- The Weekly Sharpener
- Posts
- The Weekly Sharpener #130
The Weekly Sharpener #130
Make original ads with these 3 steps...
👋 Hey fam!
I'm really excited to share this 👊 Tuesday roundup with you!
Another Add Creative is out and wow does our guest brings so much value! Excited for you to spend some time learning from Andrew Faris (Growth Advisor) who joins us and shows teaches me about learning, facebook ads, and much more.
We dig into a framework on SEO research and how we can flip it for ad creation. This will show you where you can grab inspiration, where your qualitative feedback sits, and how to build a ranking system of what ads + angles to create first.
Finally, we get a killer example from our experts' ad creative that drives impact and a call to arms for CRO.
Hope your ads are scaling and LTV is 📈!
Cheers,
Chase
Starting using Pencil to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI.
Special Tip:
Customers want the perception of a wide variety with the experience of low conflict of choice.
Courtesy of Sarah Levinger
Partner with us 🤝
Marketing agencies, freelance creatives, e-comm experts…want access to our generous revenue share and co-marketing opportunities? Become a Pencil Partner today! You can learn more here.
🎙Add Creative
Come and hang with Andrew Faris, a growth advisor who frames up how you learn, what great customers and campaigns look like, and what are the best types of people to work in agencies. (Everyone should use his recruiting strategy)
He has such a clear understanding of what moves the needle, I learned so much!
Spotify 🎧
Content That Matters 🐐
If you have content worth discovering … please read this.
Keys to unlock organic growth:
1️⃣ Originality + accessibility
2️⃣ Capture (existing) demand
3️⃣ Technical SEO checklistSkip to the third if you’re an ecommerce brand.
— Aaron Orendorff (@AaronOrendorff)
12:02 AM • May 9, 2023
Why it matters: This applies to SEO but I actually think there's some stellar wisdom in here when it comes to building ads.
Let's break down what the value add is here and how it applies.
Framework:
Originality + Accessibility
Mechanism to capture demand
Originality can be a double-edged sword if it's not directed at the customer's need or want.
That means research. I mention this often because with the popularization of AI I think the dedication to understanding the customer and meeting them where they are + modeling out where they will is on the road to being forgotten.
With ads you learn about your customers through:
Post Purchase Surveys
Ad Comments
Reviews on Site
Competitors Reviews
Heat Map Interactions on site
Good old fashioned user interviews (do this often)
A community - if you have the bandwidth to deliver value.
Post Research you set up your framing of what you can do and what you CAN'T do when creating ads.
Why is this important?
If everything is on the table then there is no real north star.
Build these parameters:
How much copy will be in the ad?
What USP you will focus on?
Will you use social proof or not?
Video vs. Static?
Ugly or Slick creative?
Research + Parameters = Accessibility because you have considered everything your customers need.
(Note: make sure you compare this to what quant data you have to feel confident moving into the next step)
The last part is going to be less science and more art = originality
You know what has moved the needle, and what hasn't, and now you have the final component that no one else understands.
Your brand standards.
That is where the magic lies.
When using AI, you prompt knowing it will be giving you something you don't expect but still find useful.
If that's not the case and you are making your ads bespoke, think hard.
How does the data I have, sync up with the future customers I want to have or reacquire? What matters that didn't a month ago?
Does your brand use humor? Is it serious? Could a funny ad cut through? The main purpose of this is you need to find your wedge with the customer.
Once you have a list of 5 angles you can go with, then rank the :
probability of impact
upside the ad could have
time to deliver creative
needs for landing pages
This will allow you to have a list of the highest impact vs lowest lift angles to start building and testing.
Expert Strategy + Learnings
Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC.
Dylan's CRO Tips 🙌
STOP THINKING "BIG" UX CHANGES MOVE THE NEEDLE THE MOST. We run hundreds of tests a month. Tests with messaging and imaging are outperforming heavy development & UX changes, unless your UX really sucks. Work on understanding your customers better.
For more 🔥 follow Dylan Ander.
Rahul's Paid Media Learnings 🤘
Here's one of the 5 best performing ad styles of the last month.
The Pricing call out
Why I think this works:
Customers are aware of the offer before even clicking on an ad
Breaking down the total cost into a daily cost.
Follow Rahul and reach out to Reach Digital to work with him 🧠
Worth Your Time 🤌
From our Library 📚
Join the ✏️ community
Sign up to learn and meet 200+ other great founders & operators across DTC.
Curious about what we're building? 🧱
Check out our roadmap and upvote what you think is important! If we have missed anything, you can add your suggestions as well.
YouTube Channel 📺
Check out our library of amazing video content on creative, ads, and ecomm operating.
Our Preferred Tech Partners 👏
Foreplay - spy on your competitors ads + save what you like
soona - studio level assets in days and without the heavy cost. Yes, please. (Use Pencil39 for a free first photo)
Motion - you want insights on your ads - make it fast/easy/actionable.
Social Snowball - frictionless affiliate programs for your customers and creators
Triple Whale - attribution - need I say more
Air - keeping all of your assets organized is a pain. Air makes it delightful.
Creative OS - if you love making ads on Figma, you'll love this.
Fav Newsie's
Enjoy this issue? 🤌
Share The Weekly Sharpener with another marketer on your team.