We made it... Q4. Next-year planning is ramping up and 2020 budget discussions will soon take place (if there aren't already rumblings). To avoid getting trapped in a situation where you're constantly having to arm wrestle for a fair share of marketing allocations, you can test some interim ideas now to support your future recommendations.
Here are some testing ideas to sneak in now with small budget surpluses that can back you up:
“Some channels carry inherent budget risk.”
Email:
- If you have a campaign that’s yielded good opens or click throughs, run a small test with the same content against an alternate audience. As long as the messaging and KPIs makes sense, you’ll have your original, approved campaign as a benchmark.
New Channels:
- Some channels carry inherent budget risk.Test a small campaign.
- Test an inexpensive Adwords campaign in a discrete geography, contra-seasonally, to gain insight before you dive into a major metro during high season.
Content
- Use the small market/contra-seasonal approach to test alternate content against your KPIs.
- Drop in a video, a survey, or another type of content to explore its efficacy.
SaaS Trial
- With a little ingenuity, you can take existing assets or target files, craft a simple program, and run the test through a 30-day trial to support--or refute--an annual subscription expenditure.
- Examples: marketing automation, on-site bot options, analytics, HR, or sales support vendors.
No one likes to go to battle for budget, but by implementing these mini-trials now, you'll be armed with data to make your case should the time come.
