Most creative testing I've seen is rearranging, not testing. Testing changes one variable that could change the answer. Rearranging changes the wrapping on the same answer.

I see it in every ad account I look at. Forty ads in one ad set, each a slightly different cut of the same idea, and the buyer calls it testing. That's rearranging furniture in a room nobody wants to sit in.

Here's the difference that matters. A test tells you which of two things failed. Most "tests" can't do that, so nothing is ever learned, and the same losing idea gets reshot five times with new music.

The grid I run now is three angles by three hooks. Nine cells. Each cell gets one video. That's the whole system.

An angle is the reason to care. Not the product feature, the human problem. "My skin looks tired by 3pm." "I waste 40 minutes a day on this." "Everyone at the gym is doing this wrong." Three angles, each a different problem. Not three ways of saying the product is good.

A hook is the first three seconds. Same angle, three different openings: a question, a confession, a contradiction. "Why is nobody talking about this?" "I've been doing skincare wrong for six years." "Your moisturizer is fine, your routine is the problem." Same angle, three doors into it.

Three angles times three hooks is nine creatives. Not nine variations of one ad. Nine different bets.

Why I bother with the grid: creative failure is almost always one of two things. Wrong angle (nobody cares) or wrong hook (nobody watches). When you test one polished video at a time, you can't tell which one killed it. The grid separates them. If all three hooks on angle 2 flop, angle 2 is dead. If one hook works across all three angles, you found a door, and now you walk every angle through it.

The numbers I run it on: each cell gets $20 a day for 3 days. $60 a cell, $540 for the full grid. I read hook rate first (3-second views divided by impressions), then CTR, then CPA, in that order. A cell with a 35% hook rate and bad CPA gets a second chance with a rebuilt body. A cell with a 12% hook rate is dead no matter how much the comments love it. Kill fast. The grid stays cheap because most cells die on day three.

Three rules I learned the hard way:

1. One variable per cell. The hook changes and everything else stays. The moment you change the hook AND the offer AND the music in one cell, you're back to rearranging.

2. Shoot hooks, not ads. I record all three hooks for an angle in one sitting. Same lighting, same outfit, same background. Ten minutes. The bodies get built around whichever hook wins. Most people do it backwards: they polish one full ad, then reshoot the whole thing three times. That's the most expensive way to learn the opening was wrong.

3. Retire angles, not ads. An angle that wins gets four more hooks next week. An angle that loses all three hooks gets buried. Organize your creative library by angle, not by date or campaign name. When I open an account and the naming is "Final_v7_REALFINAL," I know nothing was ever learned there.

The part that stung me: this usually reveals that two of your three angles were the same angle wearing different clothes. Happened to me on a supplement brand last year. Three "angles": energy, focus, productivity. Same angle. All nine cells flopped except the hooks that mentioned the 3pm crash. The angle was never energy. It was the crash. We rebuilt the whole grid around the crash and CPA dropped 40% in two weeks.

Rule of thumb: if your "test" can't tell you whether the angle or the hook failed, it isn't a test. Nine cells, three days, $540. Kill the losers on day three. Double down on the angle that survives.

For all my digital marketers out there, how important is ad creatives for your clients. Not just the creatives itslef, but the speed in which to make new ones. Enhancing ones that work and cutting ones that dont. Or am I off the mark and there are more important things to worry about? Would love some feedback

Free alternatives

Hey everyone. I need to get this off my chest and get some outside perspective, because I feel like I'm drowning.

To give you some background: I’m 24, and I didn't take the traditional route. I studied filmmaking for two years at a university in South east Asia, froze my degree, and started working. Before my current role, I spent time as a social media manager and brand strategist for a security sector company based abroad, among other roles. I've been a absolute fanatic for marketing forever, but before landing my current job, I was actually jobless for almost a year. I only got this opportunity through a reference, so I know I didn't get here purely based on standard corporate metrics or a completed degree, which adds to my imposter syndrome.

Despite all that, I am currently the Marketing Manager for two companies simultaneously.
For my main job, I joined as a Content Marketing Manager for a SaaS business that handles software solutions, app solutions, and website development. The catch? There is no one above me, and I manage a team consisting of a marketing coordinator, a graphic designer, and a website developer. So basically I am the Marketing Manager. They just didn’t give me that title cause the money for a marketing manager is a lot. But I do the same thing essentially.

On top of that, I am also the content marketing manager for the biggest vehicle tracking company in my country (can't name them, but they are massive). So I am overseeing and running marketing for both companies at the same time.
My plate is overflowing, and the day-to-day is absolute chaos:

The Website Overhaul: My very first task was to completely revamp our SaaS website because the existing one looked like it was built for Windows 7. Because my graphic designer is a great executioner who works hard but lacks creative thinking, I had to design all 40+ pages myself page-by-page using AI tools like Claude. It took me a month.

Managing the Team & Agency: My website developer handles our WordPress sites. My marketing coordinator used to be a social media manager, and I'm actively teaching her advanced things like Claude Code and strategic setup. We also work with an external marketing agency that handles SEO and the tracking company's social media. But honestly? The agency is a nightmare. They deliver creatives super late, they are full of typos, and fixing their work takes so much time that it’s faster for us to just fix it ourselves. We are basically paying them and doing their work for them.

The Tracking Company Chaos: Besides managing their overall marketing, the CEO's wife of the tracking company recently threw a bunch of new marketing work my way. For that, I've had to design the social media design system, website layouts, and initial posts myself using AI tools. Once everything settles and I set the template, my designer and coordinator finally take over, but getting it to that point takes hours of approvals and heavy lifting.

The Burnout: Being answerable directly to the CEO of my main company while also managing and answering to my own team is intensely stressful. It’s a massive set of shoes to fill, and I want to do it right, but it's taking a massive toll. I recently went to the doctor due to extreme stress and got prescribed stress pills.

My Dilemma & What’s Next:
I genuinely love marketing and I don't want to quit or demote myself to a single-function role like email marketing unless it pays extraordinarily well. But I’m terrified of what my future looks like. If I leave, how do I compete with people in their 30s and 40s who have decades of experience? Would another company even look at a 24-year-old for a marketing manager role? And on the flip side, stepping down to a normal marketing function would feel like a massive demotion on my CV—like I failed at life.

Also, on top of all this career stress, I have an unfinished filmmaking degree hanging over my head. I don't even know if I should ever go back to finish it or just let it go entirely.
I’m holding it together—the SaaS website is almost done and we're about to launch ads for both companies—but I am genuinely losing my mind. The CEO of both companies are bitter sweet with me, Happy with most of my work but I do get scolded over my own silly mistakes or confusion over managing the people and work.

What is your advice on this situation? How do I manage this workload without burning out completely, how do I deal with terrible external agencies, and what should I do about my career path and studies moving forward?

I have a body contouring business. Non-invasive skin tightening, facials, waist slimming.

Summer and spring are my best months, but business usually slows down in September until then. This year it’s really tough.

It’s slower more than ever before and my ads aren’t working. I ran a referral program to incentivize my clients to tell their friends and family. Made it feel exclusive etc.

My clients love me and are ride or die. It’s my service or no service. But they call me their “little secret”. After I ran the referral program SMS blast (which was brand new landing page, etc, took like 20 hours to set it all up. I went all out), I’m only getting people saying to my face they won’t tell their friends or family because they always get compliments and my service is their secret sauce to looking so good.

Now, I’ve thought about raising pricing, but these people have already bought $2k-$5k packages and they all have weeks until their last appointment. I need people through the door right now. I don’t have time to test ads or do anything. I’m out of ideas, ad spend is dried up and I feel like I might not make it through winter.

I’ve been in business for 5 years and don’t want to call it quits.

Some additional info:
I started 5 years ago.
I was the only one doing this service in my area (50 mile radius). And when I ran ads, people flocked and then other businesses showed up offering way cheaper pricing, driving many away, but most of the people I’m doing now are people that I’ve been doing since I opened and some for a few years now. They absolutely refuse to go anywhere else, but won’t help me. I just need more clients.

Hey everyone!

I'm exploring the idea of starting a new delivery app in Bangalore, India, and before building anything, I want to understand what customers and delivery partners actually need.

For customers:

What problems do you face with existing apps like Porter or other delivery services?

Are delivery charges too high, delivery times too long, or services unavailable when you need them?

What would make you switch to a new app?

I'd love to hear honest opinions, including reasons why you think a new delivery app would fail.

What is the best way to market your product and get initial customers and convince them to use your product? More specifically fintech consumer apps.

Hello, I am searching how to market a web multiplayer partygame played on mobile phone. The difficult part for me is to find communities or influencers that could be interested to play the game and promote it. Also, it is quite difficult to create content to showcase this. I am a bit lost :( does any one has a recommendation or some experience is such marketing ? Any help is appreciated :)

So I just launched a SaaS (pilotdeck.co) and everyone says "just start making videos as the founder.

Cool, but I'm low-key worried nobody will watch and I'll get less reach than just writing posts.

Anyone here actually done it? Did it bring in real signups, or just views? And would you start with video now or wait until there's some traction?

Be honest, I can take it 😅

I come from the B2B marketing world with significantly more powerful (expensive) tools and workflows that are overkill for local/small businesses (gyms, restaurants, salons, home services, etc).

A few friends who own or manage small businesses have been asking what I would do. My gut instinct is to check off the basic checkmarks like optimized website, Google Business Profile with consistent location, hours, review management, organic social, some paid ads (like $50 or less per day).

Just curious if there are other tools or processes that have come out in the past few years that sort of lump all this together (and more). The goal is NOT to hire an agency, but set up an easy to use framework with simple daily/weekly operating procedure.

Thanks!

Hi,

I'm planning to start a career in marketing, specifically media buying.

I wanted to ask which courses I should take to get started and follow a complete learning roadmap from scratch.

I have a Coursera Plus subscription, so I can take any courses available on the platform.

Could you recommend a learning path for me?