Do you know the saying
“You should spend 80% of your time writing copy on the headline.” ?
Well, that is excellent advice from the legendary D. Ogilvy.
But in the world of Facebook…
80% of your time should NOT be spent on what Facebook calls a headline.
Simply because that’s not what would make people read your ad.
It’s rather the first few lines of copy.
It’s what we call the above-the-fold copy.
Here’s an example:
If the copy above the “see more” button isn’t compelling enough for people to keep reading (or click)…
Then the rest of the copy is completely useless. No matter how good it is.
In this article, I’ll share with you how I’ll give you an example of how I came up with a fantastic opening (above-the-fold copy) that made my client’s ad a success.
That way, you’ll have a crystal clear idea of what a great opening should look like.
“Auto Technicians… What The Heck Would Trigger Those Folks?”
A few months ago, I took on a client in the automobile industry.
He needed help creating a successful recruitment campaign on Facebook.
He wanted to hire talented technicians with a very specific skill set.
Up until that day…
I had never sold anything to that market.
And I literally knew nothing about them.
I didn’t know what would make them tick.
What I do know, though, is human psychology and the fact that I’ll figure it out.
So I asked my clients to show me their best (and worst) performing ads.
The best-performing ads had a general theme to them…
They all promised a better lifestyle. But more precisely…
They Promised Them a Bigger House
A bigger house that they can afford to buy since they’d be paid up to 6-figures.
So I sat down, and I thought, how can I capitalize on this?
What would be the most triggering moment in the lives of those technicians?
What can I say to get their attention immediately?
Answering those questions is what I religiously do for every project I work on.
Because I know for a fact that finding the right answers will be a game changer for the whole campaign.
More often than not, it can turn spectacular failures into massive successes.
The tricky thing about answering those questions is that good answers never come to you instantly.
You have to be patient.
You have to give your creative faculty the time to come up with the answers you need.
How does it do that?
I don’t care. And neither should you. It just does.
Anyway…
A few answers popped up in my mind.
And to be honest, they were good enough to be tested, but they felt a bit odd.
So I kept waiting and thinking, reading and researching… and sure enough, it came to me…
An Opening That Outshined All The Others.
And the feeling I got from it could only mean it’d be a great success.
Here it is:
“Daddy, when are we gonna have a house with a big backyard?”
Now, here is why this is a fantastic opening:
The target audience is men who work as auto technicians.
They are married.
They have young kids.
And their biggest pain point (according to data) was their inability to afford a home due to their low salary.
Since the job opportunities we promoted had salaries that could go up to 6-figures…
It would easily solve their biggest point.
Pay close attention to the word choice in that opening:
“When are we gonna” instead of “why don’t we”:
This is key. Because it means they currently don’t have what they wish (a house with big backyard)…
BUT it implies that it’s gonna happen and it’s just a matter of time.
This is extremely powerful from a psychological standpoint.
It puts the father on the spot and forces him to give an answer to this problematic question.
(Looking for that answer is what would prompt him to click. I had planted that seed in his mind. And his mind has now to answer.)
However, it does that in a positive way, and the general vibe that stems from this couple of words is something you can’t get mad about, innocence.
The innocence of a child.
Even if your child said a horrible thing, if they do it in an innocent way, you wouldn’t get mad at them, would you?
Now compare that to saying, “why don’t we?”
This would’ve triggered a negative and defensive response from the fathers.
They’d put their shields up. Simply because it sounds like questioning their ability as a man to provide for their family.
It’s almost like saying “why are you such a loser? Why don’t we have a big house!?”
Bottom Line
I wrote this post because I got off the phone with a consulting client of mine whose ads were not working.
He figured his copy wasn’t emotional at all.
Too much logic. He knew it. And he was right.
When I shared with him what I’ve shared with you here, he was mind blown.
He smiled ear to ear and couldn’t wait to get off the phone to go implement.
The next day he did, and his ads started magically working.
So I thought there are probably many other people who aren’t my clients but who I can help anyway, and that is why I wrote this post.
With that being said, if you’d rather hire me to do this for you and overlook your whole campaign…
I invite you to click here to apply to work with me.