The Power of A/B Testing

23 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies

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Testing, testing, 1,2,3. The concept of A/B testing isn’t much more complicated than that! Using A/B testing is the practice of randomly splitting your registrants or users into groups, and offering each group a different version of content. For example, if you are trying to test the effectiveness of a subject line, newsletter, different version of a website or an ad, you would present each group with a different experience. After the test, you’ll be able to measure which option is driving the most desirable behaviour. Sounds great, doesn’t it? We agree – and that’s why we do it!

At BAM, we strive to give each of our clients the best the digital world has to offer – and this includes A/B testing. We feel the key to success here is having a rigorously controlled process that generates reliable and accurate results. For instance, we know the importance of controlling our variables. We know that offering a user one option this week and a different option next week is not going to provide accurate results. User behaviour changes week over week – and we pay attention to these kinds of details!

Our A/B testing practices ensure speed, accuracy and effectiveness. We use A/B testing in our email marketing to determine the preference of a small percentage of our list before blasting the winning content to the remainder of the list.

Currently, team BAM is experimenting with different colour schemes, different calls to action, different landing pages and different page structures. “The ultimate goal is to see which combinations of these elements on a page drives the most conversions”, says our Digital Advertising Manager. We are always looking for “the next big thing” for our clients. Stay tuned next week as we discuss how Marketing automation is the new digital frontier – and how we’re rocking it at BAM.

 

 

The Inner Workings of a Well-Oiled Machine

06 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies Tags: , , , , , ,

Bam - A Well-Oiled Machine

While I may be the face of BAM, it’s truly our team who make BAM successful. I was recently reading an article about workplace culture, and couldn’t help but compare what I read to what we have at BAM.

When running a company like BAM, everything begins with strategy. Coming up with unique brands for our clients requires unique marketing and this is what I am passionate about. We have a great team of dynamite people and a great collaborative environment where people can work together, use their strengths and skills to advance projects and learn from each other. I am a firm believer that great people attract great people.

At BAM, we’re always looking to do things better for our clients using our previous accomplishments as the benchmark. For employees, the satisfaction comes from the freedom and autonomy they deserve while being set up with the proper tools and resources to succeed. My job is to champion the strategy and inspire my team to meet their goals.

Culture is king at BAM. We strive to have a great work environment and whether it’s giving employees the flexibility to allow their personal lives not to suffer, having an open concept and collaborative environment, or organizing work outings, I know a satisfied staff is key to our success.

As a small company, there is plenty of room for everyone to grow and learn. We encourage our staff to take courses to further their knowledge; we attend trade shows, speeches and conferences to stay ahead of the curve. Encouraging our clients to offer the very best experience and community requires the very best marketing resources and a team that’s passionate about what they do.

While challenges are an inherent part of the BAM culture, we understand that they are a part of life and one’s bound to run into them when trying new things, and we push forward. It’s the teamwork and trust in one another that helps BAM succeed.

Google Ads are all make and no brake!

15 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies, Trends

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We at BAM have a reputation of being progressive and we’re willing to not only go that extra mile for our clients, but to use untraditional methods to do so.

While many companies see this as high-risk, we’re confident enough in our team to look at the ever-changing technological landscape and adjust accordingly. This is why we remain in the fast lane. This is why we continue to rock our clients’ socks off.

As Google Adwords matures, we’ve managed to pinpoint a potential audience once deemed unreachable. While much of our clients’ traffic comes from signage, plenty of traffic comes from Google Ads. If you’re not striving to utilize the Internet to its full potential, you’re not only missing out on a vast market share, you might not be around in the next few years.

Google Ads is a major source of web traffic for many of our clients. The benefit is targeting highly specific homebuyer demographics – based on geography, and what they’re searching for – and tailor alternatives. Social media is a great new tool likely to stick around, but new campaigns take painstaking attention and investment to grow. Google Ads gives that much needed boost of popularity, instantly.

For example, if you’re looking for a townhome in Brampton, we’ll target you with an ad for a detached home with a garage for the same price or less, but 30 minutes away. It’s bait not every fish will bite, but it’s a whole new set of eyes, a whole new audience to entertain. It is aggressive and targeted and it gets results. People see us online when they wouldn’t have otherwise.

BAM understands this resource – it’s the biggest change in our industry to emerge in the past few years. We’re about embracing change and using the tools available to bridge the gap between client and consumer.

Are You Thankful For Your Victories?

01 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies, Thoughts

Everybody likes a victory.

Unfortunately, sometimes we forget to take a break from the everyday grind to bask in our victories and celebrate our successes.

At BAM, we work hard – as do our clients. Sometimes it feels like go-go-go, with not even enough time for a pat on the back after one success before we’re moving on to the next challenge. And so we’ve come to recognize the importance of taking a break to celebrate our hard work and accomplishments. This past week, we decided to reward our hard-working and successful client Empire Communities to help them do the same.

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To help our client Empire Communities celebrate their tremendous successes and everything that made 2013 such a landmark year for them, we had this award made to present to them at a special lunch we hosted for their team.

Take our longstanding client Empire Communities.

In an already stellar trajectory, Empire had enough victories in 2013 alone to turn it into a landmark year. This includes launching Imagine, the most successful community in Niagara ever, as well as earning two EnerQuality Award nominations and using new technology in their outstanding Victory Showroom (a community which also won the BILD Award for Best Social Media Campaign).

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BAM and Empire Communities celebrating a landmark year.

For all the hard work we put into these victories, we feel nothing but pride for our client and we are ecstatic that they should experience this many victories in such a short period (coincidentally, this year marks the company’s 20-year anniversary).

To celebrate such an impressive array of victories, this week we hosted a special lunch for Empire. This included a surprise 30 minutes of stand-up comedy by Gavin Stephens, a delicious meal, and of course the presentation of the award pictured above.

It’s just the BAM way of saying thanks for being our client.

BAM’s Top 5 Practices for Fast-Paced Marketing

25 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by John Amardeil in Strategies, Thoughts

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When you own a company called BAM, you have no choice but to make sure you produce dramatic results that create a positive impact in your clients’ world. In our industry that means working fast, working hard, and working smart.

So how do we do that at BAM? Here are our top 5 habits of fast-paced marketing. For over ten years now, they’ve helped us win awards, make our clients lots of money, and play a part in building fantastic communities for families across Ontario.

  1. Email is overrated. There, I said it. Most people rely on email too much. I do send and receive lots of important emails every day myself, so you won’t be prying my iPhone from my fingers anytime soon. But when the going gets tough — when you need to act fast, all while reducing the likelihood of misinterpretations, nothing beats a quick phone call, or if at all possible, a face-to-face conversation. Remember those?
  2. Go with the gut. Working hard and fast doesn’t mean you have to be married to one strategy. When something doesn’t feel right, don’t be afraid to change course. Deep down, we all know great work when we see it. If it’s not, come up with something else, call the client (see above) and get approval. It’s the least we can do.
  3. Own your successes and mistakes alike. We’re never afraid to toot our own horn. By the same token, we’ll always be the first to own up if we make a mistake. Clients will respect you if you tell them something went wrong. They won’t if they have to find out on their own.
  4. Offer solutions, not problems. “Sorry, we can’t do that.” “Sorry, there was a glitch.” Raise your hand if you’ve heard these before. I know I have. But how many times are they followed by a reassurance that something else will be done? How many times does anyone bother to explain what the possible solutions are? So if the installation guys mess up, or if a website goes down, or if an opening doesn’t go as expected, don’t just say “sorry.” And don’t ever, ever say “sorry, it’s out of our hands.”
  5. Be honest. If a client doesn’t need something anymore, we’ll be the first to suggest they kill it. On the surface, it might hurt our bottom line. But we always do the right thing for our clients, and think of the respect that kind of attitude will get you. How hard do you think that honesty is to find? Exactly.

What are your top practices for marketing?

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