The DEW Test — Kelford Labs Daily

When we make a change to our marketing, it’s natural to want to know—right now—whether it’s working. Before it’s even had a chance to work.

And that can lead to abrupt, premature changes that move us farther away from our objectives.

That’s why I recommend the DEW test:

After making a marketing change—like implementing a new content strategy, buying some ads, or doing direct outreach—we have to ask ourselves three questions, in order.

This is how we determine if our marketing is working or whether we need to change:

1) Am I actually Doing it?

Notice the present tense: Am I doing it? Not just, have I done it? Marketing is a habit, not a task, and the first step is forming that habit. Doing something consistently, over and over, so it has the time to work and so we have the time and data we need to iterate and improve. If we’ve done something once and are waiting to see if it worked, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, we need to make sure we’re doing it regularly.

2) Am I Enjoying it?

Okay, we’ve started on our new path, and we’ve been keeping at it… But do we hate it? Or do we enjoy it? If we don’t like it, it’s unlikely to work. Because we’re unlikely to give it our all for as long as it takes, because we’ll burn out or move on to something else. Before our marketing can work, we’ve got to enjoy working on it—so we do our best, for as long as it takes.

3) Is it Working?

Now, finally, we can assess if it’s working or if it’s likely to work. Do we have any leading indicators of future success? Are there any data trending upward, like website referral visits or social media engagement? Anything that’s suddenly slipped downward, like lead form submissions or newsletter open rates? Are we gaining momentum, eagerness, or additional enthusiasm? Once we have a pattern of doing marketing we like, we have a platform upon which we can iterate and improve. We have a pattern of behavior we can optimize.

Marketing is a long game, which means we sometimes have to give it a long time to work.

But if we’re sticking with it, finding a way to enjoy it, and paying attention to signs of improvement, we can keep getting better.

With a tool like the DEW test, we can keep ourselves from changing paths too quickly, while avoiding sticking with something just because we’ve sunk time or money into it.

We can keep working at it, making adjustments as necessary, until we no longer have to ask, “Is it working?”

We’ll know it is, because we’re DEWing it.

Kelford Inc. helps hands-on entrepreneurs and founders with complex marketing challenges define and articulate their unique value to their very best customers.

We’ll show you the way to always knowing what to say.