Test!

You’ve got a name, a logo, and a tagline — now it’s time to test out your branding on a few willing guinea pigs. But not just any guinea pigs. These should be folks who are…

• a match for your ideal customer
• not your friends, spouse or other family member
• willing and able to give you objective feedback

Find a small enough number that you can manage the gathering process, but enough that you’ll feel comfortable that things are on the right track.

In-person Focus Groups should usually be no more than 7 to 9 people (who don’t know each other). Just remember that this kind of research isn’t scientifically sound — humans often don’t know why they like a particular thing or may lie about something either consciously or subconsciously.

If you can get a friend or colleague to help you, it will be easier to gather notes (one person can ask questions while the other writes down answers and keywords). But in any case, you should also record the sessions if you can.

If focus groups are beyond your realm of possibility, you can also do e-surveys online with free tools like Survey Monkey or Pop Survey. You’ll want a way to present visuals (if you have a logo that you want feedback on).

Testing can take eons of your time, if you let it.

At some point, you’ll need to decide how much positive feedback you need in order to move forward. For every entrepreneur, this will be different — but you should do a least some testing before you sink money into branding and marketing materials.

Your Assignment: Decide how you will test your new branding concept and share your plan here. Ask for ideas if you’re unsure about how to find willing guinea pigs and/or get the info from them you need.