Stop Being So Damn Clever With Your Ads (28)
This is turning into a pet peeve of mine. It's a common theme on this forum, and is something thats so basic that it blows my mind that people are missing the point.
Here's the deal: When a person is in "the market" for a product or service he or she will notice ads and promotions to do with that market. Your brain notices 10 times more things than your consciousness actually has time to process.
Example: A few years back I was in the market for a new car. As soon as I was in the market for it I started actually paying attention to car ad on TV. I started noticing cars for sale on the side of the road. I started noticing what other people were driving. etc etc. The funny thing is I didn't alter anything about my day it was just that my brain was now on a subconscious level looking for this info.
Another example just yesterday I'm ridding my bicycle down the same street I ride almost every day, and for the first time I notice the pub there has a sign "hold your next event here". I must have driven by that sign 2 dozen times, but I only noticed it yesterday becasue I'm trying to find a place to hold the meetup!
Anyway, sorry for the rant, but stop being so damn clever with your ads. You're trying to attract people who are in the market for your offer. Those people already want what you're offering, it your job to attract them, not confuse them with "clever" ads that take 3 brain summersaults before you get the connection.
So please for the love of god, no more pictures of fat dudes eating burgers in your dating ads. Or pictures of beat up bikes to promote auto insurance. Stop being clever and get to the point.
If you think what I'm saying is something new, google the below book. Should be FREE to download. This is written by the FATHER of direct response and is decades old.
Scientific Advertising by Claude C Hopkins
/rant
I have a feeling I had something to do with this post......
Originally Posted by polarbacon
Best advice I ever got in this industry was when I first started out on social, I asked someone who posts here (who will remain nameless unless he choses to say otherwise) to look my dating ads over. His response? He laughed at me and said "These are terrible and you should feel bad." Was it harsh? Yeah. Did I ever make those basic mistakes again? Fuck no.
It's sometimes better to be a dick and make a point than be a nice guy and get nowhere. That applies to marketing, negotiating and picking up women. #handingoutlifelessons
Originally Posted by z6marketing
Sorry but I dont understand your rant. So your saying what STACKMAN teaches us... using wtf images is a bad thing? If we use broken cars/crashes it will surely attract more clicks than a picture of a car, getting us better ctr, and thus eventually being more profitable than a plain car...
Being clever is what separates us marketers from the general crowd that thinks to slap a picture of a car for car insurance and make money... I dont get your rant..... Maybe your talking about something else? Idk..
^^^^^
Be clever with the angle, but not the ad/creatives.
"They can hate you, but they should never misunderstand you."
So basically, don't confuse or "trick" people to click. You can "persuade" people into thinking they need something, in fact, that's the best kind of marketing. "Give 'em what they want, then tell them what they need."
There can't be too big of a disconnect from your ad >> lander >> offer. You need to deliver what you promised from one to the next.
Originally Posted by theguvna
So for example, the dating ad with the fat guy eating a burger probably direct linked to the offer or something.
Maybe you could still have that ad - but you need to make sure you have an LP that matches it and smooths the transition to the offer page.
Russian - correct me if I'm wrong
Everything said in this thread is spot on, but sometimes being extremely straightforward won't ads won't yield the CTR/low CPC's you want. Which is why i promote angles so often, but the KISS mentality will always yield a > conversion rate!
Originally Posted by vidivo
With social you catch their attention with the image. Example when Stacks ran that NBA zip or whatever it was he found awesome pictures of Lebron bleeding or crying like the baby he is. Now that will catch your eye, but you still know its NBA. He could have used pictures of hot chearleaders that may have gotten an even higher CTR. But when you see tits whether they are in a chearleader uniform or not you think pussy, not NBA... so I gaurantee the conversion rate would be far lower.
So the car crashes are great. Thats speaks to "insurance". Pictures of a tricycle on the other hand are not. You can make an ad with a tricycle that sais something like "Don't End Up Being This Guy" but to the user WTF does that mean?? They'll click out of curiousity but might not be in your market whatsoever and your CR will suck. Sure some people will convert but the CR will be so low that it wont back out for you.
I heart this convo.
Originally Posted by Mr Green
Originally Posted by ubershawn
So for example, the dating ad with the fat guy eating a burger probably direct linked to the offer or something.
Maybe you could still have that ad - but you need to make sure you have an LP that matches it and smooths the transition to the offer page.
Russian - correct me if I'm wrong
Think of it as 2 dials.
1 = Conversion Rate
2 = Click Through Rate
You need to find the perfect balance between the two to profit. You can make a super direct ad with sick coversion rate but no one will click it. You can also make an ad with a ridiculous CTR that attracts all the wrong people. The goal is to find that balance.
My problem is too many people are concentrating on the CTR that they forget that you still need to attract the right clickers. They have the mentality that if you bring them to the page they will sign up/buy/download. I can attract a shit ton of fat people with pictures of burgers but if my offer is selling a vegan wrap none of them will buy right? Then why are you doing that online?
So the goal of fb, is to have an image that draws attention while maintaining relevancy to whatever your trying to sell?
Originally Posted by jroes57
Not sure why I posted that, was just thinking out loud
Haha had to hear this from someone. I was getting way too clever with my ads...I'm learning where to draw the line now.
The last time I got too creative:
Im guessing those are for gaming?
Originally Posted by lifetweak
The last time I got too creative:
"simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" Leonardo da Vinci
Originally Posted by polarbacon
I did the fat dude with burger (yes direct link) due to the fact that I could not get a ctr worth anything. So I was trying a humor approach to see if it would work and the ctr was awesome, but the conversions sucked. I never thought about building a lander to get a more smooth transition.
I am learning!
I say you get props for just giving it a shot. Now you know what doesn't work.
Excellent thread Russian, couldn't agree more.
How smart do you think the average person is? Not that smart? Think about this: 50% of the population is even LESS intelligent than the average person... These are the ones we are aiming for. 
This thread reminds me of some of my crappy FB dating campaigns. I had an image of some loser guy holding a giant fish, and the headline was "Catch the Big One!" or something like that. Targeted women that liked fishing. Didn't really work out.
I went looking for that image so I could post it but don't know where it went. But I did find this gem that I used to target women that were fans of the Chicago Cubs:
Originally Posted by brianb
Hahaha brilliant. Can't believe that would convert though...
Bump 3!
Thats it for this week.
Next week ill find a few more excellent posts from the archives that newer members will benefit from!
K.I.S.S ...Seriously. People on the web have (like IMmers :-) ) a very short attention span. You have a few seconds to entice them. Don't even allow them to think--just allow them to act.
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