The Secret to Writing Ads That Print Money

Alright, what’s up, guys? This one is going to be very tactical. How you can create ads or copywriting in your emails or whatever. To be more effective, you can convert more cold leads or hot leads into paying customers. This is a classic example of what not to do. So my buddy Nolan on Twitter, we’re good friends on here. We engage a lot with each other’s content. He has a lawn care company and he put out this ad. He’s like, hey, can you guys give me some feedback on this? What’s working, what’s not working? All that stuff, right? And I think that’s a great thing to do is put your content in front of people before it goes to the audience and get some feedback.

So sometimes you’re so close to the picture that you can’t see the frame. Like you can’t read the label when you’re inside the bottle. So getting third party external perspectives can be very, very valuable. And so what’s so immediately clear when I look at this photo flyer this is designed, he’s going to print off 10,000 of these and put them all across the different neighborhoods for his lawn care company. And let me just read some things. So the front of the image here, you’re not going to be able to see this. Maybe if you’re on YouTube we can. You can maybe see this, but now that’s not very good.

That’s just on my phone. It’s very tiny. I’ll just. Alex, let me just paint you a mental, mental picture. So here we go. Company’s name is top choice lawn care. There’s a man mowing the lawn. He’s walking away from the camera.

It’s very beautiful. In the top right corner it says Austin owned. Austin approved. Five stars. 605 star reviews on Google and Yelp. It’s pretty good. Down below, there’s a little banner across the bottom that says, get an instant mo quote, plus optional fertilization and weed control. Then there’s a QR box that you can scan.

Underneath that there’s a phone number, there’s an email address, and there’s a website. You flip this over onto the back and on the back of this bad boy, it has these bullet points. And the bullet points say 600. Plus five star reviews on Google and Yelp. 19 years of top notch service in Austin. It says we like to laugh. It says no contracts. It says fully insured, locally owned and operated.
We do just about anything in your yard. And then it has a bunch of pictures of little icons of, like we do irrigation trees, all these different things, right? And then another QR code. Okay, so what I’ve effectively described here is the Nolan’s ad. And the thing that I want to draw your attention to is that this is all features, not benefits. And this is completely the wrong way to go about creating ads that convert leads into customers, is that we often think as the entrepreneur, the business person, that the thing, the reason the person’s not buying from us is because they don’t know the features. Right? When we’re trying to sell this phone. I’m not selling you that. It is a 6.2 inch screen with 5 million megapixels and these beautiful titanium buttons and three camera lenses that can zoom into Mars.
No, that’s not what you’re selling me. You’re selling me as, as Steve Jobs would say, 1000 songs in your pocket. It’s a thousand songs in your pocket. Same device that you can call your mom. And it never drops crystal clear videos so you can see your kid’s face when you’re traveling on FaceTime. Right, whatever. Like, those are the features. Those are the benefits of having the phone.
Oh, instant connectivity. It’s light, it’s strong, so that it can take whatever life throws your ways. These are the benefits, not the features. And we think the features by listing out the stats of the thing, that that’s what’s going to convert somebody into wanting to do business with us. But generally it’s not because we make decisions with emotions, then we justify them with logic. So we need to hit the emotional core. And the way that we do that is not by selling them the plane ride, but by selling them the vacation. The plane ride is all about telling people how we’re going to get to the vacation.
Like, if you want to go to Hawaii. And I’m like, hey, let me tell you about how we’re going to get there. You’re gonna show up to the airport and you’re gonna sit there for 2 hours, and then they’re gonna frisk you. You have to take your shoes off, take off your belt, and then when you get through, after they have done costing you, you now need to sit for a couple of hours. You can go shopping, but everything’s gonna be overpriced. And then finally, when it’s time to get on the plane, you’re gonna have to stand in a long line and wait your turn, and it’s gonna be uncomfortable. And then you’re gonna have to shove yourself into an overhead bin and then cram yourself into a seat that barely you can fit into, and now this 300 pound guy is gonna sit next to you. But hey, you, you know it’s going to be okay because the flight is only going to be 3 hours and then, oh God, this is the worst vacation ever, right? Instead of focusing on how you’re going to get to the place, focus on the place itself.
Hey, don’t worry about it. In 5 hours, you’re going to be sitting on a beach in the sun. It’s going to be beautiful. It’s going to be sipping mai tais. The guys from the resort are going to bring drinks down to you. It’s all inclusive, so you just need to sit back and relax. Wifi is everywhere, so you can stay connected or you can disconnect. It doesn’t matter.
This is your time, right? The vacation is why people go to Hawaii. They’re not going for the plane ride. And it’s the same thing when we’re selling our services, whether that’s lawn care, it’s a phone, it’s whatever we need to focus on. What is the benefit to the consumer, not just listing out the stats. For instance, instead of listing out all these different things, one of them, the attempt was made here where it says we laugh and there’s nothing in your yard that we don’t do. So, for instance, you could say something like, no contract, no hassle, just 19 years of making your neighbors jealous of your amazing lawn. That’s a benefit. And it hits on all the same things that were bulleted out there, right? No contracts, 19 years of trusted service, right? But by putting it into a sentence, into a structure that is about the customer’s pain points and addressing that.
Now, it’s not just about you, it’s about them. And they get to see themselves as the hero here. No contracts, no hassle, just 19 years of making their neighbors jealous of your amazing lawn. How about this one? Whatever your lawn needs, our fully insured, top notch team has you covered, right? Whatever you want. Like it doesn’t have to be mowing, doesn’t have to be a weed whipping, whatever. Like, you tell us what you need and we are there for you. How about this? Stop breaking your back, pulling weeds in the hot sun, transparent pricing. There’s no hidden fees, no bait and switch.
Get your instant quote right here and we guarantee we will hit that within 5%. Boom. Awesome. Nobody’s going to try and bait and switch me. How about this? Austin’s most trusted lawn care team, because we show up on time with a smile and ready to tackle whatever your lawn throws at us. I think one of the big problems, like, in this ad that Nolan had put together is the idea that we laugh. You know, it’s trying to be jovial and like, we have a good time while we’re doing what we’re doing, but really the consumer, what they care about is that you’re going to show up on time, that you’re going to do what you say. And if you can do it with a smile, that sounds great, too.

But by just repiviting the focus, the perspective of our ad from being about us to instead being about our consumer, we make them the hero and we are just the guide instead of the reverse. The original version of this ad from Nolan had us, the lawn care company, as the hero. That’s completely wrong, right? Make your person, your customer, the hero of the story. And you are the thing, the facilitator that will help them become the hero and, like, win the quest. Have the best lawn in your neighborhood, make everybody jealous. Boom. You’re the hero. I’m just the guy that’s helping you do that.

I’m your Gandalf, right? But you’re Frodo. You’re throwing the ring in, right? So that is how you create really compelling ads that actually convert, is by focusing on the benefits, not the features. And then by making your, your consumer the hero, not you, not your company. It’s not about you. You are simply the guide on your hero’s journey. And the hero, again, it’s not you, it’s them. So hope this brings you guys some value. Go look at all your advertising, your marketing, your copywriting.

Make sure that you are putting your customer into the hero seat and then focus on the benefits, not the features. And you will make more sales. I guarantee it. That is a guarantee. That is a promise straight from my lips to your ears that you cannot hold me to. Because, asterisk, nothing I say can be held against me in a court of law. I am immune. So, ha.

I don’t know if that’s even true, but hopefully that is a disclaimer that gets me off of any hooks. So we’ll catch you guys in the next episode. Until then, stay hyper focused, my friends.