The world of business changes continually, and this means that business owners and marketers have to respond to new and emerging trends.

Marketing can be hugely successful, but implementing a strategy is not a given. Just because you invest in digital marketing doesn’t mean that your brand is guaranteed to become an overnight sensation or the next big thing.

Marketing experiments can help to make the world a slightly less daunting place and maximize the chances of reaping the rewards of a successful campaign.

If you’re a business owner looking to capitalize on the potential perks of modern marketing methods, here’s a guide to why you should run marketing experiments.

Why Run Marketing Experiments?

We’ve all been to science classes in the past.

During our school days, most of us devoted a significant amount of time to firing up Bunsen burners and mixing potions together in test tubes in a lab setting.

We may have questioned just why we needed to partake in all these tests and focused more on the fun element, but it’s likely that somewhere along the way, we took something from those interactive sessions.

Experimenting is necessary because it provides us with information, which is not based solely on beliefs, hearsay or interpretation, but on facts. When you write up an experiment, you include sections on methodology and analysis, and you emerge the other side with a conclusion based on evidential proof.

Now, marketing may not be an exact science, but that doesn’t mean that experimenting isn’t beneficial.

The aims of marketing for most businesses are to promote products and services, expand the client base, target new audiences, enhance brand reputation, and ultimately increase profits.

You can go about trying to hit these targets by using methods and strategies you think will work, but isn’t it a better idea to go into the process with knowledge of what your consumers want?

Marketing experiments enable you to gauge a reaction and get data, which will help you create a targeted, effective campaign that is more likely to succeed. Experimenting eliminates the risk of a marketing campaign being a metaphorical stab in the dark, and it will also provide you with valuable insights into what your customers desire.

One of the most significant benefits of marketing experiments is being able to move with the times. If you take a digital marketing technique like SEO, for example, you’ll find that a strategy that worked five or ten years ago may not cut the mustard today.

By carrying out experiments and testing different ideas and approaches, you can embrace new trends and make your campaigns more relevant and compelling. Something as simple as experimenting with new titles and tags could make all the difference to your results.

If you’re able to spot emerging trends, this will also help you stay ahead of the curve and give you a better chance of outshining your competitors.

How Much Money Should I Spend on Marketing Experiments?

Every business is unique, and some companies have much larger marketing budgets than others. The key to using marketing experiments lies in investing in experimentation that provides you with information that can streamline your strategy and improve results going forward.

You want to devote the vast majority of your money to techniques and methods proven to work. By spending wisely on experimenting, you can increase the chances of success and focus on using your budget to achieve the desired outcomes.

Set aside part of your overall budget for marketing experiments, and use the data you collect and the feedback you get to ensure your strategy is cost-effective.

When you’re thinking about how to spend your money, it’s crucial to make sure you’re using experiments in the right way. Test hypotheses relevant to your brand, the products or services you’re selling, your target customer, and your business goals.

Don’t waste money on tests that will have no bearing on your marketing strategy. Focus on experiments that will provide you with the information and conclusions you need to catapult your business in the right direction.

Making the Most of Marketing Experiments

When you do an experiment of any kind, it’s essential to ensure that you come out the other side with an answer that has value. There are myriad tests you could conduct as a business owner or a marketer, but not all of them will be relevant or useful for your individual company.

When you’re considering which marketing experiments to run, bear the basics in mind. What are you selling? Who are you hoping to attract? What messages do you want to get across to your ideal buyer? Which channels are best suited to that client?

Take YouTube as an example. YouTube is a hugely popular social media platform, but running campaigns on this site won’t work for every business.

If your target market or ideal demographic don’t spend time on YouTube, there’s no point in creating and carrying out experiments linked to this specific platform.

Another important consideration when running marketing experiments is the metrics you use.

If you’re implementing an experiment, which compares the impact of two versions of a social media post, for example, what kind of data do you want to collect, and how are you going to use it to compare the results?

Here, you could outline metrics, such as how many people saw each post, how many people shared the post, and how effective the post was in terms of your primary target, for example, how many people liked your page, followed your account or clicked on a link to buy a featured product.

Experiments of all kinds are designed to provide us with useful information. If you’re looking to increase sales and reach out to new clients, marketing experiments can be hugely beneficial, and it’s wise to consider devoting part of your marketing budget to experimentation.

Focus on relevant, targeted experiments, and use the data you collect to shape your campaign and create a strategy that showcases your brand in its best light and appeals to your ideal customers.