We here at CalFinder know as well as any that there are a wealth of remodeling bloggers cruising the Internet, and we cross paths with quite a few of them at one time or another. With such an overwhelming amount of material to peruse, we find it important to single out those that excel above the rest.

For some time we’ve been keeping an eye on Jonathan Sweet and his remodeling blog, The Sweet Spot. As senior editor for Professional Remodeler, Sweet keeps a close eye on the state of remodeling these days. And he does good work in disseminating not only his opinion of the times and trends, but solid information as well. (more…)

This is a guest post from John Clements, a Direct Response / Lead Generation Marketing consultant.
www.ClementsMktgGroup.com

Now that you’ve set up your tracking system, let’s look at why and what you should track.
Testing is the “’life blood” of direct response marketing. Testing is critical for all DR Lead Generation customer acquisition channels. If you don’t test, how do you know which are your best offer(s)? Your best list? Or your best creative package?

If you continuously use the same images, the same offers in the same vehicles – consumers will eventually see you in the same light as the furniture store that’s been going out of business for the past 7 years. There will be no urgency to “act now” in your message. “Sally, we don’t have to call for

now, they’re always on sale. Let’s wait for….” As the same images, offers and vehicles lose their response percentage, we call that package fatigue. It’s just tired. Testing can give you a fresh, new lead generator.Testing determines which of the “Triangle Elements” (to be discussed in future articles) works best together, either overall or in a particular marketing channel. With proper testing techniques, you can increase leads and your customers which will give you more business! How does more leads for the same cost sound? Good? That’s exactly what you’ll get with a valid testing strategy. Your lead or acquisition cost decreases. Additionally, by finding out what element(s) doesn’t work as well, you can save money by eliminating that element for one that does work. Then you can reallocate or replace those same funds you just saved into “working” pieces which, again, will increase your business. (more…)