Don’t be left scratching your head and frustrated with Meta every time you hear the word “advertising.”
Oftentimes, business owners fail to take into consideration this one simple thing when it comes to running ads.
If you don’t want to be left confused and short on money, this article will teach you the most important step you need to take before creating and running your ad.
Shoot For The Moon
In order to land a probe on the moon it takes an incredible amount of precision.
From meticulously scheduled launch times to the accuracy of the trajectory.
If even one miniscule component is out of place the whole mission fails. So what does this have to do with ads?
We grew up on the notion that if we target everyone we are bound to sell products.
Successful companies like Coca-Cola and Tide really hammered this into our heads.
This is simply not the case. I’m guessing you don’t have millions to spend on advertising like those big brands, but don’t worry, neither do I.
All too often business owners create their ad and then blast it off into the world, not realizing they’re making a huge mistake.
If you target everyone, you get no one. You need to learn how to be methodical and precise with your target audience–like a rocket to the moon.
Good news, I’ll teach you how!
Find The Bias
If you want a successful ad, your number one objective before creating it is to get to know your target audience.
Where do they live? Do they have kids? Are they young or old? Male or female? Do they have pets? Who do they vote for? What sort of hobbies do they have?
Not only that, we need to learn how these people speak. A great place to learn this is to read through reviews of similar products and services.
Once you know what language they use and how they communicate you can incorporate these newly learned tidbits of information into your ad.
Doing some background research before creating and running your ad will generate a much higher payoff than an ad targeted at everyone. Where you find the bias you will find the sales.
What if I told you there is a perfect example of knowing your audience that involves haircuts?
Haircuts, And What They Have To Do With Ads
The story goes that there was a famous motivational speaker in the 1960s. It was a time when there was no internet, so there was very little ability to target ads.
During his seminars, he began to notice that most men in the audience had crew cuts. In fact, it was the overwhelming majority of attendees.
So what he started to do was every time he arrived in a new city to give a speech, he would visit all the barber shops and pay the owners for a list of their clients that had crew cuts.
He would then mail out (actual mail, consisting of a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp) a promotional flier for his next event to the list of clients with crew cuts he obtained from the barbershop.
Lo and behold, he was able to massively boost attendance at his seminars.
Turns out that if you talk to the right people, you will get a response rate that is much higher than if you talk to everyone.
Burning Ants With A Magnifying Glass
Sunlight on its own–like an ad directed at everyone–doesn’t have much of an effect. However, when we take that sunlight and focus it through the use of a magnifying lens, suddenly we have the ability to light things on fire.
(If you were anything like me as a kid, you probably used your newfound abilities to burn ants to a crisp.)
The same thing goes for our ads. No, we won’t be burning people alive, but instead, we will greatly enhance our persuasive power to drive home the sale.
“Ah, this is for me.” “They understand me.” “This is my situation!”
These are the ideal utterings of a happy client as the result of a focused ad. The more clear and targeted we make our ad, the better the results.
Do your research before creating your ad, and I guarantee you won’t be left wondering where it all went wrong.
Just remember: There is no product, none, that appeals to everyone of every age and every sex.
We specialize in preliminary market research so that your ads perform to the best of their ability. If you’d like to see what we could do for you, reach out for a free marketing analysis.
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