Beta testing marketing isn’t the same thing as marketing beta software. (Are you confused yet?)
The latter involves distributing software to the media, big customers, publishers and trainers who write manuals for the software. That’s an important part of your launch, but before you do that, you want to beta test your marketing approach.
In other words, you want to make sure you are reaching out to the right audience, and saying the things that best convey the value of your software, and are effective at getting people to engage with you.
Beta testing your marketing accomplishes five things:
- Gets market feedback.
- Validates target market.
- Identifies the most effective messaging.
- Expands testing outside your company’s doors.
- Saves money with campaign rollouts.
With market feedback, you learn what the market likes and doesn’t like about your product, and get suggestions for improvement. This process also helps you shape and sharpen your messaging and positioning. It works well for both new and mature businesses.
Involve Your Customers
Since they already use your product or service, include your customers in the beta testing. Sometimes their feedback writes the content and message for you. They may find new uses for your product that no one had considered.
And since you’re in the beta stage, customers are more forgiving of bugs. Because they have an established relationship with you, they’re more likely to share problems and objections during the beta. These known objections will help your sales team and marketing team develop answers (and content) for all objections.
Once you move out of beta, your clients may become the first users of your product and provide early testimonials you can use in your copy. Plus, involving them enriches your relationship.
Connect with Prospects
After the marketing team determines the ideal target market, they connect with them to test different messages and offers. As they receive feedback, marketing continues iterating until it finds a consistent message and target market that responds well.
It’s important to extend your outreach beyond your client base.
Your clients already know you and have been educated about your approach. They may not be fully representative of the market at large.
You won’t know until you test. They might very well be the right market, but the message to the larger market will need tweaking.
Move Ahead with Full Rollout
Once you have confirmed your target market and messaging, then you can move forward with a full rollout knowing that you’ve already gone through a process to iron out the kinks, identify your ideal target market, create the most effective messaging and select the best offer.
You’ve boosted your campaign’s success rate without the risk of doing a full rollout based on no feedback and testing.