-test-optimization”. Because this method is more scientific, the cost of trial and error is lower, and it conforms to our principle of finding the "minimum viable product".

Okay, now let’s talk about this step that Mr. Monster often uses and that many experts use, so that you can avoid detours before making a big investment.

1. Assumptions

"Hypothesis" is not a guess, it is a hypothetical behavior based on analysis and inference of real data and consumer behavior.

For example, if we want to expand customer base and increase publicity for a store, we finally use the "free meal activity" to achieve it. This is because we made an assumption based on the correlation between the store's users and products - the current situation of the company and the current business district are very likely to be suitable for this marketing plan. This is a scientific assumption, not a random guess.

Monster Mister encountered an e-commerce case before and found that the number of users' browsing and collection were very large, but the user order conversion rate was very low. After comparing and analyzing some data in the background and user behavior (such as analyzing comment information, customer return visits, etc.), and excluding factors such as price and product quality, my hypothesis is that users' concerns about product warranty and after-sales service have not been resolved, which leads to users' hesitation and affects the order rate.

These assumptions are not random guesses, but scientific assumptions. Develop effective solutions for clients based on my assumptions.

Finally, whether my hypothesis is correct requires further testing. Testing should follow the principle of "minimum viable product" - use the shortest time period and the least error cost to test to verify whether the idea or plan under this hypothesis is correct.

2. Testing

Testing is not a formal investment. Testing is a small cost investment to better reduce the trial and error costs after a large investment.

For example, in the “free dining event” mentioned earlier, after we make assumptions and plans based on real and objective information, we need to do a test to ensure that we do not go astray before making a large investment. For example, we will randomly invite some users to experience our activities, and then after going through the whole process, we will find that the direction of this idea is not wrong, but there are still problems in the reception process, food delivery rate, front desk language and other aspects of the store’s service staff. So, after these tests, we found the problems, and then the next step was to optimize according to these problems, and finally officially launch the event.

The same is true for the e-commerce case mentioned earlier. After testing in different ways, it was finally discovered that users had concerns about after-sales returns and exchanges of products, fearing that it would be troublesome to return or exchange them if they bought something inappropriate. So based on the test results, we made better optimizations and finally launched our solution vigorously.

Seeing this, some people may say: Wouldn’t this be very troublesome?

In fact, this is the least troublesome way to do it!

Think about it, if you come up with an idea and invest heavily without any testing or verification, and then find out in the end that the direction is wrong, then the invested money, resources, time, etc. will all be wasted - isn't this a bigger problem?

Of course, not all marketing activities require testing, but in most cases testing is not a bad thing. Even Internet products that place great emphasis on time efficiency must be tested internally and with select users before they go online, in order to ensure user experience and reduce the error rate after going online.

3. Optimization

The essence of using the "minimum viable product" thinking to make assumptions and tests is to discover problems. Make optimizations based on previous test results and continuously upgrade and iterate your ideas or products.

As Mr. Monster said before, few people can come up with ideas that are absolutely 100% correct every time. Many outstanding works are the result of continuous trial, error and optimization. This is even more true for a company's marketing activities.

For example, based on previous tests, we found that the restaurant's free meal activity needs further improvement in terms of waiter reception procedures, so we will increase training and simulation exercises in this area until we are sure there are no problems in this area before officially launching the activity.

The same is true for e-commerce. If you want to give users the guarantees promised, you must continuously optimize based on user feedback after testing. For example, if you want to provide free returns and exchanges within a certain number of days, you must ensure that customer service staff, logistics cooperation, and other aspects are better than in the past.

If you fantasize about creating the greatest work in the world in one fell swoop, this method may not be for you. Because even the greatest companies or products in the world grow and develop through continuous iteration and optimization.

It’s just that how we can verify our assumptions and ideas at a lower trial and error cost is what we need to learn.

Source: Mr. Monster (ID: Mister-shou)