Advertising Workshop: How not to lose your shirt on bad advertising

19 replies
One word, TEST.

And test small.

Start with headline themes.

Here's an example of the BIG payoff by doing this.

My client friend tested about a dozen theme headlines on Twitter
all going to the same page.

The winner was 10x better [clicks] than second best.

The problem when it comes to testing headlines
is that we can't break out of the same themes,
therefore the differences in test results don't amount to much.

This leads to giving up on testing.

This is natural..."why bother if it isn't worth it".

So let's change that by testing themes,
as this is where the BIG changes in response happens.

Here's a list of them and examples to get your
ideas flowing...

1 news story
"How to tap into the recently announced Government funding
for exporting"

2 rip off report
"Canton used car dealer exposes the shady practice
of car immobilizers on those that default on their loans"

3 moving away from what they don't want
"Escape from the cold New York winter to the warm sands of Maui"

4 moving to what they do want
"25% more patients in the next 6 months"

5 customer reviews
"Fit Studio has transformed my after baby body back to my pre baby body".

6 fear
"Former big time supermarket thief shows where your
business is most vulnerable now".

7 connecting to a deeply held belief
"If you thought those home siding people knocking
on your door were suspect, check this out...".

8 straight value proposition
"Fresh hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes, or it's free".

9 if you give me this, I'll give you this
" Give me 5 minutes and I'll give you a 5 star review".

10 select who this is for
"For the busy professional who demands excellent landscaping service".

11 connecting to a specific pain point
"If you've been let down by your lawncare guy,
this is for you...".

12 straight guarantee
Corns gone in 5 days or all your money back".

13 guilt
"Do you leave your dog home alone too often?".

14 combination of what they do want and don't want
"How to get 25% more buyers off your website
without spending a dime more on traffic or more time".

15 How to do something
How to land a trophy Red Deer or all your money back.

16 Challenge the reader
Everything you know about sports recovery is wrong according to new
study

17 Curiosity
Do you make these mistakes in writing headlines?

18 Don't buy
Warning: Don't buy web design until you get answers to these 5 questions

19 why something doesn't work
Why joint supplement ingredients Chondroitin and
Glucosamine don't work.

20 use the negative
I took billions from pensions. Vote for me.
[POLITICAL AD WITH THE PIC OF OPPOSING PARTY LEADER]

22 a jarring statement
You Don't Get What You Deserve, You Get What You Negotiate

There you go, big gains are sitting waiting for you by testing those themes
and headlines on Twitter, then use the winning theme in all your advertising.

Best,
Doctor E. Vile

P.S. I've added more, thanks to Ozzy for the reminder.
If anybody else cares to add more, I'll add them too.
#advertising #bad #lose #shirt #workshop
  • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
    Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

    There you go, big gains are sitting waiting for you by testing those themes
    and headlines on Twitter, then use the winning theme in all your advertising.

    Best,
    Doctor E. Vile
    Pretty well do the same thing with your adwords campaigns to determine what wording to use on cards, flyers and other promotional advertising such as words down the side of your van / shop display the list goes on.

    A good post Ewen.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post

      Pretty well do the same thing with your adwords campaigns to determine what wording to use on cards, flyers and other promotional advertising such as words down the side of your van / shop display the list goes on.

      A good post Ewen.
      Cool.

      Yes Adwords is another platform to test ad themes.

      And yes, it sets you up long term as to what theme triggers response
      and use that new knowledge on all your ad media/collateral.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        I have found that Facebook is financially one of the least expensive places to do this type of testing. A simple $5 boost can give you over 1000 if not over 10000 impressions and if you pay attention and switch out your ad in increments of 100, you can get some pretty decent testing done very inexpensively.

        I do more than a bit of this type of testing on a daily basis... I have found that quick runs over 100 impressions per side is best when you are first running tests. It gives you an idea if the headlines you are testing are on par with each other, or if there has the possibility to be a clear winner and loser.

        If you are running out of options to create a clear winner.. go the opposite direction, and try and develop a absolute turd of a headline that is clearly a loser. ( once or twice I have done this and the headline ended up being a smash hit ) Get that motion in the numbers. If you cant figure out what will make your audience click, try and clearly define what absolutely wont work. From that you can start to understand possibly what they will click.
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

          I have found that Facebook is financially one of the least expensive places to do this type of testing. A simple $5 boost can give you over 1000 if not over 10000 impressions and if you pay attention and switch out your ad in increments of 100, you can get some pretty decent testing done very inexpensively.
          Only problem using Facebook for testing headline themes
          is we have the image variable.

          Twitter and Adwords have no image distractions.

          Get the winning theme off Facebook
          then match it with our winning images
          on Facebook.

          The message doesn't slowly die like the image
          with Newsfeed ads.

          Of course the Twitter ads are being put in front of the same
          or similar audience.as on Facebook.

          Best,
          Doctor E. Vile
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            My primary reason for testing is for the use on websites. So the ability to inject the site color and at times an image into the mix is a great benefit in the testing I do. But, yes I can see your point where directly testing word power, and using twitter would be effective.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    As an extension of the 14 I'd Iike to add

    Challenge... "The Idea of Tough Mudder is to not to win...but to have a story to tell" ...NY times

    and

    Curiosity..."Which of these headlines converted and why?"
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    • Profile picture of the author TrafficFlow
      I don't pay to test head lines. I just use software that generates high quality headlines.

      There are also online headline generators.
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      • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
        Originally Posted by TrafficFlow View Post

        I don't pay to test head lines. I just use software that generates high quality headlines.
        WOW...that's confidence right there.

        I think Ewen and the rest of us better just pack up and leave it to software to take care of everything...

        Knew I'd been doing it wrong all these years...Sh#!.

        Have you got some good examples to share here and some accompanying conversion statistics because I'm sure many people will benefit from the data and success you've had and are still having by using this method?

        The online generators are great fun and sometimes alleviate the blank page mentality that sometimes afflicts all writers but are you saying that you would just push a button and then not test at least a few variants against each other?

        With so many markets having their own local intricacies how have you found this working in different markets?

        Please share some of your results so we can all learn and become better marketers.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by TrafficFlow View Post

          I don't pay to test head lines. I just use software that generates high quality headlines.

          There are also online headline generators.
          Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

          WOW...that's confidence right there.

          I think Ewen and the rest of us better just pack up and leave it to software to take care of everything...

          Knew I'd been doing it wrong all these years...Sh#!.
          Yeah, I have to agree with Ozi.

          Testing headlines is a science. But writing great headlines is an art. The copywriters that write the great, attention grabbing headlines....took years, maybe decades to acquire the skill. Copywriting is poetry that makes you weep., a symphony moving the heart of the listener...

          Writing a headline is far more than a noun, adjective, predicate, and three benefits. It's more than sentence structure. Can an app feel what the reader feels?

          A great headline is Shakespeare.

          I think I've pontificated about this enough.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

      As an extension of the 14 I'd Iike to add

      Challenge... "The Idea of Tough Mudder is to not to win...but to have a story to tell" ...NY times

      and

      Curiosity..."Which of these headlines converted and why?"
      Thanks for the reminder,
      I've added yours and some more to the list.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        I just notices negative headlines are not on the list.. Kinda inline with don't buy but different.. even gets into curiosity.. but still not the same

        "Don't ever diet again" or "If you are a <insert profession here> don't click this"

        "This is the worst program ever, don't click here"

        "10 signs that you are failing"

        I use variations of the last one very frequently. In what I call "Convertible Writing style" I will write an article on "5 ways to determine financial stability" and then turn that same article right around to "5 red flags of eminent financial failure" Its basically the same 5 points, just the flip side of it.

        On a pretty active social platform, you can release the 2 articles like 5 days apart.
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

          I just notices negative headlines are not on the list..
          Added negatives.

          Used political advertising example, as it reminds voters what they don't want.

          Best,
          Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesBarefield
    Banned
    Really helpful, thanks, may I ask if you use any specific tracking platform/software with this methodology?
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by JamesBarefield View Post

      Really helpful, thanks, may I ask if you use any specific tracking platform/software with this methodology?
      Twitter and Adwords accounts have tracking.

      Since there is only one source of traffic to the landing page, in my friends case, LeadPages, they give out the stats.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkHernandez
    It's really a great list of things that I need to keep in my mind from next time, Thanks for the list
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      I've added a jarring statement and a example of one that
      has been used for over 20 years.

      It's used in re-targeting,
      in airline magazine advertising and on their website.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author PennyBurgess
    This is great, I believe the same can be tweaked and used in the script as well while prospecting..
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      Another good way to develop a theme (big idea) is to take note of what your successful competition is using... and swipe it.

      Obviously you can't use the same words (that's copyright infringement), but you can certainly use the idea. Just express it using different words.

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author colorado1850
    Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

    One word, TEST.

    And test small.

    Start with headline themes.
    I saw this post late night a week ago. I woke up early this morning on a hunt through my computer because I couldn't remember where I was reading about these headline suggestions.

    This is one of those rare posts that you want to save in Evernote or some place where it is easy to reference. Thanks ewanmack for contributing it.

    Whether you're coming up with the headlines yourself, using a swipe file, or a computer generated Franken-headline (you know, Frankenstein), I think the big key is testing themes as suggested.

    As Eugene Schwartz points out in Breakthrough Advertising, you have to establish what stage your product is in - and that's what this theme testing helps you do. And it's an ongoing thing. The theme that works now may be beaten by a different theme 6 or 12 months from now.

    Anyway, this post has jarred me awake as it relates to my headline tests. So thanks for that.
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