Lesson 2 of 3
Your first campaign: one offer, a small budget, one test
One offer, one test, a small budget
The idea
Change the recipe, the oven temperature and the baking time all at once, and if the cake comes out better, you don't know why. Ads are the same. Change one thing at a time.
Step 1
One offer
The one that already sells
Step 2
One audience
The customer from Module 1
Step 3
One question
Which of two ads brings more results?
Step 4
One window
Long enough to learn, decided in advance
Decide before you spend
What counts
A sign-up, an enquiry or a sale: one result
The test budget
What you'll spend to learn, even if it fails
The window
How long before you judge it
The bar
The cost per result that makes it worth doing more
A test that teaches nothing
- Three offers, five audiences, ten ads at once
- Changed every two days
- Judged on clicks
A test that teaches
- One change at a time
- Left alone until the window ends
- Judged on the result you chose
At the end, keep it, change one thing, or stop. The studio's campaign proposals include the test, and write the review when it ends.
Today, with AI
Ad platforms tune who sees your ad with their own AI, and they need enough results to learn. A test spread over too many ads learns nothing.
AI makes a dozen ads in minutes, so testing one change at a time matters more than before.
What AI does well
Proposing the setup, writing the two ads, and reading the result when the window ends.
Where it goes wrong
It will suggest changes halfway. Leave the test alone until its window ends.
What stays yours
The budget you can afford to lose, the result that counts, and the decision at the end.
Check yourself
Do it in the studio
Run the numbers
The budget a first test needs
A test teaches you something only after enough results. Put in the cost per result you would be happy to pay, how many results you need before you judge, and how many days the test runs.
Test budget
$200
what it takes to learn, even if it fails
A day
$14
over 14 days
If that budget would hurt to lose, the business isn't ready for paid ads yet. Grow the channels you own first.
- 01
Run the calculator above: the budget it takes to learn something.
free - 02
Write your test in one sentence: the offer, the audience, the one question, the window.
free - 03
Press Propose a Google campaign: the setup, the test and the ads, with Copy ad 1 and Make the picture.
25 credits - 04
Set it up in your ad account and press I'm doing this. When the window ends, the next run writes the review.
free
Done when One test is running, with its result, budget and window decided in advance.
Go deeper
University courses on the same topic, if you want to go further.
Columbia Business School Executive Education
Digital Marketing, Module 5: Digital Advertising and Social NetworksHow ad auctions work, and reading campaign numbers, with practice budgets
Harvard Business School Online
Digital Marketing Strategy and AI, Module 3: Acquiring Customers, Part 1: Paid MediaUsing and measuring paid channels, and balancing brand with sales