I landed a startup client…
Promised to 5-10x their business…
And failed.
I did the NUMBER ONE mistake most copywriters make.
But I’m still gonna deliver the promised result.
Here’s the mistake + how I’ll fix it:
>>> A Thread 🧵 <<<
Promised to 5-10x their business…
And failed.
I did the NUMBER ONE mistake most copywriters make.
But I’m still gonna deliver the promised result.
Here’s the mistake + how I’ll fix it:
>>> A Thread 🧵 <<<
It all started a bit over a week ago.
A startup asked for my services…
I took a quick look at their FB ads… and almost threw up.
“I’ll 5X your business. Pay me a small retainer + pay per result”
They agreed.
Closed the deal.
Then…
A startup asked for my services…
I took a quick look at their FB ads… and almost threw up.
“I’ll 5X your business. Pay me a small retainer + pay per result”
They agreed.
Closed the deal.
Then…
I wrote a new ad.
Didn’t touch the page yet.
This was supposed to be the holy grail.
And it did beat both their ads and another agency’s ads by 3x.
It did.
And they were happy.
But I was disappointed.
It was supposed to blow their business up 10x.
And it didn’t.
Here’s why:
Didn’t touch the page yet.
This was supposed to be the holy grail.
And it did beat both their ads and another agency’s ads by 3x.
It did.
And they were happy.
But I was disappointed.
It was supposed to blow their business up 10x.
And it didn’t.
Here’s why:
I made a mistake.
An arrogant mistake for me.
And a lack of experience mistake for most newish copywriters:
I trusted them for market research.
“We have no competitors”
“Our offer is good”
“We’ve nailed the FB targeting”.
Yeah.
That’s what they said.
But…
An arrogant mistake for me.
And a lack of experience mistake for most newish copywriters:
I trusted them for market research.
“We have no competitors”
“Our offer is good”
“We’ve nailed the FB targeting”.
Yeah.
That’s what they said.
But…
It’s not their fault.
I’m the professional. They’re paying me.
I should’ve done my own research.
And even before doing the research? I knew one thing just by how my ad performed:
The sophistication level of the audience was off.
How?
I’m the professional. They’re paying me.
I should’ve done my own research.
And even before doing the research? I knew one thing just by how my ad performed:
The sophistication level of the audience was off.
How?
Very few people started reading my ad.
And the hook was on point. For the research THEY have done.
And…
Those who started reading - converted at an INCREDIBLE rate.
Conclusion?
An over-saturated market.
There has to be competition.
I started digging:
And the hook was on point. For the research THEY have done.
And…
Those who started reading - converted at an INCREDIBLE rate.
Conclusion?
An over-saturated market.
There has to be competition.
I started digging:
Within 10 minutes? I found this:
30+ startups doing THE SAME THING.
5 of them running ads on FB.
Targeting the same audience.
With the same creative and offer.
Bleh 🤮
So why do I say the sophistication level was off?
Simple. They were all targeting level 3:
30+ startups doing THE SAME THING.
5 of them running ads on FB.
Targeting the same audience.
With the same creative and offer.
Bleh 🤮
So why do I say the sophistication level was off?
Simple. They were all targeting level 3:
Both the startup I’m working with and the competitors.
Targeting a problem AND solution aware audience.
Easy to understand now. Isn’t it?
Few start reading.
Those who do - convert immediately. Meaning the copy was on point.
I hope that makes sense.
Now. How do I fix this?
Targeting a problem AND solution aware audience.
Easy to understand now. Isn’t it?
Few start reading.
Those who do - convert immediately. Meaning the copy was on point.
I hope that makes sense.
Now. How do I fix this?
I came up with three possible solutions:
1. Niching down
2. Targeting an unaware audience
3. Zooming in on one feature
Told this to the CEO and the VP.
They both agreed.
And here’s how I explained it to them.
Step-by-step so you understand it too:
1. Niching down
2. Targeting an unaware audience
3. Zooming in on one feature
Told this to the CEO and the VP.
They both agreed.
And here’s how I explained it to them.
Step-by-step so you understand it too:
1. Niching down.
Simply by showing the SAME kind of creative and offer to an audience that feels it’s personalized for them…
Could create magic.
There is only one problem: we’re advertising on FB.
Meaning?
It’ll be difficult to niche down AND still find the audience. So…
Simply by showing the SAME kind of creative and offer to an audience that feels it’s personalized for them…
Could create magic.
There is only one problem: we’re advertising on FB.
Meaning?
It’ll be difficult to niche down AND still find the audience. So…
I suggested we do #2:
2. Targeting an unaware audience.
Look. Sophistication level 3 means they’ve all seen the exact same ads for god knows how long…
They’re blind to it.
Just skip it.
Hence why my “started reading rate” was so low.
So what if we go down a level or two?
2. Targeting an unaware audience.
Look. Sophistication level 3 means they’ve all seen the exact same ads for god knows how long…
They’re blind to it.
Just skip it.
Hence why my “started reading rate” was so low.
So what if we go down a level or two?
What if instead of showing them the product or service…
We showed them a PDF or free video series of “how to”…
And from there - after educating them - showed our offer?
That could work. Both because we’re targeting an unaware audience…
But also…
We showed them a PDF or free video series of “how to”…
And from there - after educating them - showed our offer?
That could work. Both because we’re targeting an unaware audience…
But also…
Even if the aware audience saw the ad - they would still react better than to the same offer everyone’s showing them.
Now the challenge becomes: how do we convince them to buy OUR service after consuming the content?
This is where the third option comes into play:
Now the challenge becomes: how do we convince them to buy OUR service after consuming the content?
This is where the third option comes into play:
3. Zooming in on one feature.
You see…
You don’t always need a new offer to win.
You can “fake” a new offer by letting a specific element lead the way.
Lemme show you an example…
Let’s say you’re selling a Twitter growth course… just like everyone else is…
You see…
You don’t always need a new offer to win.
You can “fake” a new offer by letting a specific element lead the way.
Lemme show you an example…
Let’s say you’re selling a Twitter growth course… just like everyone else is…
What if you called it “Twitter Branding” instead?
Selling the exact same thing your competitors are…
(They all have a lesson or two on how to write your bio etc)…
But now you’re leading with something new… so your audience is not blind to it.
Remember: NEW.
Selling the exact same thing your competitors are…
(They all have a lesson or two on how to write your bio etc)…
But now you’re leading with something new… so your audience is not blind to it.
Remember: NEW.
Let’s recap.
We stumbled upon a red ocean. And here’s how we’re gonna win in it:
• Niching down
• Targeting an unaware audience
• Zooming in on one feature
We stumbled upon a red ocean. And here’s how we’re gonna win in it:
• Niching down
• Targeting an unaware audience
• Zooming in on one feature
Make sure to follow me @GrammarHippy to never again miss my thread.
And if you want more updates as this story unfolds…
Make sure to retweet this thread.
If I see enough interest I’ll keep writing threads on how we’re doing.
Retweet the first tweet (this one 👇)
Make sure to retweet this thread.
If I see enough interest I’ll keep writing threads on how we’re doing.
Retweet the first tweet (this one 👇)
https://twitter.com/grammarhippy/status/1481589729674117120
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