Most local ads have a useful life of three to six weeks before the same audience has seen them enough times to stop noticing. In a tight service area it is faster, because the pool of people is smaller and the ad gets shown to them more often.
The signal to watch is not the calendar, it is frequency and response. When the same people are seeing your ad four or five times and the response rate is falling, the creative is tired. When a fresh version goes in, response usually recovers within a few days.
What should not change is the offer and the targeting. Changing the audience, the offer, and the creative at the same time makes the results unreadable, because you have no idea which change caused the difference.
The exception is a campaign that never worked at all. If an offer has had a fair run and produced nothing, the problem is usually the offer rather than the creative. The page on what makes a good ad for a contractor covers what to fix first.
Related reading: Marketing for Roofing Contractors, Marketing for Landscaping Companies and Marketing for Pool Builders.
When to refresh an ad
- Response rate falling while impressions stay steady
- Frequency climbing past four or five views per person
- A seasonal shift that changes what homeowners care about
- A new offer or a new service worth testing
- Three to six weeks of running the same creative