Want to see the ad I wrote for a startup… That literally performed 10 TIMES BETTER than their existing ads… (They had 100s of ads that top agencies wrote for them over a time-span of 8 years). Mine beat their BEST one by 10x. First try. >>> A Thread ? <<<

Let me share as much as I can with you. I’ll show you the exact structure of the ad. I’ll also explain EVERYTHING. But unfortunately… I will not tell you the startup’s name or show you the exact word-for-word ad. They prefer if I don’t. And I respect my clients. Let’s go.

Yesterday I gave you a copythinking exercise. Whether you did it or not… Look at the image below. We got a lot of responses to this exercise. Some were generic. Others were very smart. So here comes my answer to my own question:

The one thing you need to show small business owners… Is that big brands are doing what they want to do. That’s all. Jealously. Remember that word. Jealousy. That’s the key to convince difficult-to-convince prospects. So lemme show you how I engineered this:

Here’s the EXACT ad structure I used: • Hook • Jealousy • Problem dig-in • Perceived value • Solution • Easy-quick-safe • Objection handling • Money on discount • Social proof • CTA • Future pacing. Lemme break down the elements and show you EXACTLY why I did this:

Hook: The startup had dozens of DIRECT competitors. They didn’t even know about them ?… But anyway… I knew the sophistication level of the market is super high. So I didn’t go with your classic direct hook. That wouldn’t work. I went for empathy instead.

I showed them a slice-of-life moment in their life (have a diff thread about this). Then… Jealousy. I told them ALL the big brands in the industry are using a similar solution we are offering. BUT… They can afford it. They’re big brands. But you?

You are a small business. You can’t afford it. (See the jealousy play out?) Then… I got their attention. Their emotional attention. Their heart was burning with jealousy. They were hooked. So now I needed to start setting up the sale. Here’s how:

Problem dig-in: Nothing exciting here. Just explain to them THEIR problem in a detailed way. Built up our (the startup’s) credibility and made them feel a little pain. (A little pain = because this ad ran on FB. A lot of pain gets your ad account closed). Then…

Perceived value: I explained in-detail what our SaaS would do for them… If they did it MANUALLY. Offline. Without the SaaS. Showed how valuable it could be. Painted a vivid picture. The goal was to speak desire AND prepare them for the price. Then…

Solution: Presented our solution. No name. No company name. Just a “how cool would it be if there was a tool that could do X?” Why didn’t I present the startup yet? Because I didn’t want the prospects to feel like they’re being sold to. Yet. Then…

Easy-quick-safe. Remember. We’re selling to busy and non-techy business owners. They have a lot on their plate. If it’s not easy and quick? They’re outta the door. Same with safe. It has to be safe to THEIR specific needs. Then…

Objection handling: When you say how easy and quick it is… Objections pop up into their head. Believe it or not… The objections pop up in a SPECIFIC order. I handled them in this section. One-by-one. The sale won’t happen if they have objections. Right? Then…

Money on discount: This is where I told them our price (without telling them it’s OUR price). So it went like this: “Would you pay X if you could make 7X in Y amount of time using this tool?” A basic money on discount element. Then…

Social proof: We’re getting closer to the sale now. The sentences become shorter. And shorter. Quickly. They feel the pressure. So we I had to relieve some of their worries about US now. Told a story about a small business who uses our tool. Then…

CTA: This is where we sell. But… Believe it or not… Clicking a button could be scary. And I don’t believe in making the person click - and having the page sell. The ad sells in my book of copywriting. So I told them to click. But just before they do…

Future pacing: This is where I told the readers two things: 1. What’s gonna happen after they click (on the landing page). 2. What their life will look like when they start using our tool. Why do I do both? Here’s why:

1. What’s gonna happen after they click: I strongly believe that people online are lost. You need to guide them. Step-by-step. Remove their fear. Give them as much certainty as you can. So this is what this part is for. Then…

2. What their life will look like using our tool: The ad is long. And touches a lot of points and elements. So I wanna the readers WHY they want this tool. And I know for a fact (after looking at the startup’s analytics) that people leave the landing page A LOT. So…

I needed to make sure they have a SUPER clear image in their head. The image of their dream life. Using our tool. Now… A couple of last details I wanna share with you. Just for fun:

The ad was a static image ad. They didn’t wanna invest in video. The ad was 593-words long. And they argued with me for 3 weeks that their target audience won’t read that much because they’re busy. 593 words. Their longest ad before that was 8 words. So you see…

Your client’s assumptions are usually wrong. Listen to them. They know their audience. Usually. But don’t go against your instincts as a marketer. Or copywriter. You’re usually right. Okay? This is the end of the thread. Hope you enjoyed :)

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