Having trouble coming up with ideas for your Facebook ads? Not sure what to say? Or what image to use? Here’s my 3-step system that I’ve used while spending over $2,500,000 on Facebook ads since 2010.
The other day I showed you the page by page setup of a Facebook ad campaign I ran last month that ended up generating over $14,000 in sales, from $8,000 worth of Facebook ads.
But I realized we didn’t talk much about the actual ads themselves…which is why you’re reading this post now.
Listen, most people think you just need an image, a headline, and some text that tells people whatever you want…and people will click the ad.
Those people end up losing their shirt, then they blame Facebook.
Disclaimer: Facebook’s job is to take your money and send you traffic. They don’t really care whether your ad works. (sure they’d like your ads to work so you keep spending more money…but in the end, they don’t care about you or your ad)
Which is why you need to follow a formula…not just wing it.
Here’s the simple 3 step formula I’ve used since 2010…
- Get Attention (with an image people will notice right away)
- Ask a Question (use your headline to ask your market a question that
gets them to keep reading) - Make a Promise (use the rest of the ad to promise something awesome
on the next page so they want to click the ad)
I’ve used this same formula to create Facebook ads for:
- the baseball niche (my first website trainbaseball.com)
- fitness (helping a buddy of mine)
- photography (helping my sister out)
- selling marketing information (I’ll give you one guess on what that business was)
- software (for SamCart)
- plus dozens of other clients I won’t list out because I’m lazy
All in all, this formula has been behind every dollar of the over $2,500,000 I’ve spent on Facebook Ads since 2010. And the only reason I’ve been lucky enough to spend that much is because this formula WORKS.
It’s proven to get your ad clicked on at a higher rate than any other formula. When your ad gets clicked on more, your CTR (or Click Through Rate) goes up.
When your CTR goes up, your CPC (or Cost Per Click) goes down. When your CPC goes down, you pay less for the same amount of traffic. When that happens, you have a smile on your face because you’ve just successful gamed the system.
This gives you the best chance of generating more revenue than you’re spending for the ads you make. Period.
Here’s one of the ads I used last month in the campaign I showed you the other day…notice how I’m using the 3-step approach… 
Let’s break down each of these steps one by one…
Step #1 – Get Attention
The first and most important job of your Facebook ad is to Get Attention. And the best way to do it is with an image people will notice right away. The image is what people see first, so use an image that stands out. Here are a few ways to make your ad image stand out:
1.) Use a shocking image people don’t expect to see
Here’s a great example. Muscle Tricks uses an image that I’m pretty sure might scare some people, on top of getting clicked on like crazy. I just wish they wouldn’t have cut my face off. 
2.) Use large text to draw people to read
Here’s an example from Amy Porterfield. Amy does a great job with the text in her ad because it draws you in.
Plus, she’s careful not to go beyond Facebook’s 20% text rule. If you’re using text in your ad images, that’s an important point because if the text in your image covers more than 20% of the image itself, it will get denied automatically.
Facebook’s “Grid Tool” lets you upload your image and find out if there’s too much text or not. 
3.) Use colorful images
Here’s a good example. The image used here is a super clean image with lots of color.
Plus, they combined the previous tip of using large text that also pulls your eye in and conveys what the ad is all about without you needing to read the actual copy from the ad itself. 
4.) Use images with smiling faces looking at the camera
Here’s a good example. If you’re in to Tough Mudder this image is pretty darn certain to catch your eye.
Don’t ask me why, but we’re drawn to image where people are looking right at us. It’s kinda freaky. 
A Quick Exercise: go login to your Facebook account and look at the ads in your news feed or on the right hand side of the screen. Which ones stand out to you? If an ad doesn’t stand out, why not?
Step #2 – Ask A Question
The second job of your Facebook ad is to get people to READ the actual ad.
People don’t typically click on an ad just because of the image, they want to know what’s going to happen when they click, which you explain in the ad copy itself.
How do you get them to read the ad copy? The easiest way is to ask them a question in the headline.
Use your headline to ask your market a question that you think they will answer “YES!” to.
Here’s a couple of examples…
If you’re selling a dog training course, ask, “Is your dog misbehaving?”
If you’re selling a fitness program, ask, “Want to Lose 10 Pounds?”
If you’re selling a photography advice, ask, “Need Help Landing Wedding Gigs?”
If you’re selling office furniture, ask, “Want Your Office to Look Amazing?”
If you’re selling software that creates checkout pages, ask, “Need Help Getting Your Products Up for Sale?” #shamelessplug
…you get the idea.
You want your prospects saying, “YES!” If they say “YES!” the chances of them reading the rest of your ad is pretty dang good. #MissionAccomplished
Remember: it’s tempting to want to ask a generic, boring, and lame question here. We all want EVERYONE to say “yes” to our ad…but that’s actually a bad thing. You also want to make sure people are saying “no.” That way you can weed out the people that might be somewhat interested, but will most likely not buy your product.
For example: If you’re selling a dog training course specifically about training your dog to be good on a leash, a headline that says, “Is your dog misbehaving?” is a terrible headline. Anyone with a dog might be interested in that headline. But you don’t want everyone. You want people who’s dog pulls them down the sidewalk like a maniac.
So instead, use this headline, “Is Your Dog Terrible on a Leash?” Now the RIGHT people will click. (like this lady…)
Step #3 – Make A Promise
Now that you’ve grabbed your prospect’s attention, and enticed them to read the rest of your ad with a headline that asked them a great question…it’s time to get them to CLICK.
That’s the whole point, right?
Here’s how: make them an offer they can’t refuse. Use the copy of your ad to promise something awesome if they click on your ad and visit the next page. Pretty simple.
Disclaimer: you actually need something cool on the next page for this to work.
If you’re sending people to an opt-in page where they enter in their contact information in exchange for something…most likely that “something” is pretty cool. Brag about that in your ad.
If you’re sending people to sales page where you’re going to try and get them to buy something right away..most likely whatever they’re buying is pretty cool. Brag about that in your ad. You get the idea.
A Quick Shortcut: I usually steal the ‘copy’ right from my landing page and stick it in my ad. I’ve usually already spent a good amount of time putting together a great landing page and working hard on its copy, so why not just use that?
I’ve actually seen this boost conversions because the message is identical from the ad to the landing page.
Obviously, you need to promise your prospect something they want. Ideally, something they want really, really bad.
This needs to be your best stuff, not some crappy piece of free content that leaves them thinking, “meh.”
You want their reaction after clicking your ad to be something like, “Holy crap, this guy/gal knows their stuff. I better bookmark this page, check out their site, and open every email they ever send me.”
Here’s a couple of examples…
If you’re selling a dog training course, your promise could be, “Discover the 2 pieces of equipment you can buy right now on Amazon that will instantly make your dog obey your every command while on a leash.”
If you’re selling a fitness program, your promise could be, “Click here to watch this new 7 minute workout you can do in your living room, that will guarantee you burn unwanted belly fat for the rest of the day.”
If you’re selling a photography advice, your promise could be, “Discover the one website where you can connect with brides looking for a photographer and the 3 step process for getting them to hire you for their wedding.”
If you’re selling office furniture, your promise could be, “Use this free tool to design your dream office in 30 minutes or less.”
…you get the idea. You want your prospects saying, “Wow, I need this!” If they say that, they will click your ad and take whatever action you ask them to on your landing page.
Download This 3-Step Process For Yourself
If you want to save this process for later, you can download the entire thing by clicking the button below. I create a beautiful PDF for you that outlines this process in detail so you can store it and use it when you’re creating your ads later on.
What’s Worked For You?
Have any other tips that have worked for you? I’d love to hear them below…
