Ad research
Studies that test whether ads actually work the way their creators claim. Much advertising research fails to produce consistent results when repeated, so findings you read should be evaluated carefully before you rely on them.
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Judging an Ad Before It Runs
Ready enough to launch beats one more round of edits.
Herbert Simon's idea of satisficing—stopping at good-enough instead of chasing perfect—and new research on the Cost of Dull, a body of work showing emotionally flat ads are the real failure mode, both point the same d...
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AI in Advertising, Honestly
AI-generated ads can look human and still underperform.
AI-generated ads can pass as human-made and still underperform in market, because looking authentic and actually working are two different tests.
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Judging an Ad Before It Runs
The stranger test: read your own ad like you've never seen the product.
You know your product too well to judge your own ad. That's not laziness — it's brain chemistry. Your brain fills in gaps automatically, so rereading never catches what a stranger will.
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How Advertising Actually Works
Advertising research doesn't replicate as often as gurus pretend.
A surprising share of the behavioral science behind popular marketing advice doesn't hold up on retest, so the right response to a confident claim is to ask what it's built on.
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Small business
A business owned and operated by a small number of people, typically spending limited budgets on advertising to reach local or…
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Salon
A salon is a personal care business offering services like haircuts, styling, nails, or aesthetics.
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Ad budget
The practical considerations for small business owners deciding whether to spend money on advertising and how to prepare before…
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Ad testing
Ad testing is the practice of running different versions of an ad to see which one performs better with your audience.
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AI
Artificial intelligence tools that generate or help create ad copy, images, video, or other content.