Below we’ll show you a simple method used by the world’s best advertisers that can help you find the best magic…fast.
What’s the method?
Three words:
Vertical & horizontal testing.
Let’s unpack that for a minute, using Facebook ads as an example…
Say we wanted to run a Facebook ad campaign, and we have a few ideas for different ads.
How do we know which ad is the best?
The answer is simple:
We don’t.
The better question would be this…
“How can we find out which ad performs the best?”
The answer?
We test them.
That’s because, like most things in life, Facebook ads are usually completely unpredictable.
We might think we know which will work best, but until we put the message out their and allow people to interact with it, we’re just guessing.
Make sense?
If you’re following me so far, we’re ready to dive into the really ‘juicy’ stuff…
Now that we have the basics covered, let me share with you the distinction between vertical and horizontal testing.
To test horizontally is to pick a wide range of radically different variables.
For instance, maybe it’s testing a video ad vs a picture ad, or a picture ad vs a text ad.
Vertical testing is to test minor changes on a central ‘control’ variable.
In this case, it might include running the same text ad but swapping out the opening sentence.
Why does any of this matter?
It’s always important to test horizontally BEFORE you test vertically.
Going ‘wide and shallow’ via horizontal testing helps you determine the most promising prospects on which you can then go ‘narrow and in-depth’ on through vertical testing.
Think of it this way:
If vertical testing is equivalent to climbing a ladder, horizontal testing is equivalent to finding the right wall to lean it against.
Make sense?
Ok.
You’re now an expert in online advertising, but how does this help us hunt for magic?
Good question.
We’ll answer with a piece of good news…
The good news is that this method of testing can be applied to finding the best ‘thing’ in nearly any area of interest.
Including magic.
For example…
In this case, we can start by testing horizontally.
(In other words, we digest as much magic as possible.)
Once we finish testing horizontally, we pick our top magic products and start testing vertically by playing around with the different effects until we come to an overall winner.
With any luck, we’ve soon found the magic product we were looking for.
Alright.
That’s it for this week.