Testing Publication Ads

Business people often spend thousands of dollars on Yellow Pages ads, Newspaper ads, billboard ads etc. A serious mistake is to to publish an untested ad in an expensive publication. Never place a large Yellow Pages or magazine ad, or half a page in the New York Times unless it´s thoroughly tested. Why waste your money on something that hasn´t been proven? Refunds done´t come easily! Plan ahead so you have time to do thorough ad testing. A week before the Yellow Pages ad deadline is not the time to start testing ads. Do a test run of a smaller version of the ad in a newspaper or relevant industry publication. But a word of caution: Make sure you target the ad. An ad for computers under the Yellow Pages heading "Computers," is targeted and will naturally attract prospects who are looking for your services. So consider this principle when using "test ads." Don´t just throw them in any newspaper where your audience is not targeted and complain when few results are delivered. Keep the testing environment targeted. If you place your various test ads for computers in the local paper under the computer section, you´ll have a clear indication of how effective they are. Test a few variations of the ad so that the best responding one can be used when you do the final draft for a major more expensive publication. Read the Whole Article: "Test Cases"