Lucinda has taught business and information technology and has a PhD in Education.
When you think of the word 'experiment,' do you automatically picture a scientist in a lab coat pouring a variety of viscous liquids from one beaker to another? That's probably what most people think about. However, an experiment is any process used to learn about something by testing what you think might happen, which is called the hypothesis, and comparing it to what actually does happen. That means you need to collect data to support your hypothesis, which sounds reasonable, right? So, how can experiments be related to marketing? We know that marketing is all about promoting goods or services so that potential customers are aware of their existence in the hopes that they will exchange their hard-earned money to buy those products or services. Just like a scientist, a marketing manager wants to learn what marketing strategies work best in a variety of markets. To conduct this inquiry, marketing managers use experimental marketing. Let's see how it developed.
Gone are the days when producers didn't worry about marketing because the supply of a product was less than the demand (think pre-industrial revolution). Back then, if your family farm produced 6 dozen eggs, you knew you would be able to sell them because you were the only supplier in town. Also, gone are the days when producers marketed their products to everyone and anyone because supply was greater than demand. Why market a new line of diapers in a retirement community? Mass marketing became pricey, and marketing dollars were wasted promoting products to people who would never buy the products. Marketing today focuses on the actual customer, the one who is likely to have a need for the product and will buy it. This is called targeted marketing.
That's all well and good, but how do marketing managers know what forms of marketing activity are most likely to result in sales? They could guess, and maybe be right, but a better way to find the right fit between the target market and a marketing strategy is to experiment. Experimental marketing consists of research based on a hypothesis of what kinds of marketing activities will appeal to potential customers, then collecting and analyzing the resulting data to see if the marketing activity was successful. With so much marketing being done digitally now (think social media, email, and web pages), it's easier than ever to develop marketing campaigns based on real-world experience and driven by actual data, not by what the marketers think will appeal to their customers. This is a real advantage in today's competitive marketplace!
In the end, experimental marketing is the process of testing a variety of marketing strategies to see which ones work the best with the targeted customers and which ones generate new leads for building new customer markets. Savvy marketing managers know that even small increases can multiply over time to something more significant. They also know that experimental marketing activities have to be managed well to maintain consistency in the message and the vision of the company, while taking advantage of innovative ideas for targeting customers.
At the very least, experimental marketing should have a specific objective, meaning the experiment should test for only one thing at a time; that way the data is more focused and returns more meaningful data that can be interpreted and acted on. A marketing manager looking to try an experimental strategy should concentrate on one of the following:
What would that look like in a real-world situation?
Let's say Brown's Business wants to know if its social media marketing campaign could generate more leads from its current customers (this would fall under the referral objective) if they changed one or two things. Brown's Business marketing leaders start with a hypothesis that if they change the content to include a picture of a person using the product, rather than a picture of the product alone, the marketing content will appeal to more people on a human level. The message with the picture of the product is the control. The control is what they have already been doing; the results of that original marketing strategy will give them a base line against which they can compare the results of the new marketing strategy (the picture of a person using the product). They must keep track of a variety of metrics to know if their hypothesis is correct or if they need to adjust some other element of their marketing strategy.
Experimental marketing, just like any experiment is the research or inquiry into whether a particular hypothesis is true and will generate specific results that a marketing manager is looking for. Marketing in general has changed from no marketing in the pre-industrial age, to mass marketing when supply outpaced demand, and finally to customer-oriented marketing, in which marketing managers target specific customers who are most likely to need and buy certain products or services. Due to the ease with which digital marketing strategies can be changed, it is possible for marketing managers to experiment with a variety of strategies to find the one that meets a specific objective.
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Marketing Overview: Help & Review26 chapters | 200 lessons
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