If you’re looking for a way to make your ads more effective, attract more attention, and thereby get more customers… Then this article is for you.
I clearly remember the first time I wrote an ad. I hated every second of it.
Staring at that blank page, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. The longer I sat, the stupider I felt.
The Secret Reason Why Most Ads Don’t Work
So I went on a quest to find the ‘secret recipe’.
Some said I should use a cute baby or a puppy in the ad. Others say that’s not professional.
Some sources said I should repeat my message over and over. Others said repetition irritates people and makes them NOT buy from you.
With the deadline approaching, I took the shortcut. I looked at our competitors’ ads and did roughly the same. Like copying your classmate’s homework and changing it a bit so it’s not an exact copy.
I showed it to my employer, he said it was OK so we launched the ad.
A few days went by and I heard nothing about the results. When I gathered the courage to ask if there were any results, my employer looked slightly confused by my question.
“uhm… what do you mean ‘results’?”
“The results of the ad we posted. Have we sold anything yet? Have more people called?” I asked.
My employer laughed, leaned back in his chair and said: “No, Tim. That’s not how ads work! This ad was for brand awareness. Top of mind awareness. It’s all about branding, you know that, right?”
I pretended to understand and said: “Sure, I get it!”.
That was a lie. I didn’t understand at all how those things benefit us.
And now, almost 10 years later, I’ll tell you a secret: I lied to my employer. But he also lied to me.
Because he had no idea what he was talking about either.
Fixing Your Marketing
When we spend money on something, we measure the result.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s about equipment, lunch or suppliers - we make sure we get what we pay for, right?
When I started my first business and hired a marketeer, it was the same story. Instead of results, I got word salad.
‘Well, this ad is for brand awareness.
We’re focusing on top of mind awareness in our market.
This campaign is to strengthen our branding and brand positioning.’
This is usually said in a slightly condescending tone, so you feel stupid for asking the question.
Here’s the painful truth:
“Most companies waste at least half of their marketing budget. Some of them much more.”
And that just didn’t sit right with me.
How I Stopped Throwing Money Away… And How You Can Too
I decided to get to the bottom of this and finally uncover the secret formula of good marketing.
The good news? I found a formula.
The bad news? It took years of study, puzzling, testing, and a lot of trial and error before I figured out what worked.
If I were to write out all the elements of the formula, we’d be here for weeks, so let me give you one of the best shortcuts I found.
You may have heard Pearson’s law.
“What is measured, improves.”
Want to dramatically improve your ad results right away?
Make them measurable by adding a response mechanism. A call to action in every ad that asks the reader to do something.
And then you follow that action like a hawk.
Now you can measure, test, and figure out what works and what doesn’t.
One of the first things I do when I start working with a customer is apply this simple rule:
“Every ad we place must be measurable, no exceptions.”
No more vague jargon. No more marketing gobbledygook. Measurable, tangible, solid results.
There are many ways to do this for every single company, including yours. If you want to know how we would do this in your business, get in touch:
