When you are creating ads to market your product or service, be it a Facebook ad, YouTube ad, Instagram ad, or Google ad-
-there are 3 failsafe steps you can take to create ads that sell every time.
We did it in this campaign,
in this campaign,
in this campaign,
…and many others.
In this post, we’re going to share our 3 step-secret recipe to make ads that sell, so make sure you read to the very end.
If you want a team of Facebook ad experts to handle your Facebook advertising for you, contact our Facebook ads agency today to get a free, custom quote and proposal.
3 Steps On How To Create Ads That Sell
Step #1: Identify a list of things your audience cares about most as it relates to your offerings.
This list will be the guiding light for the other two steps in this video, so make sure you take the time to create a thoughtful, accurate list.
A lot of business owners get off on the wrong foot with their ads because they think it’s important to cover the highlights of their company.
Why they’re the best, the awards they’ve received, what makes your product better than competitors.
But that’s the wrong approach.
People are bombarded with digital noise every day. If you want to catch their attention and stop the scroll, you need to start with something they care about.
Instead of leading with what makes your product better, lead with the benefit the consumer receives as a result of that.
For instance, if you sell dishwashers, instead of leading with how your dishwasher has a special cleaning part that competitors don’t have-
-lead with the fact that users won’t have to scrub the dishes in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher anymore.
They don’t care about technical terminology or jargon, they just want to know how it helps them.
When you think about what motivates your target audience in regards to your offerings…
…you’ll often find yourself with a list of pain points they’re struggling with and want to solve as well as goals they have and want to achieve.
Writing this list out will require extensive research and knowledge of your target audience.
Because once you have your list of ideas, you’ll need to determine which ones are the ones your audience ACTUALLY cares about to create ads that sell.
For example with the dishwasher example again, not having to hand-clean dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is a great pain point to lead with.
But only if your target customer is currently struggling with that.
If they do not currently have to hand-wash dishes beforehand, then that’s not something that would grab their attention.
Maybe they’re dealing with a loud dishwasher and want a dishwasher that’s quieter instead.
This brings us to the last part of this step- you will often have different segments within your target audience.
Maybe it’s the younger homeowners with better hearing that care about a lower decibel in their dishwashers.
And it’s the older homeowners who get tired of standing at the sink too long that place value in a dishwasher that doesn’t require them to hand-wash beforehand.
You need to figure out who cares about what- in great detail.
And we’ll leave you with one more example- this was a real story that happened to me.
I was getting spammed with emails for a product I had zero interest in.
This product was not for me, I did not want it, period. Yet each email offered me a bigger and bigger discount.
And that’s the route a lot of business owners take. They think, “Oh! I’ll just offer a discount on my ads! That’ll make people want to buy.”
Don’t get us wrong, a discount can be a great marketing tactic when used correctly-.
But if you have the wrong target market to start with, offering them something they don’t care about, they’re never going to buy what you’re selling, even if it’s FREE.
Because they don’t, want, it.
Or if you have the right audience but the wrong verbiage, they’re never going to buy what you’re selling because you’re not addressing the right pain point or goal.
That’s what makes the research, and again, thoughtfulness and accuracy in this step in creating ads that sell so crucial.
Step #2: Look at that list and create a scenario that someone relates to.
Whether you’re using video or carousel ads, you need to hold up a mirror to the consumer looking at the ad so that they see themselves in your ad essentially.
Create an ad visually that shows you understand what it’s like to be in the target market’s shoes.
You can do this by showing the pain point they’re struggling with or the goal they’re striving for.
So, continuing with the dishwasher example, you could create two ads.
One that depicts a young mom who’s running the dishwasher while her baby takes a nap, only for the sound of the dishwasher to wake the baby up, frustrating her.
This touches on the decibel pain point.
The second ad could show a more seasoned woman, with her back starting to hurt scrubbing dishes at the sink before putting them in the dishwasher
OR just rapidly trying to do it because she’s got 3 kids to take to soccer practice and this is eating into her time.
Take a look at the list you made in step one-
-and create skits or scenarios that your target audience often finds themselves in to get their attention.
And remember, ads that sell don’t need to be a Hollywood budget ad.
You can film everything you need with a smartphone if necessary or like we said, use carousel ads instead of video ads to depict the scenario.
Check out this tutorial on how to design carousel ads in Canva, and then learn how to create carousel ads on Facebook in this post.
If you decide you do want to create a short Instagram Reels ad, we show you how in this post.
And then lastly, we think you’ll find this post helpful when creating your ad: 4 words that drive sales every time.
Step #3: Put the ad in front of the right audience with the right budget.
We think a lot of business owners think there’s some magic copywriting formula that will get your audience to convert.
And don’t get us wrong there are definitely some do’s and don’ts when it comes to that.
But ultimately, if you’re conveying to your audience that your product or service can help them, that’s all your ad really needs.
So at this point, you just need them to see it. You need to deliver the message.
The key to creating ads that sell is to select the right objective at the campaign level (most likely conversion sales or leads).
The right audience in the ad set level (one that targets YOUR specific audience) and the right budget in the ad set or campaign level.
For ad campaigns, we recommend at least $500-$1K a month at a bare minimum.
When you select your target audience in Facebook Ads Manager, it’ll tell you how big the audience is and how many of them you’re likely to reach with your budget.
Just be CERTAIN you’re targeting the right audience because remember from step 1-
-if you send the right message to the wrong audience or the wrong message to the right audience, it’s going to produce zero results.
We would suggest A/B split testing a few different ad sets (aka audiences) and ads for each audience.
This is so you can determine which segment of your target market is going to convert the most at the lowest cost.
But remember, the more ads you run, the bigger your budget will need to be to fuel those ads.
So figure out what your audience cares about, show them that you understand that with an ad that depicts those pain points or goals…
…and then send that ad to them with smart targeting and a good budget.
If you need help in creating or managing your ad campaigns, work with our top-rated PPC advertising services.
Get in touch with us today to get your custom, free quote.
