When I started dating again (almost two years ago) I had not been single since I was 17 and was beyond unprepared for dating life. I was completely out of practice and it took a long time to get my mojo back. I remember my first girlfriend and I got along very well and our relationship flowed. We were young and while I enjoyed spending time with her, eventually I lost interest, fell out of love, and we parted ways. The relationship was comfortable and simple.
The Blonde was my second long-term girlfriend. She was far more attractive, more fun, but jealous, controlling, and had a temper that defied all logic. She pursued me aggressively from the start, and somehow we stayed together through everything. In hindsight, while I loved and cared for her, everything that happened in my life after that woman dug her claws into me was a dramatic chaotic mess. This was the woman I married, and looking back I realize now that clearly, everyone makes mistakes.
Had I ‘split-tested’ more in the dating world before getting married, I could have avoided a lot of difficult years and a very messy divorce.
After my permanent separation from The Blonde, my “dating spree” (lets not make this about numbers) taught me a few very valuable lessons. First, that there are always more fish in the sea and depending on what you’re looking for, they can either be very difficult (or easy) to catch. Secondly, that women at their core are very similar creatures. How you interact with them will determine your relationship (if any) with them. Come on too strong and they will scatter and come on too weak and they will not even notice you, and will go out with guys that are complete douche-bags who are able to get their attention. And finally, always wear a condom!
If you think I’m talking about dating, you’re only half right. I’m talking about marketing and split-testing. Like dating, everyone has their own goals for their campaign. Maybe you want to find that special someone, or you want to get laid and never see them again (unless the sex was really good!) Comparing dating to business is would suggest the different goals would be long term residual recurring earnings, and conversely, free signups or cross selling on the “dark side” hoping people don’t cancel in time. Your marketing is going to differ depending on what your end goal is, and what type of business person you are. Your end results will reflect this and its critical to keep your goals in mind when building and testing your campaign to make sure you reach your target.
More important than your ultimate marketing plan, landing pages, and banner creatives is testing them and improving them. You don’t want to fall in love with your marketing if it simply does not give you what you want. Like my marriage, I became blinded by my situation with The Blonde and could not see that the grass was in fact, greener on the other side. Had I “split-tested” more in the dating world before getting married, I could have avoided a lot of difficult years and a very messy divorce. Running split tests that are independent and not competing with each other is also important, otherwise they may alter the results of the other. Think of it as dating multiple women at once. You really do not want them finding out about each other — unless a threesome is likely, but what are the odds of that?
So, even if you have sales, simple tweaks and changes to your campaign can dramatically increase your results, explode your earnings, and take you to the next level. It’s the reason why commercials and ads for big companies change every so often.
At JuicyAds, we have multiple tools to help make split testing easier. You can generate a campaign, change and rotate out your offers and URLs any time you want. There is a new feature available to “clone” an existing campaign so you can run two simultaneously. For trusted advertisers we also allow clients to rotate their own Javascript, Flash, or iFrame codes to optimize with your choice of ad rotators or internal optimizers. No matter where you are advertising, you need to make sure that you are constantly moving in a new direction, otherwise your ads are getting old, stale, and you might miss something much, much better.
Just like everything can be adjusted in a campaign, everything can be changed and updated in your “dating style” to change your end result. Your dating profile (campaign) can include different things. You can try different pick up lines (slogans) and talk about different conversation points to peak her interest (sales points). You can even use a wingman of either sex to market yourself (testimonials)! So the result of all that dating? I did find the woman I was looking for, and I have never been happier. Always remember that when you actually do find something great, don’t fuck it up by getting greedy.
Juicy Jay is CEO and founder of JuicyAds.com. Follow Jay and JuicyAds via Twitter @juicyads.
