Inside the Mind of a Freelance Copywriter

If your advertising ain’t broke, test it!

Reading David Garfinkel’s post Plagarism? Or Creative Adaptation? Or Neither? reminded me of the adage that there are no new ideas – just adaptations of old ones. Not that I can say I entirely agree with that. Want an example? Einstein.

David says:

In direct marketing copywriting, we always strive to build our message on structures, concepts and actual words that have worked before.  It’s no crime.

Hey, in this business, swiping is admired.

In other words, there is no point in reinventing the wheel. In a highly competitive environment such as direct marketing, where performance is meticulously tracked for maximum results, small tweaks and changes to past efforts are much less risky than all-out innovation.

Of course, different established methods, as well as choice of media and other variables, should be evaluated against each other whenever time and budget allow. This holds true for all kinds of advertising and not just for direct mail. After all, anything, from a different audience, a different culture, or even something apparently trivial such as a different time of the year, can throw a tried-and-tested marketing campaign completely off track.

In a nutshell, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but test, test and test again to make sure everything still runs at least as well as you expect it to.

June 21st, 2006 TrackBack URI