To successfully test a new ad platform, focus on three foundational steps: 1) Integrate your data (pixel, CAPI) first. 2) Allow the platform to target broadly for at least 14 days without preconceived notions. 3) Test the platform's deepest engagement surfaces, like Snapchat's chat ads.

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The least intrusive way to introduce ads into LLMs is during natural pauses, such as the wait time for a "deep research" query. This interstitial model offers a clear value exchange: the user gets a powerful, free computation sponsored by an advertiser, avoiding disruption to the core interactive experience.

During the initial 14-21 day learning phase on an ad platform, marketers must resist the urge to constantly adjust bidding, budget, or targeting. "Fiddling with the knobs" resets the algorithm's learning process, dooming the test before it can gather sufficient data to optimize effectively.

Cookie deprecation blinds ad platforms like Google and Meta to on-site conversion quality. Marketers can gain a significant performance edge by creating a feedback loop, pushing their attributed first-party data (like lifetime value and margins) back into the platforms' AI systems in near real-time.

A large percentage of Snapchat users are not active on other major platforms like Pinterest, TikTok, or even Instagram. This makes it a crucial channel for reaching unique customer segments that marketers might otherwise miss entirely, forcing a rethink on channel diversification.

Before committing to a marketing channel like social media, ask yourself three critical questions. If you can't answer "yes" to whether you enjoy it, if it's delivering results, and if it aligns with your values, it's time to find an alternative. This framework simplifies complex marketing decisions.

Social platforms want to acquire new advertisers. By boosting your best-performing organic posts with micro-budgets (even just $5), you can achieve disproportionately large reach as platforms "make it rip" to encourage future spending. Don't boost underperforming content.

Frame marketing strategy not as managing channels, but as "day-trading attention." Identify platforms where user attention is high but advertising costs are low due to a lack of saturation from major brands. This arbitrage opportunity allows smaller players to achieve outsized results before the market corrects.

Brands miss opportunities by testing product, packaging, and advertising in silos. Connecting these data sources creates a powerful feedback loop. For example, a consumer insight about desirable packaging can be directly incorporated into an ad campaign, but only if the data is unified.

Counterintuitively, dedicating budget to campaigns optimized for engagements, follows, and shares can be a powerful brand-building tool. This approach reaches more people less expensively than conversion campaigns, building an audience and 'searing memories' that lead to future demand, complementing direct response efforts.

The best use of pre-testing creative concepts isn't as a negative filter to eliminate poor ideas early. Instead, it should be framed as a positive process to identify the most promising concepts, which can then be developed further, taking good ideas and making them great.