5 Surprising Ways To De-Risk Your New Idea Using Google Adwords - Part 1 of 2

I am doing work with a team on a new product / company idea.  This idea would be both consumer and business facing.   We want to test quickly the positioning and value proposition for each target customer's point of view.

Instead of doing formal focus groups or initial lengthy primary research interviews, we'll start with a more informal process that will deliver results quickly and inexpensively.  This is not perfect, but a great place to start in the de-risking process.  It's quick, easy, and capital efficient.

You too can use a similar process on a new idea you have.

Use Google Adwords to test the following aspects for each target customer.  When people click on your test ads, you can drop them to a placeholder landing page.

1. Positioning -- Put together a series of ads where you vary the positioning (e.g., key benefits or differentiators) of the new idea and see which positioning gets the most clicks.  You can quickly test various positioning concepts and instead of guessing which positioning will resonate best with the targets, let the crowd decide.  Also, you'll find out what benefits are most important to your target customers by looking at the click through rates of the different ads and seeing which rank the highest.
2. Competition -- Write a set of ads that simulate your competitors' positioning and then write a set of ads showing your positioning (highlighting your differentiators) and hopefully show solid lift based on your differentiators. If you don't see lift, you'll have to brainstorm and try to refine.  You can capture great data here to use later if pitching for investment money.

Later in the week I'll post again with 3 more uses of Google Adwords for marketing testing including testing price points, gauging market demand, and learning more about your cost of customer acquisition.  Stay tuned...