Consumer behavior and ad platform algorithms never stop evolving. What drove engagement and conversions last month might not move the needle today. To keep your campaigns effective and your strategies sharp, you’ll need more than intuition—you’ll also need a repeatable, data-driven approach to testing creative at scale. At Tuff, we specialize in growth marketing, and our proven framework for creative testing is designed to deliver insights that translate directly into revenue.

The Strategic Value of Creative Testing

For growth-minded marketing teams, creative testing isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. With millions of dollars at stake, every creative decision must be validated through data. Our method of testing empowers your team to identify what truly works and double down on strategies that yield the best return on investment. In an era where marketing budgets are scrutinized more than ever, creative testing ensures that your spend isn’t just well-allocated—it’s optimized.

By investing in a robust creative testing framework, marketing teams can achieve more efficient ad spend, improved campaign performance, and a deeper understanding of what drives their audience to action.

How to Build a Scalable Creative Testing Framework

We know your marketing ecosystem is complex. Managing diverse campaigns, handling significant budgets, and meeting the expectations of stakeholders demands a sophisticated approach. At Tuff, we’ve developed a streamlined testing framework that delivers clarity and impact. Here’s how you can put it into action.

Step 1: Conduct Research and Develop a Hypothesis 🔬

Your first step isn’t launching ads—it’s analyzing data. Dive deep into historical performance to identify patterns and opportunities. What type of imagery has historically driven the highest click-through rates? Does a specific message style or call-to-action consistently outperform others?

🙇 Example from Tuff: When we reviewed performance data for a B2B SaaS client, we found that ads featuring real employees, particularly the founder, had 35% higher engagement compared to more product-centric visuals. This led us to a hypothesis: “If we feature the founder prominently in our creative, we’ll see an uptick in click-through rates and conversions.” From there, we developed a series of ad variations to put this theory to the test.

The stronger your hypothesis, the more actionable your insights. At Tuff, we never base hypotheses on guesswork—only on concrete data.

Step 2: Define Crystal-Clear Success Metrics

Before you even think about running your test, lock down your metrics. Which KPIs will you use to determine whether a creative variation is a success or failure? For our campaigns, we often look at metrics like CTR, conversion rate, CPA, and return on ad spend (ROAS).

🙇 Example: In the founder-focused campaign, we zeroed in on CTR and volume of conversions as our North Star metrics. We set historical benchmarks to understand whether our creative was an incremental improvement or a game-changer.

Tip: Don’t get lost in the data. Focus on metrics that directly impact your bottom line. This keeps your creative analysis relevant and actionable.

Step 3: Address Critical Questions Before Execution

A well-executed test starts with answering these foundational questions:

1. How Much Budget Should You Allocate? For large-scale testing, dedicate 10-15% of your total monthly ad budget to experimentation. This budget gives you the bandwidth to test multiple creative concepts without sacrificing the performance of your primary campaigns.
2. How Long Should the Test Run? The duration depends on the size of your audience and the budget. Large audiences paired with significant budgets can yield statistically significant data in 7-10 days. Niche audiences may require a full two weeks.
3. Which Audience Should You Target? Choose a top-performing, upper-funnel audience for faster, more reliable data. This approach not only speeds up your learning but ensures you’re testing on an audience segment that matters.

Marketers need to move quickly but thoughtfully. Making informed decisions about budget and audience can make or break the success of your test.

Step 4: Build a Well-Structured Campaign for Reliable Data

At scale, even small inefficiencies can lead to big problems. Here’s how to set up your campaign for maximum clarity:

1. Create a Dedicated Campaign: House all creative variations within one campaign to control variables and simplify your reporting.
2. Configure Ad Sets Thoughtfully: Each ad set should represent one variation. Distribute your budget evenly to ensure a fair test. This prevents any single creative from dominating the budget and skewing results.
3. Leverage Advanced A/B Testing Tools: Meta’s A/B testing feature is a game-changer. It divides your audience evenly and prevents overlap, ensuring each creative variation gets equal exposure. The cleaner your data, the more confident you can be in your conclusions.

Clean, unbiased data leads to clear, actionable insights. Our structured approach ensures that you’re not just gathering data—you’re gathering the right data.

Step 5: Analyze the Results with Precision

Once your test has run its course, it’s time to dig into the metrics. Did your winning creative truly outperform the others? Are the results statistically significant, or could they be due to chance?

🙇 Example Results: In the founder-focused campaign, we observed a 23% lift in CTR and an 18% increase in conversions compared to the next best variation. Compared to our historical benchmarks, this winning creative also delivered a 9% reduction in CPA. The data was clear: Founder-led visuals resonate deeply with our audience and drive more profitable results.
Don’t just celebrate your wins. Document why they worked and consider how to scale these learnings across your entire marketing operation.

Step 6: Document Findings and Make Optimization Ongoing

Your testing doesn’t end once you have a winner. To keep improving, treat each test as a learning opportunity. Document what worked, what didn’t, and why. Share these insights across teams to build a knowledge base that can inform future campaigns.

Make optimization a habit. At Tuff, we regularly revisit our creative strategy, using new data to inform our next round of testing. This cycle of continuous improvement keeps our clients ahead of the curve.

Navigating Challenges in Creative Testing

Even with a solid plan, testing at scale comes with hurdles. Here’s how to address common obstacles:

1. Stakeholder Alignment: Big campaigns often involve multiple stakeholders, so it’s important to align on what we want to learn before testing begins. Are we validating messaging, testing new creative formats, or exploring audience behavior? Clear goals at the start help everyone understand why strategies and briefs are set up a certain way. Use simple reporting tools to keep communication transparent and show how the data connects to those goals.
2. Data Fatigue: Analyzing vast amounts of data can be overwhelming. Simplify your focus to a few key metrics that matter most to your business objectives.
3. Audience Overlap and Fatigue: Avoid overexposing the same audience to multiple variations. Rotate your creative regularly to keep content fresh and engaging.

Tuff’s Approach: We use segmentation strategies and rotate creative frequently to avoid fatigue while keeping messaging aligned with campaign goals.

Scaling Insights Across the Org

Once you’ve nailed down what works, it’s time to scale. Apply successful creative elements to different campaigns, regions, or even departments. Share your wins and learnings broadly to maximize their impact.

🙇 Scaling Example: We worked with a global retail brand to expand a winning social media campaign into email and paid search. By maintaining consistent messaging and visuals, the brand experienced a 15% lift in overall campaign performance.

Elevate Your Creative Testing for Growth

We believe that strategic, data-driven creative testing is the key to unlocking your marketing team’s full potential. Our framework is designed to maximize efficiency, deliver insights that drive growth, and make sure every dollar of your ad budget is working for you. If you’re ready to transform how you approach creative, let’s talk. Tuff is here to help you scale smarter and faster.

Book a call with us!

The post Creative Testing at Scale: A Framework for Marketing Leaders appeared first on Tuff.

Growing a successful brand means balancing long-term trust with short-term results. Brand marketing builds relationships and loyalty, while performance marketing drives quick, measurable revenue.  The best companies know these strategies should work together, not compete.

In this post, we’ll show you how to align brand and performance marketing, optimize your budget, and track the right KPIs to fuel sustainable growth.

The Need for Balance Between Brand and Performance

Brand marketing creates emotional connections and long-term trust, while performance marketing drives immediate sales and signups. Both are critical, but focusing too much on one can hurt the other.

In business models where sales cycles are often lengthy, brand-building content like webinars, case studies, and thought leadership is essential for nurturing leads and building trust over time. For brands with lower AOVs and quicker sales timelines, immediate conversions are often the priority, making bottom-funnel strategies like retargeting critical.

However, investing in brand-building early on can reduce reliance on discounts and promotions, boosting long-term customer loyalty and value. Striking the right balance between brand and performance marketing drives success across both industries.

Aligning Goals and Budget Across the Funnel

Balancing brand and performance marketing requires more than just aligning objectives across the funnel. We recommend careful budgeting at each stage to ensure you’re investing in the right areas for both long-term brand-building and short-term revenue generation. 

Here’s a deeper look at how to align both goals and budgets across the funnel:

Top-of-Funnel (Brand Marketing)

At this stage, your goal is to build brand awareness, trust, and recognition. You’re engaging an audience that might not be familiar with your brand, so your content should be designed to tell your story and demonstrate value. The focus is on creating familiarity and positive associations.

• Key Metrics: Brand lift, reach, impressions, brand recall
• Strategy: Invest in educational, narrative, or thought leadership content that helps introduce your brand to a broader audience. Owned media like blogs, social posts, and PR are crucial here, as are earned media opportunities through influencer mentions, press, or social shares. By focusing on brand storytelling, you create a narrative that not only informs but also builds an emotional connection with potential customers.
• Budget Allocation: 40%-60% of your total marketing budget should be dedicated to brand-building at the top of the funnel. For example, if your total marketing budget is $1M for the year, consider investing $400K-$600K on top-funnel activities like educational content and brand storytelling. These efforts could include blogs, webinars, or influencer partnerships that build recognition and trust. Focus on owned and earned media, with the majority of spend allocated to content creation and organic engagement.

Mid-Funnel (Transitioning from Brand to Performance)

At this stage, prospects are moving from awareness to consideration. They know your brand exists, and now it’s time to engage them deeper by nurturing their interest and gradually shifting toward performance marketing tactics that drive action.

• Key Metrics: Website visits, time on site, engagement, lead generation
• Strategy: To maximize mid-funnel engagement, the focus is on capturing our audience’s footprint to begin nurturing them on our owned properties as well as paid. Using tools like HubSpot or Klaviyo, brands should set up personalized drip campaigns based on lead behavior. We often find that building new funnel entry points—like interactive content or educational resources—enables consumers to engage deeper with a brand without necessarily buying. For example, in our work with Rewiring America, we created early paid campaigns designed to educate and engage audiences on clean energy benefits, positioning the brand as a trusted resource while nurturing prospects further down the funnel. 

Leverage dynamic content to tailor email sequences based on user interactions—whether they’ve viewed a demo, downloaded content, or abandoned a cart. Segmentation and automation ensure that each lead is receiving highly relevant, personalized content, driving deeper engagement and conversions.

• Budget Allocation: 20%-30% of your total budget should focus on this mid-funnel area. Allocate funds to both paid (retargeting ads, sponsored webinars) and organic channels (email drip campaigns, lead nurturing content) to move prospects further down the funnel. Split your resources equally between brand reinforcement and performance marketing efforts to drive leads.

Bottom-of-Funnel (Performance Marketing)

At the bottom of the funnel, the priority is driving conversions—whether that’s closing a sale, capturing a lead, or securing a demo. This is where performance marketing is most effective, delivering measurable results through direct actions.

• Key Metrics: Revenue, Incrementality, Conversion rates, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
• Strategy: Focus on paid performance campaigns with strong calls-to-action (CTAs), like PPC ads, retargeting, and email remarketing. Offer product demos, free trials, or limited-time offers to nudge prospects over the conversion line. Paid media should dominate at this stage, with tightly targeted campaigns to ensure you’re reaching an audience primed for action.
• Budget Allocation: 30%-40% of your budget should go towards bottom-funnel activities. These funds should be invested heavily in performance-focused channels, such as paid search, retargeting, and high-conversion media types (e.g., display or social ads) designed to capture direct responses. Here, you’re prioritizing immediate returns on investment and optimizing for the lowest CAC.

Key Takeaway: Budget allocation should evolve as prospects move down the funnel, with higher investments in brand-building at the top, transitioning to heavier performance spends at the bottom. By aligning both objectives and budgets, you ensure your marketing strategy supports both long-term brand growth and short-term conversions.

Creating a Unified Brand and Performance Strategy

To successfully align brand and performance strategies across your teams, ensure clear communication of shared goals. Marketing leaders must ensure that creative, brand, and performance teams are aligned, even when faced with conflicting priorities. Establishing cross-functional KPIs is crucial, especially in times of economic uncertainty when budgets might tighten. By ensuring both brand and performance teams are jointly responsible for metrics like Engagement-to-Conversion Rate or Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), marketing leaders can foster collaboration and ensure a balanced focus on both long-term brand growth and short-term revenue. 

One way to do this is by implementing cross-functional KPIs, where brand and performance teams are jointly responsible for metrics like Engagement-to-Conversion Rate or Brand-Performance Crossover. This fosters alignment and shared accountability, making it easier to balance long-term brand-building and short-term revenue goals.

Consistent Messaging Across All Channels

Consistency in messaging is crucial. Whether a customer interacts with your brand via social media, email, or paid ads, they should have a unified experience that reflects the same core values, tone, and messaging. This helps build trust and reinforces your brand identity across every touchpoint.

• Unified Brand Voice: Your brand voice should remain consistent across all platforms, whether you’re engaging through organic content, paid ads, or email campaigns. A clear and unified voice helps customers feel like they are interacting with the same brand, regardless of the channel. This is critical in ensuring that your performance marketing campaigns don’t feel disconnected from your overall brand narrative.
• Visual Consistency: Beyond messaging, maintaining consistent visual elements such as colors, fonts, logos, and imagery reinforces brand recognition. Whether a customer encounters your brand through a display ad or a blog post, the experience should feel cohesive.

When both brand and performance messaging are aligned, it strengthens the overall perception of your business and keeps customers engaged at every stage of the funnel.

How Brand Marketing Enhances Performance

A well-established brand can elevate your performance marketing efforts. When your audience is already familiar with your brand, it’s easier to drive conversions because you’ve already built trust and credibility. Without a strong brand or differentiated value propositions, many companies rely heavily on discounts and promotional offers to drive conversions, which can eat into margins. Here’s how brand-building improves performance marketing outcomes and reduces dependency on discounting:

• Improved Conversion Rates: When your audience recognizes and trusts your brand, they’re more likely to engage with your performance ads and take action. Strong brand recognition means performance campaigns have a higher chance of success, as customers already feel connected to your business—without the need for promos.
• Lower Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC): A strong brand presence reduces the effort needed to persuade prospects. This results in a lower cost per acquisition, as your audience already knows and trusts you, making them more likely to convert. Building brand equity also allows you to achieve conversions without relying on margin-eroding discounts.
• Storytelling for Engagement: Performance ads that incorporate brand storytelling drive deeper emotional engagement, which can lead to higher click-through rates (CTR) and conversions. Use your brand’s narrative to create performance ads that resonate on a personal level with your audience.

How Performance Marketing Fuels Brand Growth

On the flip side, performance marketing doesn’t just drive immediate results; it also generates data and insights that can be used to refine your brand strategy. By analyzing performance data, you can continuously improve how you communicate your brand’s message.

• Data-Driven Brand Refinement: Performance marketing provides measurable results that show which messages, channels, and audiences resonate best. This data can inform your overall brand strategy, helping you fine-tune your messaging and reach the right audience with the right content.
• Audience Insights: Performance marketing campaigns give you valuable insights into customer behavior, demographics, and preferences. Use this information to sharpen your brand positioning and make sure your branding reflects the needs and desires of your target market.
• Testing for Consistency: By testing different messages, creative assets, and CTAs in performance campaigns, you can ensure that your brand’s core values and identity remain consistent while optimizing for better engagement and conversions.

Key Takeaway: Consistent messaging across channels is vital for creating a seamless customer experience, but when combined with performance marketing, it also drives measurable results. A unified brand strategy boosts the effectiveness of performance campaigns by enhancing trust and recognition, while performance data provides valuable insights to continuously refine your brand messaging.

By aligning brand and performance efforts, you create a marketing strategy that works together to achieve both short-term wins and long-term brand loyalty. When done correctly, your brand becomes a powerful tool to elevate performance marketing, and performance marketing, in turn, fuels your brand’s ongoing evolution.

Measuring KPIs for Brand and Performance Integration

Balancing brand and performance marketing requires tracking the right KPIs to measure both long-term brand value and short-term conversion goals. This ensures you’re not just focusing on immediate wins but also building a brand that resonates and sticks with your audience.

Brand Marketing KPIs

Brand marketing metrics are harder to measure because the effects are long-term and qualitative. However, key indicators include:

• Brand Awareness: Measure brand recall, brand lift, reach and impressions across social media, search, and display networks.
• Brand Sentiment: Use surveys, social listening tools, and review platforms to measure how people feel about your brand.
• Social Engagement: Track likes, shares, and comments on organic posts to understand how your audience interacts with your brand.

Performance Marketing KPIs

Performance marketing metrics are more straightforward and measurable in the short term. These KPIs focus on driving action and conversions:

• Conversions: Track sales, sign-ups, or other desired actions.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculate how much it costs to acquire a new customer.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Measure how much revenue you’re generating for every dollar spent on ads.
• Incremental Revenue Growth: Measure additional revenue directly attributed to performance marketing efforts.

Integrating Brand and Performance Metrics

While brand and performance marketing can seem separate, they are most effective when working together. For example:

• Brand-Performance Crossover: Track how brand-building campaigns influence performance marketing results.
• Engagement-to-Conversion Rate: Measure how brand engagement leads to conversions.

Key Takeaway: Measuring the right KPIs for both brand and performance marketing ensures you’re tracking long-term brand value alongside short-term conversion goals. By integrating data from both strategies, you can continuously refine your approach, maximizing immediate results while strengthening your brand’s long-term growth and recognition.

Conclusion: Balancing Patience and Agility for Long-Term Success

To wrap things up, let’s ask the critical question: How do you build a brand that lasts while still hitting those short-term revenue goals? The answer is balancing patience and agility—investing in brand-building for the long haul while using performance marketing to drive immediate results.

• Brand-building is a long-term investment—it takes time to build trust, loyalty, and emotional connections with your audience. While the payoff isn’t immediate, it delivers benefits like customer retention and higher lifetime value (LTV).
• Performance marketing, on the other hand, offers the agility needed to test and optimize quickly, delivering immediate, measurable results like higher conversions and faster revenue growth.

Focusing too much on one side can be risky:

• Over-reliance on performance marketing: You may see quick wins, but without building lasting brand recognition, long-term growth will be difficult.
• Over-reliance on brand-building: Great awareness might result, but without immediate performance, your business may struggle to see conversions.

The ideal strategy is a balance that integrates both:

Brand-building lays the foundation for trust and recognition, making performance campaigns more effective. During times of budget tightening, marketing leaders should prioritize high-impact brand-building activities that lay the groundwork for future growth, while continuing to invest in performance marketing for immediate returns.

Key Takeaway: Combining patience in brand-building with agility in performance marketing is the winning formula for long-term success. By continually refining your strategies, you’ll build a brand that thrives in the short term and stands strong for years to come.

Hannah Burks

Hey! I’m HB, the Head of Operations at Tuff. With a decade of experience across marketing and web, I specialize in complex problem-solving, strategic planning, and organic acquisition. My focus is on facilitating client growth, supporting our creative teams, and consistently improving efficiency across our org. Let’s chat!

The post Balancing Brand and Performance in Your Creative Strategy appeared first on Tuff.

Welcome to our AMA with Adam Fricke, our Head of Creative at Tuff. 

Adam leads our Performance Creative team, collaborating closely with our media team, designers, animators, and UX copywriters. With his expertise, he’s spearheaded creative strategy and testing for numerous early-stage startups and scaleups. His focus? Enhancing media results, cutting down on customer acquisition costs, pinpointing value propositions, and most importantly, crafting ad creatives that drive real conversions.

Below, Adam talks about winning ad creative, creative testing, and how to make the most of your budgets. 

Why do you think there’s a surge in businesses, ranging from multi-million dollar established brands to small startups, seeking assistance with creative testing lately?

It’s easy to spend your budget on reaching the right audience with the wrong message. Here’s why:

1. Marketing and advertising are more accessible now, with more businesses vying for consumer attention. Standing out is tougher than ever, so it’s crucial to keep refining your advertising strategies.
2. Consumer behaviors change constantly, especially with tech advancements and cultural shifts. What worked yesterday might not work today. Creative testing helps businesses keep up by figuring out which ad creatives connect best with their audience.

Whether you’re new to paid ads or a big spender, performance creative is key for getting results.

How can a business determine whether investing in creative testing is worth it or not? 

Creative testing can really boost your ad results, but it’s crucial to weigh the investment. We use this performance creative ROI calculator to gauge if it’s right for your marketing budget. Typically, if you see a 5-10% improvement in CPA, performance creative becomes a powerful growth tool.

On a broader scale, every business should think about the consequences of skipping creative testing. In today’s fast-moving digital world, staying stagnant means falling behind. Neglecting creative testing risks losing relevance, market share, and ultimately, revenue. It’s not just about short-term gains; it’s about future-proofing your strategy for long-term success.

Is there a notable difference in the approach to creative testing between early-stage startups and well-established brands? Or do they follow similar methods?

For early-stage startups, stretching tight budgets means they have to be smart about creative testing. They should focus on lean and agile methods like A/B testing and quick changes to find winning ad ideas without spending too much. Getting creative right is super important for ad success, but the lessons learned can also improve messaging and product promotion across all marketing, like on websites and in emails. As a startup marketing agency, we’re pros at testing different messages to find what works best for your brand.

Big brands usually know their products and market really well. For them, using performance-focused ad creative helps make every ad dollar count.

Whether you’re just starting out or already a big name, using data and trying out new ideas in your ads can pay off big time. Stay flexible, keep learning, and focus on getting better, not being perfect. That’s the way forward for everyone.

What would you say to a company that believes “any creative will do?”

Good ad creative isn’t just about showing off what you’re selling. It’s about telling a story that grabs people, makes them feel something, and really connects with them. When your creative is spot on, it can grab attention, make people love your brand, and get them to do what you want, like clicking or buying.

Testing out different creatives is key. It helps you figure out what really clicks with your audience so you can tweak your message, images, and overall strategy to make the biggest impact possible.

In what ways can effective creative testing contribute to the overall success of a business, regardless of its size or industry?

• Better bang for your buck: When businesses find and fine-tune top-performing ad creatives, they get more out of their ad money, scoring a higher return on investment.
• Brand boost (and more loyal customers): Great ad creatives help businesses build a shiny brand image and connect better with their audience. That means happier, more loyal customers who spread the word.
• More sales: Testing out different creative bits like what you say, show, and ask for can uncover the magic combo that gets people to buy.
• Get to know your audience: Creative testing clues businesses in on what their customers like, do, and need. That means they can tailor their messages and pictures to hit the sweet spot.
• Smooth sailing for customers: When businesses match their ad creatives to each step of the customer journey, it’s like rolling out the red carpet. Customers love it, getting involved more and feeling happier overall.

Want to connect with Adam? Shoot him a message on LinkedIn. You can also see some of the cool stuff his team’s been up to in our performance creative guide or check out examples in our Ad Library here. Happy browsing!

Ellen Jantsch

Ellen is the founder at Tuff and one of the team’s core growth marketers. She is a versatile marketer with expertise in multiple channels – from ppc to seo to email to others – responsible for the experiments and testing.  She is happiest when she’s on the ski hill or outside pointing her mountain bike downhill.

The post AMA on Implementing the Right Creative Testing Strategy with Adam Fricke, Head of Creative at Tuff appeared first on Tuff.

Looking to boost your results with paid media or hit your ROI targets while increasing your budget? You’ve got a few options.

At Tuff, we believe the four biggest levers to pull are:

1. Optimizing Paid Media Campaigns
2. Testing and Refining Audience Targeting
3. Experimenting with Different Creative Assets and Messaging Strategies
4. Designing Intentional User Flows and Testing Landing Pages

In this article, I’ll zoom in on experimenting with different creative assets and strategic messaging strategies and our approach to measuring their impact.

But here’s the thing—what’s the point of testing creative assets and messages if you aren’t measuring their impact? And how do you do that effectively?

For many brands, regardless of size, measuring the impact of great ad creative can be elusive and inconsistent.

I’ll dive into the ways you can measure the impact of performance creative, how we do it at Tuff, and why your brand should be doing it too. Plus, I’ll touch on who should be accountable for justifying the investment—the creative team producing it or the media team implementing it across different paid channels.

Let’s get into it! 

Established Ad Creative Testing Methodology

At Tuff, we don’t believe there’s one “right” approach to testing. Instead, we believe the approach should be dependent upon the specific question you’re trying to answer, what goals you’re working towards, and the platforms you’re using. Even small improvements in CPC  and CVR can add up to drastic business growth. 

At a high level, when we set up an A/B or multivariate test, we start with this approach: 

To put this into perspective, if we were aiming to set up a performance creative test on Meta (Facebook, Instagram), we would focus on minimizing variables to produce accurate and replicable results. 

This methodology aims to create an environment poised for constant testing, iterating, and scaling – If you’re not building on your findings, you’re losing learnings.

Begin by Assessing Potential Performance with Tuff’s Creative ROI Calculator

Here’s an example of how we measure those results with our Tuff: Performance Creative ROI Calculator Template. 

This template is a real-life calculator that you can use to plug in your monthly budget, average cost per acquisition, and lifetime value per conversion to forecast how you can maximize your media spend with performance creative. 

While performance creative may not solve all your revenue challenges, we are confident that with the right testing methodology and measurement tools in place, you will see results after a few weeks of testing. 

Tuff’s Approach to Ad Creative Testing and Measurement

Measurement is undeniably crucial for effective and replicable tests, but let’s talk about ownership, shall we?

Who should be responsible for measurement? Should it fall on the ad creative team to track measurement, or should the media team bear the accountability for justifying the investment?

In our experience, tight integration between media and creative teams is essential. They need to collaborate closely to plan, measure, and enhance results. This integration is something that sets Tuff apart from many other agencies. From day one, our in-house performance creative team has been trained to understand media intricacies, including platform allocation, top-performing ad creative, and client-specific KPIs. This advantage, having a creative team that works hand in hand with our media team, is pivotal in creating winning ad assets and campaigns that deliver results.

While we rely on the performance creative team for insights, hypotheses, and recommendations for creative asset and message testing, we count on the paid media team to establish structured testing environments across various ad platforms to effectively manage and scale creative performance.

This is a quick snapshot of how Tuff collaborates across teams:

• Paid Media Team: Start with data and get specific with audiences & campaign setup so we understand the focus of our message testing.
• Performance Creative Team: Develop high-impact channel-specific creative with an intentional messaging variety.
• Paid Media Team: Launch ads!
• Paid Media Team + Performance Creative Team: Measure, analyze, learn!
• Performance Creative Team: Develop a new round of creative fueled by data-driven insights

Real-Life Examples

We’ve done a lot of testing at Tuff – It’s kind of our thing. We’ve worked with a variety of brands at different stages of growth from early-stage to established – We’ve done it all. 

So before we part ways, let’s dive into a specific case study for a brand we worked with, soona.

• Case Study: Here!
• Background: soona, the home of the ‘virtual photoshoot’. soona is a self-serve content creation platform that helps brands create professional, high-quality photo and video content for e-commerce and digital marketing. They aim to satisfy the growing demand for digital content by providing a fast, affordable solution to traditional content creation methods.
• Strategy: Build a repeatable formula for winning ad creative.
• Results: Large scale, quick-turn gains! We achieved an average increase of 60% in total conversions MoM with a CPA below target by $200+.

A key takeaway that is transferable for almost any brand at any stage of growth – Big budgets don’t always equal big results. While having a larger budget can certainly help achieve more significant results, it’s not the only factor determining success. A well-crafted campaign with laser-focused messaging and targeting yields high-impact learnings, no matter the budget.

Interested in learning more about Tuff’s approach to testing and measuring the impact of performance creative? Reach out to us directly here!

Kate Theobald

Hey there! I’m Kate, the Head of Social at Tuff. I specialize in crafting paid social campaigns and testing performance creative to drive business results. Outside of Tuff, I enjoy tackling home renovation projects, skiing, and nerding out over the Enneagram (personality test)!

The post Ad Testing Methodology: Our Approach to Creative Testing and Measuring Results appeared first on Tuff.

Author’s Note: This post was originally published in 2020. It has since been updated for 2024! 

LinkedIn has gotten a rep in the past that it’s only useful for B2B marketing. And while that is somewhat true—and we’ll provide a few Linkedin ad examples below—we’ve also seen great success testing the channel for B2C efforts, too! LinkedIn’s member base consists of a more engaged, professional audience than some other channels, so it’s a great place to be if you’re looking to promote a product or service that may best be served to this particular audience when they’re paying the most attention.

Let’s take a look at some of the LinkedIn campaigns we’ve run over only the past 6 months for our partners and some of the results those campaigns have yielded!

Driving free sign-ups to SaaS organization Nulab’s core software products

Goal: Driving free sign-ups to Nulab’s core software products through a variety of messaging – content-based and action-based

Campaign Objective: Website Conversions

Ad Format: Sponsored Content → Static Image

The Linkedin ad format you likely think of (or see while scrolling on your feed) is Sponsored Content, which essentially appears as a promoted post and can feature a static image, video, carousel, or even an article. Images tend to perform well when driving site traffic or conversions, and video or carousels work best as upper-funnel awareness-building content. A square ad ratio is recommended for Sponsored Content ads due to its ability to take up a larger portion of the screen across both desktop and mobile placements. Don’t forget to include text overlay and branding to catch the audience’s attention quickly and form strong brand associations!

We’ve tested a variety of static image creative for Nulab, whose product suite includes a project management software and online, collaborating diagramming software. In an effort to position their products to their target audience on LinkedIn, we promote a lot of their educational and value-based content to engage with users. 

Driving B2B MQLs for EdTech organization Multiverse by promoting valuable pieces of content

Goal: Driving marketing qualified leads that will be nurtured in their down-funnel sales pipeline to ultimately become deals by promoting valuable content that’s relevant to their target audience

Campaign Objective: Lead Generation

Ad Format: Document Ads

Want to take promoting content a step further? Why not check out Document Ads?

Multiverse, one of our EdTech partners based in the UK, has a very robust content strategy that involves several new reports, white papers, and case studies being published every quarter that are relevant to the ICP they’re trying to reach and what is going on in the industry at the time. In late 2022, we identified the new-at-the-time Document Ad format as a great vehicle to get this content in front of our target audience – GATED – without them ever needing to leave their LinkedIn feed to access it.

Linkedin Document Ads are especially a great format to test if you are a B2B organization looking to promote the content you already have on hand. They appear native to the platform because they are essentially an embedded slideshow presentation that you can swipe through to read, like turning a page or moving to the next slide. For gated Document Ads, we usually recommend previewing the first 1-3 pages and requiring users to fill out the lead form to download and view the full document. Since this format allows you to share a Document directly in the feed, there’s no need to click off to a different landing page, making the content easier and more convenient to read and engage with – and we’ve found that LinkedIn users prefer to stay on LinkedIn when they’re there.

In order to run a Document Ad, you just need to incorporate your content into a PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX file type that is no greater than 100 MB in size and no longer than 300 pages (we recommend anywhere from 10-20 as a sweet spot because the more pages = the longer it will take to upload to the platform, and users are less likely to download a resource longer than 20 pages). To follow LinkedIn’s best practice of 5-8 creative concepts per campaign, we recommend creating several cover variations of your report/white paper/e-book so that you can swap them onto new versions of the PDF and run each version as its own creative concept!

The types of content we have historically promoted via Document Ads for Multiverse include case studies, reports, and white papers.

From the content we’ve promoted, we’ve taken away some learnings around what works well to drive click engagement and leads from this type of ad format:

• Case studies that feature well-known organizations or companies
• Relevant content that is being talked about in your industry – for Multiverse, this is skills gaps, upskilling, and AI
• Clear messaging around what the content is about and what value a prospect will be getting if they down this content

We tend to see Document Ads being a bit more costly than other formats as it’s a hot commodity in terms of ad formats to promote, but we’ve found a sweet spot with promoting it alongside other formats, such as Sponsored Messaging campaigns, to get more bang for your buck.

Driving leads for FinTech organization Acres by promoting content through personalized messages

Goal: Driving leads to that will be entered into nurture workflows in their CRM by promoting their latest, science-backed report on land value data

Campaign Objective: Lead Generation

Ad Format: Message Ad

Another one of the formats that is unique to LinkedIn that we love testing, especially alongside Document Ads or other in-feed ads to further ramp up high-quality lead-driving campaigns, are Sponsored Messaging campaigns. Whether you’re testing Message Ads or Conversation Ads, both formats offer the ability to reach audiences in a personalized and conversational way through the use of dynamic fields that auto-populate with a member’s first name, last name, company name, or job title, creating a tailored message experience at scale.

This ad format performs best when the designated sender has a Director or higher job title relevant to the content of the message, plus a welcoming profile picture. 

Key Message Ad Components: 

• Subject Line: A short and engaging hook
• Body: The sender introduces themselves and then leads into a clear and concise description of the offering, ideally 500 characters or less for better performance
• CTA Button: Customizable text, up to 20 characters

TIP: Bullet point formatting helps drive home the main points of the Message Ad and subtly guides a user’s eyes toward the CTA button (like we did just now!)

We tend to find that, when paired together, Document Ads and Message Ads are a real powerhouse together when you are promoting the same content and targeting the same audience: you stay in front of your target audience while they’re scrolling their feeds with a visual asset, grabbing their attention, and then you follow up on that with a personalized message delivered directly to their LinkedIn inboxes, where they may be more engaged.

We’ve promoted Acres’ land value report across both ad formats simultaneously and have generated over 100 leads that their team has been able to nurture down the funnel.

Taking it one step further

If you have the resources and bandwidth to do so, leveraging various ad formats at once allows you to capture your audience’s attention in several ways – whether that’s through informative document ads with in-depth insights or personalized messages that directly tap into the value that your organization is offering. And if you’re not sure what would work for you? Test, test, and test again! LinkedIn specifically is a great paid social channel to test on – they even introduced their A/B test tool late last year so you can now do this on your own – so you can take your learnings and apply them to your future strategy.

By taking advantage of the channel’s features, we’ve been able to layer LinkedIn into our paid social channel mix to reach our target audience in new ways and with new messaging, and there is so much more to explore! If you’re looking to take your LinkedIn advertising to the next level, let’s talk!

The post LinkedIn Advertising in 2024: LinkedIn Ad Examples From Tuff Clients appeared first on Tuff.

With the rise of AI and other tech tools, creating content quickly and affordably has become more accessible than ever. But here’s the kicker: is all this content actually making an impact?

At Tuff, we’re embracing AI across our creative process, from testing multiple variations swiftly to streamlining everything from concepting to final assets. This not only allows us to pass savings to our clients but also enables us to serve our clients faster and more efficiently, without compromising on quality.

However, there’s one crucial piece that can’t be overlooked: a solid creative strategy. Without it, your content won’t consistently engage your audience or drive revenue, no matter how much you produce or how efficient the process is. Sure, AI has improved our creative process and outputs, but without a strong creative strategy, success can still elude us.

In this post, I want to dive into why we believe that authentic, low-fi assets can actually outperform their slicker counterparts when it comes to developing ad creative that will  maximize your media dollars.

The Cost of Playing it Safe

As organic reach declines, the natural response is to pump out more content faster and cheaper to increase your chances of being seen. Doubling down on paid media often goes hand in hand with this approach. But the reality is that pouring resources into run-of-the-mill content doesn’t necessarily lead to revenue. It just drives your waves of messages into a sea of sameness, regardless of your audience targeting and budget. 

In crowded online (and offline) spaces, generic content blends into the background making standing out tougher than ever. At Tuff, we’ve seen firsthand the power of breaking the mold.

The Rise of Authenticity

One of the most exciting content trend developments we’re seeing is in B2B marketing. Influencers and user-generated content (UGC), once reserved for consumer brands, are now becoming staples in B2B creative. Why? Because behind every business is a human decision maker who responds to visuals and messaging just like you would. In a space flooded with charts, graphs, jargon, and salesy buzzwords, it’s genuine human connection that stands out. By partnering with influencers and content creators to embrace UGC, B2B brands can build trust and connect with their audience in meaningful ways.

B2B Ads With Personality: A Case Study with goHappy

Let me give you a very specific example using one of our existing clients, goHappy. Rather than sticking static assets, we decided to level up by collaborating with a content creator to test a couple of user-generated videos tailored specifically to their audience. Our main priorities with these assets were nailing the messaging and ensuring standout creative design.

• Strategic Messaging: By utilizing goHappy’s persona research and applying insights gleaned from our previous message testing results, we had a solid head start in understanding what types of tedious HR tasks our audience struggles with and some of the language they’re responding to in ads. We also knew that the average HR manager appreciates work related humor, so video scripts were written with some spicy HR memes in mind.
• Creative Design: Nothing humanizes HR like adding some personality. We turned to a UGC content creator marketplace called Twirl to help source a creator that would deliver our scripts in an engaging way. (Our creator, Amanda, even has HR experience, so we knew it was a perfect match!) From there, the Tuff motion team added gifs, goHappy branded motion graphics, and sound effects to her footage to bring additional life to the videos.

The results speak for themselves. After introducing the following 3 video assets to our LinkedIn ad creative mix, we were able to improve goHappy’s CPL by 34% in just 30 days.

Putting People First: Practical Steps for Your Strategy

Now, goHappy is just a single example, and there are numerous ways to infuse your ad creative with a human touch and authenticity. Here are some practical tips, based on what we’ve seen work across our client accounts, that you can start implementing today:

1. Know Your Audience: Dive deep into who your audience is and what their day-to-day struggles are. Aim to help them solve their problems, not sell them your platform. Lean into value propositions, customer research, and agile message testing to determine what your customers care about and how to get their attention. Create Intentionally: Consider the most impactful ways to get your message across to your audience. If it’s a quick message, a static graphic is great. If it requires some explanation, video is your friend. Keep in mind that your viewer is always a human, even in B2B.
2. Test and Learn: Experiment with different approaches and learn from what works (and what doesn’t). As long as you have a creative testing framework, no under-performing content is wasteful. A nimble approach allows you to adapt and evolve your strategy over time.
3. Embrace Technology: Use tools and automation to streamline your content production process. This gives you more time for strategic thinking and ensures your messaging stays human-centric. Currently, we’re finding great support from tools like Envato, Stocksy, Adobe Stock, Pexels, Unsplash, and Artlist.io.

By prioritizing a people-first approach and embracing a nimble testing strategy, you can create content that stands out and drives real results. Whether you’re a big brand or a scrappy startup, these insights apply to businesses of all sizes. By putting people at the heart of your strategy, you can cut through the noise and make meaningful connections that drive growth.

The post Authenticity: A Critical Component for Effective Ad Creative in the AI Era appeared first on Tuff.

We know firsthand that creating impactful, short-form video content can make a huge difference for startups. When done correctly, bite-sized videos have the power to instantly capture your viewers’ attention and increase conversions—but if they aren’t platform-specific, they can quickly fizzle out without making a splash. 

If you want to create powerful content for your brand, you’ll need to understand how platforms like YouTube and TikTok influence the videos you produce. To help you get started, We’ll first compare the differences between content for YouTube and content for TikTok. We’ll then share some cost-effective ways to increase your engagement without increasing your production cost with this Reduce, Reuse, Recycle technique. Here’s a sneak peek: 

• Reduce: Lower costs by creating low-lift, high-impact in-house creative.

• Reuse: Tweak assets made specifically for one platform to perform well on another platform.

• Recycle: Double down on assets from one creative round to optimize the next.

Platform Dynamics: TikTok vs. YouTube

TikTok and YouTube both capture attention via user-generated content (UGC for short), but they do this in very different ways. 

TikTok is built to handle all editing in-platform, leading to specific, amateur-style video editing that users prefer and the platform encourages. YouTube is built for uploads, which means creators use their own tools for video capture and editing. YouTube videos are usually made with better cameras and editing techniques, leading to high-quality, professional-looking videos.  

So, with these platform differences in mind, it begs the question: What kind of ad content really grabs people’s attention?

Performance Creative: Crafting Irresistible Videos For TikTok

We know what you’re thinking: “Higher quality ads must always perform better, right?” But surprisingly, our A/B test results tell us that optimizing ad quality to match a platform’s surrounding content is the most effective strategy. 

If you’re producing ads for TikTok, you’ll want to create videos that match the platform’s native, amateur style. Check out this example, where CodePath saw a 47% increase in CTR by using TikTok caption styling:

During this test, we learned that simple, choppy, on-screen text performs better than buttery smooth transitions and flashy logo animations. 

For us motion designers, this revelation poses a unique challenge. Instead of aiming for the highest quality design possible, we should instead match the subtle imperfections and simplicities of TikTok’s native style while still keeping the ad engaging, message-focused, and adhering to brand guidelines. 

With that in mind, here are some tried-and-true tips for more making effective TikTok ads: 

• Watch a LOT of TikToks. You’ll get a better feel for in-platform timing between messages and footage cuts. By watching the content critically, you’ll learn what you find most engaging and how that can translate to better ads. (And proudly tell yourself that you’re not wasting time, you’re researching!)
• Keep an eye out for trends. Utilizing TikTok trends in your ads can help you showcase your brand’s message in fun, creative ways and further connect with your audience. For example, we’ve created a few high-performing ads where our talent points to different areas on the screen and corresponding copy appears. 

• Do it yourself! This is where “reduce” comes in. TikTok is an awesome tool for startups —you don’t have to spend tons of money on video production to see results. Ask your team if anyone would like to try recording videos or voiceovers.  Authenticity is everything on this platform, so show them who you are!

Performance Creative: Crafting Irresistible Videos For YouTube

We’ve learned that a much different approach works best for YouTube. Combining higher production value with high-quality footage, voiceover, and/or complex animations is our formula for success.

Take an example from our blog post, How YouTube Ads Work + 5 YouTube Ad Campaign Examples. We made an ad for Tony’s Acoustic Challenge that combined animation and high-quality footage with a voiceover recorded by a member of our team. We were able to increase their click-through rate by 36% over the UGC-style ads they previously produced. 

Being flashy and appealing to emotion is the name of the game—but don’t just take our word for it! YouTube actually has a great resource called the ABCD’s of effective video ads for the platform. You’ll notice many of their examples are ads that cost a LOT to produce. Since most orgs work within strict budgets, here are a few helpful tips for creating more effective YouTube ads without breaking the bank:

• Reuse what you already have! If you have some leftover UGC footage from your TikTok experiments, spice it up with your brand logo/fonts/colors and add some text animation. (Don’t forget to export your TikTok video before you add text to it. You’ll want to make sure you have a nice clean video file to work with.) User testimonial videos can work well here. They’ll give your ads some voiceover audio, which works much better than just music alone.
  
• Make sure your brand is present early and often. Ideally, you’ll have your logo on screen and have the audio state your brand name within the first three seconds.
• Keep your ad type in mind. YouTube offers three types of in-video ads, and all have their strengths depending on your goals. We usually start off testing the three against each other to narrow down which has the most value:
  • Bumper ads: A six-second, non-skip ad. Prices fluctuate, but these are generally the cheapest option because they can’t be clicked on. Keep in mind that this route is best suited for an awareness campaign.
  • Skippable: An ad that can be skipped after five seconds. These ads tend to be moderately priced and can be extremely useful. Just make sure you have an interesting hook to grab the viewer’s attention right away — you want them to watch past the skip point! 
  • Non-skippable: These are about 15-30 seconds long. They’re usually the most expensive because you hold the viewer for your entire ad. 

Data Insights for Improvement

Now that you have a basic understanding of platform-specific content and tips for how to produce engaging ads, your next step is to identify key metrics for gauging your video performance and doubling down on what works. Here’s how to do that: 

Step #1: Plan 

Figure out what your goal is. Conversions? Signups? Leads? Purchases? It will be a bit different for every company, but the important common thread is to make sure it’s driving measurable actions. Things to measure include click-through rates (CTR), return on ad spend (ROAS), and cost per acquisition (CPA). You’ll want to decide what’s most important to you at the beginning to make sure you have a north star to follow through the rest of the process.

Step #2: Execute

Produce assets that align with your goals. Your assets should be engaging and platform-specific, but the messaging and call-to-action should also be clear to the viewer. We recommend starting with three to five assets on a first round of production so you can test them against each other. A quick way to reach this quantity during your first round is to use the same asset with two or three different messaging themes. (This is an A/B/C test!) 

Step #3: Analyze and iterate

First, you’ll want to create a timeline for running your ads. (We’d usually recommend a 4-12 week period.) Next, you’ll need to pull the data and analyze the metrics you chose during your planning stage. See which messaging/ad aesthetic performed best, and then move all of your assets in that direction during your second round of production. For round two, I’d still recommend three to five assets — but instead of starting from scratch, you can “recycle” instead. Keep your top two performing assets (making tweaks if needed) and produce one or two new assets based on the data you pulled. 

If you’re looking for even more in-depth information about testing and iterating your creative, check out our article: Performance Creative: What is the Ideal Timeline and Cadence of Testing and Iterating?

Wait, wait, wait!

Creating three to five platform-specific concepts per round? That’s a lot of content! But remember, that’s why we’re focused on reducing, reusing, and recycling. 

• Reduce cost: Create your own content within your organization and keep it authentic.
• Reuse assets: Start with an amateur-style video to use on TikTok — then tweak it and add brand colors, music, and some graphics/animation to raise the production value for YouTube.
• Recycle content: Don’t toss previous assets. Instead, iterate on them to align with your goals and send them back out there!

Now that you have insightful platform knowledge and tips for executing effective creative, you should have all the tools you need to make sure your video content makes a splash! Looking for help from the experts? Reach out to Tuff and we’ll get you where you need to be!

Travis Buechner

Travis a Motion Designer and Video Editor currently working for Tuff Growth Marketing. He’s worked with many interesting clients on lots of amazing projects and is always looking for opportunities to branch out and try new things.

The post Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Short-Form Video for TikTok and YouTube appeared first on Tuff.

When considering expanding your brand’s advertising presence to new platforms, you are likely looking to reach new audiences, build your brand recognition and or scale your business results. Over the last couple of years, video-marketing platforms, like YouTube and TikTok, have grown immensely in not only their daily active user count but also in their platform offerings. 

In this article, we’ll dive deep into who is active on these platforms, cost considerations, pros and cons, as well as arguably the most important element of a campaign, creative strategy when launching on these video-first, sound-on platforms. 

Does this sound interesting to you? Keep reading!

Understanding Your Audience

With the right video creative, you can be seen and heard by a whole new audience. 89% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video. At Tuff, we believe that if done right, video content allows you to take control of your brand’s story and help your audience visualize the benefits your company offers them (learn more about our POV here!).

Both YouTube and TikTok attract billions of users each month. There are 2.5 billion monthly active users (MAUs) on YouTube compared to TikTok’s 1.1 billion MAUs. While YouTube has 1+ billion more active users on its platform, there are key differences in the age groups that are active on each platform. 

Let’s take a look:

YouTube source + TikTok source

When putting these demographics side-by-side, you might notice that YouTube tends to interest an older age group compared to TikTok. On TikTok, nearly 70% of its active users each month are between the ages of 18-34. Beyond just “who” is on these platforms, it’s also important to consider the ways in which you can target these audiences effectively.

Let’s take a peek at the different options available to advertisers on each platform: 

Learn more about Youtube and TikTok interests & behaviors here.

The typical age, gender, and location options are available on both platforms. The differences come into play when considering how to reach an audience via the different interest and behavioral targeting options.

YouTube is a Google property, providing you access to all of Google’s precise targeting capabilities, like in-market segments and keyword targeting. In comparison, TikTok does not offer that much control over your targeting, but you can reach users by using a mix of purchase intentions and interactions with specific videos and creators. 

Outlining the right audience that aligns with your ideal customer profile (ICP) is incredibly important, as well as the creative messaging and assets that you utilize. High-performing YouTube content tends to be longer-form and have an educational element to it, whereas TikTok content tends to be shorter-form and have more of an entertainment focus. 

Depending on your goals and budget, there might be a place for both of these platforms within your brand’s strategy. Let’s talk about cost next.

Cost Considerations

When thinking through which ad platforms are right for your brand, cost is likely a top consideration. What is an average CPM (Cost per Mille), CPC (Cost per Click), and CTR (Click-Through Rate). Nailing down a baseline for these costs is the first step when forecasting what potential conversion volume, cost per conversion, and conversion rates could look like.

At Tuff, we pull quarterly benchmarks for all ad platforms across all of our partners (read more about that here!). Below are those average costs and the available bidding strategies on each platform.

Bidding Strategies

• YouTube
  • Viewable CPM: Bid for impressions when your ads appear in a viewable position, and you only pay when ads are measured as viewable by Active View. You may want to adjust your CPM bids to stay competitive for more valuable viewable impressions.
  • Target CPA: Allows you to set your desired average cost per conversion. Some conversions may cost more than your target and some may cost less, but altogether, Google Ads will try to keep your cost per conversion equal to the target CPA you set.
  • Max Conversions: Uses Google’s AI to set bids to help get you the most conversions for your campaign while spending your budget. When using this bid strategy, you can still set a Target CPA, which means that Google’s Smart Bidding will aim for as many conversions as possible at the CPA you set.
• TikTok
  • Cost Cap: Control your daily costs manually by setting a maximum cost you’re willing to pay for a conversion. This option can limit your budget scaling abilities but you are able to keep your cost per conversion below the intended threshold.
  • Maximum Delivery: Allows the algorithm to spend your budget as efficiently as possible. This option tends to lead to fluctuations in daily performance but typically generates the lowest cost over a longer window of time.

While both channels aim for conversions, we typically group them under the umbrella of brand-building because of their low costs (CPCs, CPVs, and CPMs). When focusing on brand-building, our strategy involves targeting users at the top-of-funnel, recognizing the need for multiple ad exposures to guide them toward conversion. Consequently, we allocate a more extended period to evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness, as opposed to expecting immediate results within a week of launch.

Pros and Cons

There are pros and cons to investing in either of these platforms, and we’ve summarized those here: 

Creative Strategies

Now let’s chat about the most fun element of any paid media campaign – creative. Specifically with video marketing, creative assets and messaging can be the most impactful elements of a campaign and have the ability to dictate a campaign’s potential for success.

At Tuff, we believe creative has the power to drive real revenue, conversions, and growth. But only when it answers to data. Our creative team is in the business of designing feedback loops, integration, and accountability between creative and performance teams so we always know just how well the creative is working (psst, read more about our ad creative process here!).

But what if we’re just looking to build brand awareness with these channels? You still need data to validate your hypotheses and gather solid learnings along the way. 

While you should be designing creative according to each platform and its nuances, there is a way to work smarter and achieve a more meaningful outcome.

Specifically with YouTube and TikTok, we’ve found that some of the same messages (think: value propositions!) can translate across channels. With that in mind, we will sometimes spend our time focusing on the design and or length of the assets themselves to lean into differences in user behavior by channel vs. completely coming up with a new concept. 

Here’s an example we tested for one of our partners, Fizz, a student debit card that builds credit:

YouTube Video, 0:52

TikTok Video, 0:15 cut down

Both of these videos feature the same value proposition and overall messaging theme, but they have been customized for each platform to meet the intended audience where they are when they see the ads. We know users are more inclined to watch higher-quality, longer-form videos on YouTube, whereas users are more inclined to engage with lower-fidelity, shorter-form videos on TikTok. In order to show up in the most impactful way, we tweaked one core video vs. creating two entirely new videos. 

Take a peek at some more videos Tuff has created specifically for YouTube and TikTok here!

Making the Decision

When debating on which platform makes more sense for your brand, there are several different factors that should come into play, like your goals, target audience and how you can target them, how much budget you have, and what creative assets are available to you.

Your brand might benefit from YouTube’s ability to lean into in-depth, educational content that is better suited for an older audience – or maybe your brand might benefit from more engaging, trendy content that is geared towards a younger audience – maybe there’s a place for both in your funnel! No matter what you land on, it is important to understand each platform’s nuances so you can design a successful campaign strategy. Still feeling unsure of which to invest in? Set up an A/B test to experiment which is the perfect fit for your brand. 

Looking for some guidance on how to get off the ground? Tuff has a team of experts ready to chat with you and help grow your business. Read more about our YouTube expertise and our TikTok expertise or reach out to us directly here!

Kate Theobald

Hey there! I’m Kate, the Head of Social at Tuff. I specialize in crafting paid social campaigns and testing performance creative to drive business results. Outside of Tuff, I enjoy tackling home renovation projects, skiing, and nerding out over the Enneagram (personality test)!

The post YouTube vs. TikTok Ads: A Decisive Guide for Your Brand appeared first on Tuff.

Have you ever bought something from an Instagram or TikTok ad? Did it feel like that ad was specifically written just for you?

If the answer is “yes,” your purchase was the result of a successful performance ad creative testing strategy. No, they’re not listening to your phone calls. They’ve just tried enough different things that they now understand what language and visuals will stop your scroll and make you want to buy.

In a landscape saturated with information and distractions, a brand’s ability to resonate with its audience is a powerful factor of success. Performance ad creative goes beyond traditional advertising, venturing into the realm of storytelling and emotional connection. It’s not just about showcasing products or services; it’s about crafting narratives that spark curiosity, trigger emotions, and ultimately guide potential customers down the conversion funnel.

Performance creative can benefit early-stage brands, scaleups, and more established brands. How? Well, you have come to the right place to learn more 👇

• If you are an early-stage brand, you can use performance creative to invest in your brand development and validate your value props.
• If you are a scaleup, you can use performance creative to build on those brand learnings and test new ways to be competitive.
• If you are a more established brand, you can use performance creative to maximize your paid media results and drive directional growth for your business.

Understanding the Impact of Performance Creative

Performance creative draws the right kind of attention to your brand. It plays a pivotal role in your growth strategy by accelerating brand awareness, customer engagement, and conversion rates. You may think, “But we already make creative for paid media campaigns. How is this approach different from what I’m already doing?” Here are a few differentiators between performance creative vs. a traditional creative approach within paid media campaigns:

In a nutshell, traditional ad creative is about creating big, beautiful assets to garner brand awareness and emotional connections, often with a broader audience and a focus on communicating a brand’s values and identity. Performance ad creative is laser-focused on achieving measurable results and driving immediate actions from the audience. It harnesses data-driven insights, optimization techniques, and strong CTAs to guide users through the funnel.

Finding the Ideal Timeline for Testing and Iterating

The right time for testing is always. And when you think you have learned all you can? Time to re-test. No one likes a stale strategy. 💁

Identifying the right timeline to test and iterate is dependent upon many variables, like your business goals, ideal customer profile, paid media budget, and channel mix.

What are your business goals and what are you hoping to achieve with your test? 

• Are you a B2B company looking to drive MQLs? Are you a fintech company looking to acquire new accounts? Are you an eCommerce business looking to drive purchases? 
• Are you hoping to validate value propositions? Uncover new ways to be competitive? Drive directional growth? This is where you’ll determine which metrics matter when trying to analyze your data and measure the effectiveness of your test.

Who is your ideal customer profile (ICP)? 

• Nailing down who you want to speak to will help you outline what your paid media channel mix should look like. To get the most out of your test, you want to focus your paid media budget on the channels where your customers are most likely to be active.

What is your paid media budget and channel mix?

• Last but not least, the logistics. Depending upon the variables above, you might want to allocate more of your budget towards PPC or maybe social channels.

Setting the Cadence of Testing and Iterating Strategies

Developing a solid testing structure is essential for achieving meaningful results in your performance creative. Here’s how to establish a clear framework:

• Clear Objectives: Begin by defining your specific objectives for testing. Whether you aim to increase conversions, enhance click-through rates, or optimize ad spend, having well-defined goals is paramount.
• Budget Allocation: Allocate the necessary resources and budget to support your testing efforts. This includes setting aside funds for creative production, ad spend, and any tools or platforms required for analysis.
• Testing Timelines: Determine the frequency at which you’ll conduct tests. Consider running A/B tests on a regular basis, such as monthly or quarterly, to maintain a consistent and data-driven approach to optimization. Your cadence will be determined by your budget, your goals, and the competitive landscape. 

Leveraging customer behavior insights and determining which metrics matter

Reading your data and selecting the right (i.e. most informative) metrics are key to data-driven decision-making in performance creative. Here’s how to do it effectively:

• Segmentation: Once you have customer profiles, segment your audience based on relevant criteria, such as age, location, or purchasing behavior. This segmentation allows for more personalized creative and messaging.
• Key Metrics: Identify the metrics that align with your testing objectives. Depending on your goals, these may include click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, return on ad spend (ROAS), or cost per acquisition (CPA). Choose the metrics that directly measure the success of your testing efforts.
• Data Analysis Tools: Invest in data analysis tools or platforms that help you collect, analyze, and interpret customer behavior data. Platforms like Google Analytics, social media insights, or ad campaign management tools can provide valuable insights for informed decision-making.

By following these steps, you can effectively structure your testing approach and make data-driven decisions based on customer insights and relevant metrics.

Best practices for optimizing campaigns

Utilizing A/B testing and multivariate testing methods

What is the most important part of a test? The results! But how do you get the most accurate results that tell the full story? Isolating variables. Regardless of if we’re looking to validate messaging or drive directional growth, we will look at the same key variables – and these must remain equal to isolate the messaging: 

• Same Budget and Bidding Strategy: To keep your tests consistent, allocate the same budget and employ an identical bidding strategy across the variables you’re assessing. This ensures that the financial aspects do not introduce confounding factors into your analysis.
• Same Key Audiences: Identical audience segmentation is crucial. Ensure that the audience groups you’re testing your creative against are based on the same criteria. This way, you’re comparing apples to apples and not introducing bias due to audience differences.
• Same Length of Time Tested: To prevent time-related discrepancies, run your tests for the same duration. If one test runs longer than another, you risk introducing temporal factors that could skew your results.

Applying testing results to refine campaigns

Once you’ve meticulously conducted your A/B and multivariate tests and obtained accurate results, it’s time to apply these findings to refine your campaigns. This step is where the magic happens as you translate insights into action:

• Optimize Creative Assets: Use the results to refine and enhance your creative assets. Whether it’s tweaking ad copy, adjusting visuals, or experimenting with different CTAs, the data should inform your creative decisions.
• Budget Reallocation: Based on the performance data, consider reallocating your budget to the high-performing variants. This ensures that your financial resources are channeled effectively towards the best-performing elements.
• Iterative Testing: The learning process never truly ends. Continue to iterate, refine, and test new creative variations. The insights gained from previous tests should guide your ongoing campaign optimization efforts.
• Scale Success: If certain elements consistently outperform others, consider scaling those elements across your campaigns. Replicating successful strategies ensures consistent growth and results.

By incorporating these best practices into your campaign optimization process, you’ll not only achieve more robust results but also maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic landscape of performance creative.

Creative Testing in Action

To gain deeper insights into our creative performance, we made a critical adjustment to the way we flighted creative for an e-commerce partner. We isolated our creative testing campaigns and introduced a dedicated traffic campaign focused on driving users to their site. This seemingly minor change had a significant impact.

By isolating our creative testing in this controlled environment, we’ve maintained the strength of broader campaigns while gathering vital intent-based click data. This data empowered us to make more informed creative decisions that resonate better with our audience–in the right place at the right time.

Build on validated value props and test new ways to be competitive

For one of our bookkeeping partners, we had historically run brand campaigns on LinkedIn, but we were looking to level this up to capture quality leads. To do this, we wanted to confidently go into production for Document Ads with valuable ideas for content. 

We put together a multi-step testing strategy to leverage the learnings to date:

• Step 1 – Paid Media: Pull a historical creative analysis that focused on the themes of the top performing ad creative 
• Step 2 – Creative: Outline a creative testing framework and produce the creative assets

Here is how the assets came to life in concept form: Xendoo: July 2023 Social Ad Creative

• Step 3 – Paid Media: Launch the new assets in a campaign that answers the question of which content themes are the most engaging
  • In order to get an understanding of the most engaging content themes, we set up a campaign that optimized for engagement and allowed each creative theme to receive the same amount of spend so that we had an accurate read on which theme was the most engaging.
• Step 4 – Paid Media: Evaluate the results with a new creative analysis
  • Since we were optimizing for engagement, we looked at metrics, like cost per click, click-thru rate and time on site. Since we were able to spend an equal amount on each creative theme, we were able to definitively say that Educational / Informational and Founder / CEO themes were the most engaging – Specifically, “Top Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait to Catch Up on Bookkeeping in 2023” and “Top Accounting Tips for New Founders & CEOs”.
• Step 5 – Creative: Use these findings to determine the top two topics for Document Ad content development 
  • We utilized these learnings to produce two key pieces of content:
    • 2023 End of Year Checklist Tax for CEOs and Founders 
    • Top Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait to Catch Up on Bookkeeping in 2023
  • And built upon this by creating three variations of each – totaling six PDFs to test with the Document Ads campaign type on LinkedIn. 

Our journey continues as we aim to maximize paid media results and drive directional growth. The insights gained from this comprehensive testing approach provide the stepping stones for our future tests, ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation and audience engagement. Stay tuned for the exciting developments ahead!

Conclusion

Phew! There are so many variables that go into thoughtful performance creative, data-driven testing strategies and more importantly how these two come together to maximize paid media campaigns. 

To simplify: Data + Creative = BFFs when it comes to testing, iterating, and scaling performance. Got questions on how we can help your brand leverage testing with performance creative? Hit us up – Our team of creative and paid media experts have the skills and experience needed to supercharge your campaigns.  

Kate Theobald

Hey there! I’m Kate, the Head of Social at Tuff. I specialize in crafting paid social campaigns and testing performance creative to drive business results. Outside of Tuff, I enjoy tackling home renovation projects, skiing, and nerding out over the Enneagram (personality test)!

The post Performance Creative: What is the Ideal Timeline and Cadence of Testing and Iterating? appeared first on Tuff.

Gone are the days when generic, one-size-fits-all advertising and ad creative works for businesses. Today’s consumers demand personalization and relevant messaging that resonates with them. As the amount of data and ad clutter grows, it can be difficult to break through the noise. You have to resonate with your target consumer in a way that makes them feel less like a consumer and more like a…person.

But deploying personalized marketing strategies at scale can seem daunting, if not impossible. Especially when you’re spending thousands of dollars across multiple channels where user behaviors differ drastically.

This is where performance creative comes in. Brands can and should build interconnected creative strategies across multiple paid media channels. The ultimate goal is to prioritize creative resources on the ad archetypes you know work. In this post, we’ll explore what performance creative is, how it works, and why it’s essential for modern marketing.

Know your ad creative audience

Effective performance creative starts with a deep understanding of your target audience. Collecting demographic data on your audience is table stakes–for performance creative to be effective, you have to understand the psychographics that drive purchase decisions.

What are your audience’s pain points? How does your product or service solve them? What motivates your audience to take the action you desire? Why might your audience choose you over a competitor? 

Audience research that’s actionable, not fluffy

Audience research can take many shapes and forms. At Tuff, we thrive with partners who have already validated product-market fit and are looking to scale. This normally means that our partners have already done the work to build out specific audience personas. We bolt on to really understand where those audiences live online, and which messages are most likely to drive the target audience to take action at different points throughout the funnel. Once we have thoroughly understood our partner’s audience and verified the existing data, the next step is to go deeper into their online presence and customer interactions. We believe in gathering insights from multiple sources to build a comprehensive understanding of the target audience.

Here’s how to further refine your audience research process:

• Verify website, social following, and ad channel demographic data. Sometimes, a brand’s target audience as outlined in an audience persona doc isn’t actually who’s visiting their site. Gut-check the data to see if there’s a discrepancy, and if there is, identify why.
• Speak with sales and customer success. To really know your audience, you have to build relationships with the folks on your team who interact with them the most. They have a constant feedback loop, with boots-on-the-ground access to discuss pain points, common challenges, and macro factors that impact purchase decisions.
• Research voice of the customer data. There are several social listening tools you can lean on for this kind of research. Most often, we tackle this at Tuff with scrappy, but effective Google Sheet templates. When we onboard a new partner, we conduct a VoC exercise, where we compile all of the online reviews about a product or service into one spreadsheet. Then, we identify common themes in those reviews and map that back to a larger messaging strategy.

By leveraging data and insights from deep audience research, you can create personalized ads that speak directly to your consumers’ needs and interests. Achieving this high level of personalization requires various strategies, like customized messaging, tailored imagery, and dynamic video content that adapts to user behavior across certain channels.

But the value prop you lean into for each audience persona might look different. How do you identify which messages drive the best results from upper to bottom-funnel campaign types? That’s when a strategic approach to creative testing comes into play. Let’s dive in.

Ad creative testing and optimization 

Personalization is just the beginning. Effective performance creative also involves testing and optimization. By measuring the performance of your ads and adjusting your strategy as needed, you can ensure that your creative resonates with your audience and drives results. 

This level of agility and responsiveness is essential in a rapidly changing advertising landscape, where even small tweaks to creative can have a significant impact on performance.

Take, for example, some of the work the Tuff team has done for Sabio, an online coding bootcamp based in LA. Our acquisition costs on Meta started to increase after making as many in-platform campaign optimizations as we could: testing new campaign events, rotating in fresh audiences, and testing bid cap strategies, just to name a few. 

Our Strategy

We pulled in our performance creative team to analyze historically top-performing ads and generate insights to inform a new round of ad creative for our campaigns, knowing that this was one of the last levers we could pull to improve performance on Meta. 

Note: This data has been altered for the purposes of this blog, but you get this gist.

The catch here? Sabio’s legal team had given feedback that our top-performing creative message for the past 15 months – “$100k Career” – was no longer compliant and we had to move away from that specific marketing claim.

Our team immediately dove into discovery and research to find new value props and ad archetypes that were just as likely to drive student applications. We did this by leaning into real student testimonials and in-platform creative trends.  

Results

By leaning into student testimonials, we were able to still use the top-performing salary value prop within legal requirements. Staying nimble with our creative strategy and capitalizing on trending TikTok sounds led to stronger results, even when the creative was also used on Meta.

Below you’ll see the results from Meta campaigns after we rotated in new creative at the beginning of May—Cost Per Application decreased by 66% and CPC decreased by 56%. That’s huge!

Cross-channel creative strategy

Performance creative offers a significant advantage: creating a cohesive brand experience across multiple channels. This approach capitalizes on variations in user behavior unique to each channel. We’ve found that similar messages drive the most efficient conversions across almost all channels. The design itself, on the other hand, should lean into differences in user behavior by channel. Touchpoints across display, LinkedIn, Meta, YouTube, and potentially even connected TV, come together to build a holistic marketing strategy that resonates with your target audience wherever they are.

Cross-channel performance creative for soona

Take soona for example. We deployed performance creative to support campaigns across several channels–LinkedIn, display, Pinterest, and Meta. We tested messages that accounted for differences in user preferences and behavior across channels. 

That’s why our team built a testing strategy that took one ad archetype and created variable versions that all spoke to the same value prop: the virtual photoshoot company that’s gone viral.

Performance creative is a powerful tool for optimizing ad spend. Use data to focus your advertising efforts on the channels and tactics that are most effective. Maximize ROI and drive higher performance. This level of precision is essential in a world where ad spend is more competitive and more expensive every year.

Interested in learning more about how Tuff can help build creative testing strategies for your business? Hit us up! 

Kristin Dick

Kristin is a senior growth marketer and COO at Tuff. After working in a variety of agency landscapes, Kristin found her way to Tuff to work with teams who make make marketing decisions rooted in data and tied to revenue growth. When she’s not building growth strategies or working with the Tuff team to improve our processes, you’ll find her chasing her two kiddos around the house or playing fetch with her dogs.

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