At what stage of ad creation is it recommended to run tests and experiments on your ads?

Running tests and experiments at every stage of ad creation is crucial to optimizing the performance of your advertisements. By integrating testing throughout the entire process, marketers can gather valuable insights on audience engagement, ad placement, creative elements, and more, which can inform decisions and adjustments in real time.

Starting from the initial concept phase, experimenting with different messaging or visuals allows for feedback that can shape the final version of the ad. Once the ad is built but not yet live, further testing can involve A/B testing where two versions of an ad are shown to different segments of the audience to evaluate which performs better. This continual testing approach helps in refining targeting strategies and maximizing overall ad effectiveness before and after the ad goes live.

Conducting tests only at the end or after the campaign is not optimal since any learnings gained cannot be applied to enhance current ads. Also, waiting until the ad is launched means missing the opportunity to make improvements based on testing data from earlier stages. Thus, running tests and experiments throughout the entire ad creation process is the best practice to ensure increased success and adaptability of advertising efforts.