Four months of planning. Countless meetings. A summer campaign that would finally unlock growth. Launch day arrives and… the tracking breaks. Or the landing page crashes. Or the video plays in German.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Even I admit: “I’m bad at marketing. Most campaigns fail at some point. It’s just how it goes.”
But what if you could know – with certainty – that your message would work before investing months and thousands into a full campaign? That’s the promise of Minimum Viable Sprints (MVS).
The $100 Truth Machine
The MVS framework strips marketing down to its core: does your message resonate? No fancy production. No complex funnels. Just your words and 48 hours to prove they matter.
Here’s how it works: Run plain text display ads for exactly 48 hours. No images. No graphics. Just your message on a white background. Budget $100. If people click despite the bare-bones presentation, you’ve found something powerful.
Target a click-through rate above 0.7% – the internet average. Higher rates mean your message resonates deeply enough to interrupt someone’s browsing. That’s real validation.
Why Plain Text Matters
“If I put a picture of a donut on an ad, people will click because everybody loves donuts, but do they love what I had to say about my product? I don’t know. All I know is they love donuts.”
Images of puppies get clicks. Pictures of donuts get clicks. But those clicks tell you nothing about your message. Strip away everything but the words. Make them carry the weight.
Your message must be compelling enough to make someone stop scrolling Ariana Grande videos and pay attention. That’s real validation of market fit.
From Skeptic to Success: A Martech Story
A martech company doing $2M annually hit a growth ceiling. They were convinced ads didn’t work for their business. “Don’t tell us you can make ads work. We don’t believe you,” they told us.
So we at Crowdtamers offered to run three MVS tests for free. Just to see. The results shocked everyone:
- Their current website headlines: 0.2% CTR
- New test headlines: 3% CTR
- All four new headlines outperformed their best existing copy
In two weeks, they uncovered why a successful business couldn’t scale: their message simply didn’t resonate. With validated messaging, they unlocked a clear path to 5x growth.
How to Run Your Own MVS
- Write 4-5 headline variations
- Focus on pain points
- Keep language simple
- Make bold, clear claims
- Set up Meta display ads
- Plain text only
- White background
- No images or graphics
- LinkedIn/Google also work
- Run for exactly 48 hours
- Don’t extend poor performers
- Don’t cut winners short
- Gather enough data to validate
- Budget $100 per test
- Enough to prove concept
- Not enough to hurt
- Plan for multiple iterations
- Target CTR above 0.7%
- Below = message failed
- Above = potential winner
- 3%+ = strong performer
Embrace Fast Failure
Most tests fail. That’s good. Each failure costs $100 and teaches you something valuable. Even the best marketers need 5-10 iterations to find winning messages.
When I say I’m bad at marketing, “I mean I still need multiple attempts to find what works. But it only takes a week or two and about a grand to find winners.”
Scale What Works
When you find winning messages, they become your foundation for:
- Website copy
- Email campaigns
- Sales outreach
- Content marketing
- Social media
- Paid advertising
The beauty of MVS? You know it works before investing heavily. No more hoping your marketing will connect. No more gambling months of work on untested assumptions.
Beyond Testing: Building Confidence
MVS isn’t just about finding messages that work. It’s about building confidence in your marketing. When you know your message resonates, you can invest aggressively in scaling it.
Stop launching campaigns and praying. Start testing fast, failing cheap, and scaling winners. That’s the MVS way.
Marketing doesn’t have to be complex to work. Often, the simplest message – proven through data – outperforms elaborate campaigns built on assumptions.
Your next winning campaign might be 48 hours and $100 away. The only question is: what will you test first?
