Something Is Better Than Nothing

First things first, something is ALWAYS better than nothing. If no one sees what you sell, no one is going to buy. It won't matter if the ad is good or not. The first ad is always the hardest to do, but after that its a lot easier.Luckily, if you implement the lessons learned here, it will be very hard for you to make a bad advertisement.Lesson 1
Something Is Better Than Nothing

Nobody Cares About You!

Next, nobody cares about you. All the time people think they should advertise about themselves. I do this, I do that, using MY service, etc. GARBAGE! People are trying to solve THEIR problems. It doesn't matter who solves it, as long as it is done well. As an advertiser, your job is to find a customers problem and present your product as the easiest, fastest, and most effective solution to that problem. None of that requires you to go on and on about yourself.Lets say I sell water. Why do people buy water? What is their "pain" that causes this purchase? Why would you buy water? Its because you are thirsty. So if I was to advertise water, I would ask "Are you thirsty?" I wouldn't talk about how our water is from mountains and flows from the coldest streams in Ireland. I don't know about you, but I don't care what mountain my water came from. Just like everyone else who buys water, you are looking to quench your thirst.For Example:To the left is an example of an ad that has no focus on connecting their solution to the customers problems. They talk all about themselves and not about how their water quenches your thirst. A better version of this ad is on the right. Notice the differences. Understand why this would be a more effective ad and how you would go about implementing it into your own ads. Notice how the second ad is completely focused on the customers needs. Its a huge difference.

Lesson 2
Nobody Cares About You!

A Confused Customer Does NOTHING

A confused customer does the worst thing possible which is nothing. Always, no matter what, be super clear in any part of the ad. Otherwise they will scroll to the next thing thats asking for their attention. Modern attention is one of the most competitive competitions currently in the world. You are competing against a lot for the consumers attention, things like other social medias, real life, online games, other ads, and anything else that might be in the field of view of the consumer. Which means you have seconds to keep the attention of your reader. If you are boring or confusing, your content will be skipped. Think about all the different things asking for your attention right now. Thats your competition.For example:
Below there are two identical ads. The only difference is the CTA (Call To Action). Read each ad and their different CTAs and see which you think is better.After reading both, you should have noticed the CTA on the right was a lot more clear. When asking a reader to take action, only ask them to do one thing. Even though you might be able to take calls, emails, forms only ask for one. If you give the customer too many options they might not take any action.In this example I only show you the benefits of being clear in the CTA, but you have to remember this apples to the rest of the ad as well.

Lesson 3:
A Confused Customer Does NOTHING

Test Everything

The biggest difference between average marketers and the very best is simple: they test everything. You would be surprised how the smallest things can make the biggest impact on your ad. Before you get into the little details, it is important to test major components first. I like to go from top to bottom.Before you start testing the copy in the ads though, you have to test different audiences. This is an often overlooked step in the testing process. If you're not marketing to the right people, no one will buy. The best way to start testing the audience is to get to know them. Go to reviews, LinkedIn pages, Facebook pages, reddit, and anywhere your average customer would hang out. Learn what they are interested in, hobbies, and most importantly how they talk.Once you know what they are interested in, then you can start building your audiences. Make 3-5 identical audiences and make each of them a little different from the other. Run them each with the same headline, body copy, CTA, and creative until each ad reaches around 500 people. This should be your test size for every test you run. Check which audience did the best and stick to that one.Now move onto the headline. Make 3-5 exact same ads, but change the headline in each. Run them until they reach 500 people and stick to your winning headline. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the ad: body copy, CTA, and creative.Lesson 4
Test Everything