Everyone's making ads these days. When you open Instagram or Tik Tok, you'll see brands you know and love, media companies, and even local businesses running ads, whether it's a pizza shop, someone who just set up their newest Shopify store, or a kid who started their local car washing service. They're everywhere, and because there is more "noise," it's essential to make sure you're cutting through.
You've probably seen me mention the concept of "Thumb-stopping content" before, but let's dive into what that is and what you need to do once you've earned that attention (emphasis on earned).
"Thumb-Stopping Content" aka the first 3 seconds:
Within the first 3 seconds of the ad, you need to get someone to stop while they scroll their 300 feet per day on social media (the 300 feet fact comes from a boomer study). How does one do that? It can be flashing text, a product that flies into the screen, posing a question you're curious to know the answer to or something cute that makes your thumb freeze. You need to use bright colors, contrasting backgrounds, crystal clear shots, and motion to earn that consumer’s view.
I learned from Sam Parr at TheHustle that as you write, you need to make sure every sentence entices someone to keep reading the following sentence. Similarly, every second and frame of these ads NEED to earn someone’s trust and attention to keep watching the next second or frame of that video. There's no room for being lazy, especially when the majority of these ads will be 30 seconds max, and you'll lose about 80% of your viewership by 15 seconds, anyways.
Answering the "Why" aka the first 7 seconds:
Now you've got someone's attention on this creative. It's your video, a consumer’s eyes, and now they're waiting for the punch line. Think about your favorite comedian — they'll never leave you without a good punch line. You need to do the same with your ads.
If you're selling JuneShine, you're focused on the fact that JuneShine has 3g of sugar vs. 29g from that cocktail compared to a cocktail. If you're selling Poo~Pourri, you're pushing the fact that you can sleepover at a date's apartment and not stink up the bathroom.
The punchline needs to answer WHY someone should buy this product over a competitive product. If you're having trouble thinking about how you would phrase this: tell 5 of your friends why they should buy it. Record it, understand what you're selling. It's likely different than the "value props" on the packaging.
Focus on the outcomes, not the value props:
Too often, ads focus on benefits and value props, when instead, they need to focus on outcomes or how the product will help someone live a better life at the end of the day.
Above, I mentioned the JuneShine example. Some other easy examples of this:
- When selling Hint water, we'd focus on a line like "Hint got rid of my addiction to diet Coke" instead of saying, "Hint is an all-naturally flavored water."
- Another example is "Hint is the perfect substitute for a dessert in the evening" instead of "Hint is a lightly sweet-flavored water."
Always be selling, but in ways that make sense to who's viewing the ad in the first place.
Here's another easy way to find out how to phrase the outcomes: go to your reviews and make a tally of all the things people talk about. If you're Caraway cookware, you probably see something like:
- Non-toxic cooking
- Teflon-free cookware
- I need less oil when cooking because it's non-stick
- It's so easy to clean; you can just use water
- The colored set sits beautifully on the counter
- I love the storage components it comes with
Those are now outcomes to put into your ad creative.
Imagine this as a production line:
Value Props (what brands think is cool) → The Customer (the judge) → Outcomes (what consumers think are cool)
Focus on the outcomes. Everyone has value props.
Showcase a good problem & solution:
Like any good movie, tv-show, or World Star Hip Hop video, your ad needs to clearly show a problem & a solution (your product).
Set up the problem with your thumb-stopping 3 seconds, use the next 4 seconds to introduce the solution. Once you've established that solution, you can then focus on going deeper into WHY your product IS the right option. But answer the problem quickly, so if someone keeps scrolling, at least they're leaving with the knowledge of the punch-line in their head.
Don't go broad. Focus on the niches:
When thinking about the "solution" or "outcomes" to sell the product in the ad, think of 25 different answers to "Why?" Just because someone is buying Barcode doesn't mean people are buying it for the same reason. For example, people buy Barcode because:
- They are a professional athlete (NBA, NFL, etc.)
- They are going to a Soulcycle or Rumble workout.
- They are dehydrated from drinking the night before and want a healthier replenishment than Gatorade.
- They just want something flavorful to mix into their tequila on a Saturday night.
- They work a labor-intensive job and want to have the right vitamins and ingredients to stay active.
- They realize the packaging looks trendy and chic.
Knowing that, figure out how to make ad creative that maps back to each reason, and keep testing new ones.
"The Riches are in the niches." - Someone smart
Editing goes a long way:
Shooting the content is the easy part. The hard part is editing everything together. You can find incredible editors who churn out some of the best direct-response ads because they understand the psychology of consumers, how they scroll, what makes them click, and how to nail the punchline... but not everyone can afford an experienced editor who might charge $250/hour.
If you want to get super basic, open Tik Tok, learn how to use the editor that precedes uploading a video, and save everything to your camera roll. Tik Tok's editor is second to none and is extremely easy to use once you get the hang of it (I'll admit, I had to watch some YouTube videos to figure it out).
Think you're too good to twiddle your thumbs, or that you're "too old" for Tik Tok? Open up iMovie, or pay for Adobe Premiere/Final Cut Pro, and get to YouTube. I promise you won't spend more than 6-8 hours learning the ropes of these applications, and the knowledge is all compounding. You'll be glad in 3 months you spent 8 hours on a Sunday learning these skills.
Understand your competitors:
While you shouldn't necessarily lose sight of what you're doing because a competitor is doing something different, it's always a good practice to understand what your competitors are doing, what platforms they're on, who their most engaged followers are, etc.
Facebook's Ads Library is an excellent tool for this, but there's a new tool I recently started playing with and can't recommend enough: Charm.io
Charm gives you a ton of insider information, including:
- Estimated revenues
- Growth score (aka how fast is the brand growing)
- Success score (aka how successful it is to date)
- Sophistication score (aka how smart they are with marketing/ads/overall practices/etc.)
- Growth by platform (across TikTok, FB, IG, site traffic, etc.)
- Keywords most associated with them (like a word cloud)
- Recommended influencers likely interested in the business
There's a ton more you can get out of it. Charm has a free plan you can use, but I was able to get a special sign up link for my community (this is not an affiliate link or sponsored): 50 Free Credits at Charm
