๐ฏ Approach testing with a clear objective.
I wasted many laps and incredibly expensive sets of tires by doing testing laps without a clear objective. The most productive sessions were when I knew what to test. Braking, cornering, overtakes, etc. The same applies to marketing. Have an individual KPI for any testing. Be that email opening rates, click through rates, SQLs, anything you do just be specific about what you are testing.
๐๏ธ Learn your craft.
Much like racing, marketing is a craft. You need to know how the kart will react to your inputs and the only way of learning that is by testing. In marketing is the same, you need to know how your clients will react to your strategies and this come by testing.
๐ฆ Take calculated risks.
I lost my second ever race because I was behind a slow car for too long because I didnโt want to take the risk to pass it. I had a clearly superior race pace. I was just scared of the risk. In the end the car in front of me spun out and we crashed anyway. Now I take every opportunity to get my car in front. And I learned to do this by practicing overtaking a lot and crashing a BUNCH of times, but the accumulated testing gave me the experience to make the right move successfully more times than not.
Marketers are often too fearful to push new ideas or products because of the risk that comes attached to it when the reality is that is better to fail and learn quickly than to expect an impossible perfection.
๐๏ธ Donโt focus too much on the competition.
Racing is a marvelous experience. Having a car right behind you or in front of you can make you clumsier than a camel on ice. If you focus on the car behind you it will scare you and make you anxious because itโs threatening to take a position away from you. If you focus on the car in front youโll start making the same mistakes itโs making.
๐ต Be smart with investments.
Anyone that has spent time behind the wheel of a race car knows that how you spend every dollar counts big time, itโs an incredibly pricey sport so every investment needs to be smart.
Donโt let the shiny new thing grab your attention. I made the mistake of spending thousands of dollars on a new Sparco racing suit and Helmet to match replicas when in reality what I needed was to spend that money on practice days at the track.
The same happens in marketing. With the arrival of the next new buzzword or tech advancement, marketing departments all over the world lose focus of what matters, and lose time and money on something that will be irrelevant in the future.
A good example is how some marketing teams waste money in learning AI prompt engineering instead of developing a strong branding. Many people want the new AI image generator but they donโt know what storytelling is. Remember at the end of the day what the bird wants is a good ROI.
Until next time,
Pietro
Pietro, MBA is the digital marketing director at Avanti. He has a track record of success managing and creating marketing strategies for international automotive and retail brands such as JCB, BYD, DFSK, UD Trucks, SERES, NetaAuto. With training from prestigious schools like the Bologna Business School and famous brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Ducati
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