3 tips to create a good ad
Photo by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash
This was also published as an email to my list. If you want to join (and get a free email copywriting ebook in the process)…
Before we talk about ads, I just wanted to throw this in here:
I hope you’re doing well.
We’re living through some weird times. And I know the isolation and the general uncertainty of everything can get pretty heavy.
As someone who’s dealt with anxiety for most of my adult life, I’ve learned some pretty healthy (in my opinion) coping strategies for when shit gets difficult.
I included a few of them in this post if you want to check it out.
Okay cool. Just wanted to acknowledge the fact that things are not exactly “normal” right now.
And because of that, your clients or your company might be relying on you to help them figure out how to make money during all this.
We’re marketers. That’s what we do.
I was talking to my friend Brett Randell (an incredible copywriter, go check him out) a few weeks ago and he told me something interesting.
Kevin Rogers (founder of Copy Chief and overall awesome person) had been hosting a lot of trainings over the course of that week to help copywriters and business owners thrive during all this.
One of the people he had on for a session was James Schramko.
(If you like the idea working less and making more money — go check out James’ stuff. His book is literally called Work Less, Make More.)
Anyway, I’m playing a game of “Telephone” here, so this won’t be spot-on. But Brett said that James said something like:
“Anyone can sell when the market is good. But not everyone can sell when the market is down. This is a test of your marketing abilities.”
So if you want to flex your marketing skills and help companies survive — or maybe even thrive during this time…
One way to do that is to create great ads.
(Holy shit, I’ve taken 305 words to get to the point of the subject line…sorry about that.)
Anyway, I was hanging out in the kitchen the other night with my roommate Cody.
He was pulling something up on Youtube and got served a Master Class ad about space exploration.
Now, I’ll preface this story by telling you that my roommate is not an astronaut…
And he’s not a rocket scientist.
But he was HYPED about this ad.
And since I’m a marketing nerd, I asked him about it.
We came up with three things that made this ad compelling.
First, Cody said something like…
“It makes something that always seemed impossible to me seem attainable.”
But Cody has no intentions of going back to school to become an astronaut.
So what does “attainable” mean here?
To me, it means that this ad simplified what seemed like such a complex topic before. It put something new within his reach.
Try that with the ads you work on. See if you can create a new reality for your reader/viewer where something they want is actually attainable
Second, the ad establishes credibility early.
The narrator is a guy named Chris Hadfield. He’s a former astronaut, and he has a ballin’ mustache — so you know I have a sweet spot for him.
But the ad establishes credibility in a VERY cool way. Which leads to my third point…
Third, it grabs your attention immediately.
Here are the first words of the ad:
“No astronaut launches for space with their fingers crossed.”
Not only does that pull you in instantly, it also establishes the credibility of the narrator. He either is an astronaut or knows a lot about them. So you pay attention.
So, to sum up, here are those 3 things in bullet form:
Make your reader/viewer’s desires seem attainable
Establish credibility
Grab attention immediately
Marketing isn’t always one-size-fits-all, so you may have to play by different rules. But when you’re talking about a cold traffic ad…
These three things are good to keep in mind.
Robert
P.S. Here’s the ad if you wanna check it out. (According to Cody, when this video is displayed as an ad, it starts at the 3-second mark. Just FYI.)