The surest way to success in advertising is to find a formula that works then copy it.
Sounds simple…but is it?
Yes…and no.
I have been testing variations of one ad in different papers in my city. Trying to find the best words…and the best papers…to keep my ads making money.
First step of my process is running a small business card sized lead generation ad. It costs me $200 – $400 to run – completely dependent on the paper or magazine. I have a very strong headline (which I know because I ran only the headline in the classifieds and it brought me business – a great test of the strength of your headline). The body copy offers them a free report and book when they call and leave their information.
Some papers get me 5 leads a month – others are getting me 25 leads a day.
The true test is – how many of those leads end up buying from the sales letter that goes out with their report and book. I find the best results (which many times are surprising) and then continue to run them there as that would be my control.
Once I have found a proven place to run my ads – I increase the size of the ads to a 4″ x 4″ display ad approx) – costs run from $300 – $600. For a 50% increase in price – I can expect to see a 100% or better increase in leads.
Why?
2 reasons – bigger ads mean they stand out more and second – there is more room for more text and more reasons for them to call and leave their information.
One ad I am testing right now was getting 7 or so calls a day with the business card sized ad. The 4″ x 4″ ad is getting 20 calls a day.
Can you see the multiplication effect works in your favor here?
Now I test to see how people convert from freebie seekers to buyers.
If it continues to be successful – I can take those 2 ads (business card size and 4″ x 4″ size) and run them in all kinds of appropriate magazines or papers. If it works in one market and one kind of media – it should work just as well in others.
Then again, there are reasons why every single ad you run needs a tracking device in it!
Some media just will not work for you – despite that all the logical reasons saying it should work are there.
So test small, roll out big, and measure everything to make sure it is working as it should.
Troy
