Realistically, creating an ad can be easy with minimal knowledge, but what makes a great marketer different from a good marketer is the strategies they use when creating posts or advertisements.
After reading “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, I realized a strategy that has since shaped the way I create my ads. There are many articles on this topic, but none that are simple, to the point, and use human psychology paired with marketing.
So let’s jump in.
Humans, in general, tend to carry a bias in any situation they walk into subconsciously.
In one study, when students are asked, “Are you a happy person or not?” then asked, “How many dates have you been on this week?” it appeared that there was no correlation between the two, but when asked, “How many dates have you been on this week?” Then asked, “Are you a happy person or not?” the students answered in a completely different fashion.
The point is the way you frame your question is how you will receive the response, and with this knowledge, we can use it in our future marketing strategies.
Let’s pretend for a moment that you are a barbershop company.
We know that:
You most likely have a storefront.
You are in the beauty industry.
Number 1 is significant because now that we know we have a location, we can end it with the correct Call-To-Action, otherwise known as a CTA. Here is a quick breakdown of what your CTA should look like compared to what you’re aiming for.
If you want your client/customer to Call
Call Now
Learn More now
Call to get a free quote
If you want your client/customer to Sign up
Sign up now
Get Started Today
If you want your client/customer to Visit Your Location
Visit us today
Stop by today
We’re open! Stop on by today!
If you want your client/customer Buy Your Product
Buy Now!
Check out our unbeatable prices!
Now that we know what we want our customers to do, let’s answer every marketer’s first question.
GET
WHO
TO
BUY
So for this barbershop, the answer would look like this
GET (Men With Hair)
WHO ( Like to groom and look excellent)
TO (Go to your barbershop)
BUY ( A haircut or beard trim)
PERFECT!
Now with this concept down, we can begin constructing this beautiful CTA.
First, we want men to agree to the ad we're creating subconsciously. Here are some concrete examples for the barbershop scenario.
“Are you tired of not looking your best?”
“Want to feel and look better?”
“Are you tired of your haircut not being the best?”
“Do you think your hair could look better?”
“When you look in the mirror, are you happy with your style?”
So, now that we have the beginning part down let’s move onto the setup part.
For this example, I’m going to take my first example of “Are you tired of not looking your best?”
As a marketer, I want to use this tag line to bait the customer and make them think about their beauty and what could be wrong with it. Now that they are feeling exactly the way I want them to, I can lean in with a hook.
Here are some examples of good hooks;
BAIT: “Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
—
BAIT: “Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: We can help you with your next date!
—
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our barbers are the best at making you look your best!
I would use the first one “Our prices are great, and so are our haircuts!”
I like this one because it expresses a pain point to most buying customers, price.
You want to solve the pain point for the customer.
So far, we have:
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
Now let’s construct a CTA (Call To Action) that gets the job done.
Since this is a barbershop, we should tell them to come to the location.
One popular way for marketers is to tag the location in every post, and then the client/customer can navigate to your store from there.
If you’re creating an ad make sure to place a location extension.
A messier look is to put the actual address at the end of the advertisement or post. I would advise against this; if the ad has to much text, it’s more likely to be skipped or quickly glazed over.
NOW THE CTA (Call To Action)
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
CTA: Stop by and see what all the hype is about!
—
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
CTA: Serving Los Angeles City! Stop by today!
—
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
CTA: 15 minutes from wherever you are! (YOU NEED TO MAKE AN AD AND TARGET A ZIP CODE TO USE THIS KIND OF CTA)
—
BAIT: Are you tired of not looking your best?
HOOK: Our prices are great and so are our haircuts!
CTA: Come in today and get the cut you’ve been waiting for!
—
All great ads have one thing in common, you are using a call to action to tell the customer the next step!
That is key because one thing I’ve learned in my five years of sales. If you don’t ask for the sale, you most likely won’t get the sale.
So always ask or, in this case, tell them what to do next.
(SELLING ADVICE)
Don’t be one of those employees who have an excellent sales pitch, and when the customer says, “Wow, this all sounds great.”
The employee has nothing to say but “yeah it sure is” or “Yeah its great and it also does this and this this this…” and continue to spew out facts until the customer finally says “Can I buy it?”
Please don’t leave the ball in their court
Instead, when the customer says, “Wow, this all sounds great.”
You now have two options a hard close or a soft close.
—
EXAMPLES OF HARD CLOSE:
Would you like to purchase it?
Want to buy it?
Ready to pull the trigger?
Today is the last day for the sale, so now is the time.
—
EXAMPLES OF SOFT CLOSE:
Want me to check the back if we have it for you?
Would you like to see the color options you have?
This item is selling fast which means its a great product so let me know.