I received an email a couple of weeks ago from Merrill Dubrow, CEO at MARC Research in Dallas. Merrill is a good friend and a client… and he was looking for feedback on something he was working on.
We scheduled a Zoom call so I could see what it was. As it turned out, he and his colleague, Jim O’Hara, had created a series of ads for LinkedIn and were soliciting feedback on which of the ads I thought was most effective and why. And not just me… they also reached out to other marketing-types and some client-types.
Yes, they were a marketing research firm doing research on their marketing. I was almost giddy!
They weren’t doing a big research study like they would do for a client… just getting some off-the-cuff feedback from the marketplace before they went ‘live’ with the ad.
Simple, fast and effective.
The question is… are you doing this? Or more likely… why aren’t you doing this? Think of all of the different marketing you do that could benefit from some honest feedback:
- Your website or changes to your website
- Updating your logo
- Advertisements
- Sales materials, e.g., brochures, case studies, capability presentations, etc.
- eBooks and other gated content
- Your booth for exhibiting
- Your email marketing template
- Your LinkedIn profile
- And so on…
Most market research firms – and most all firms, for that matter – don’t go to the effort of having someone from outside their firm (outside is the key!) give them feedback on their marketing. If they solicit any feedback, it’s usually from a couple of coworkers (not necessarily a bad thing to do), but that’s about it.
Soliciting feedback doesn’t have to be difficult. Just ask a handful of clients (or even prospects – it’s a nice way to engage in a non-selling conversation) for a few minutes of their time and for their honest opinion.
There are three times during the creative process when you could use outside input:
- At the beginning, when you are in the planning stages; ask clients what they think the general direction/overall concept of the marketing item should be, have them give you some ideas on things to include and things to avoid, and ask them what key talking points need to be included in the copy.
- In the middle, when you have three or four options to choose from and need to narrow it down.
- Near the end, for one final review to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Bottom line
Whatever process you choose, there is absolutely no downside to soliciting feedback from the marketplace on your marketing… and not just to catch any mistakes and not just for overall feedback on your work. But because they bring a completely different perspective to the table – one that you don’t have and can’t have, because you’re not the buyer.
Thanks for the article idea, Merrill.