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"Why did my ads stop working"? Answer: Use the two Meta fundamentals
This is a common question I get when performing account audits.
And my answer is always the same. When your Meta ads stop working, go back to the marketing fundamentals that have been true for over a century. Two core fundamentals apply to Meta Ads: science-based experimentation to find winners and "Great Leads".
Let's talk about them.
Fundamental one: Experimentation helps you find the next winner
In paid marketing, we are in the "finding winners" game.
Why is that?
Because in paid advertising there is a truth that is 100% true. In fact, it's so true that I would stake my career on it. Here it is: I am 100% certain that whatever ad or marketing campaign you are running that is working will eventually stop working.
Nothing lasts forever, as they say.
So, our core objective in paid traffic, beyond achieving and maintaining profitability, is to hunt for new winners.
I have seen ad accounts where they find a winner, then put 100% of their ad budget behind it or a variation of it. And when that stopped working... well... they have nothing. That's why their Meta Ads stopped working altogether: they ran out of winners.
So, let's not run out of winners, ever. I solve this with a science-based approach to experimenting with campaign structure and new ads. If we put a percentage of your ad budget toward new ad experiments, you will find a constant stream of winners.
In practice, this means you are min-maxing spend across the campaign, constantly adjusting to favour the winners. Phasing out old winners, bringing in new winners. And eventually, I cannot say when, you will find a breakthrough campaign that is so good it makes all the other campaigns look like a joke.
It will happen. But you must experiment your way there.
Fundamental two: "Great Leads"
This fundamental is easy to speak about, because the advice I want to give you here is also the title of a book. A very good book.
Before I can give you the advice, let me start by explaining some copywriting principles.
In copywriting, the purpose of any given line is to get the reader (or listener) to read the next line. This is doubly true for your headline. After the headline, the first "section" of your copy is the second most important. The first section, after the headline, is called the “Lead”.
In the Lead, this is where you outline your core idea, core benefits and the deeply aligned value the reader will get from consuming your content, as it relates to his or her problem.
Now... an astute reader will know that in a Meta ad, the headline is at the bottom. Because of this positioning, the headline isn't as important in a Meta ad. So, when writing your ad copy, I advise you to focus on writing a good Lead.
But... what is a Lead in a Meta ad?
Good question.
In a Meta ad, the entirety of the ad copy IS the Lead.
So, as a fundamental of Meta Advertising, if your ads aren't working anymore, or aren't as well as they used to, you want to run more Lead experiments, more often.
Now, I know what you are thinking: "This is the same as saying write better ads... That is not new".
I agree.
This advice is not new. In fact, because it’s a marketing fundamental, it’s not supposed to be new.
But not all ads are created equal. When you write a Great Lead, you are writing a blockbuster ad instead of an average one.
Let me rephrase my earlier advice: you want to get very good at writing Meta Ads as good marketing Leads. It’s a skill. And you want to do that more often. If we reflect on the previous section of this article, the fundamental number one about experimenting, you can experiment with multiple variables within the confines of the Lead.
For example, you can test lead type (story, proclamation, etc.), marketing thesis, marketing big idea, and different hooks. And, as you can see, just within the writing of different Leads, you can create a wealth of experiments.
Here is the important part: in my experience, better ad copy messaging is directly tied to improved client results. It's the first thing I think to change when taking over a new account.
Why do these two fundamentals matter?
One overarching reason these two fundamentals matter is that markets move.
No matter what market you operate your ecommerce store in, that market was different ten years ago. Buyers, what they care about, how they live, and the world they live in are all different.
Thus, your marketing message must evolve with the market.
By running experiments (fundamental number one) and seriously testing different Leads (fundamental number two), we try to discover what will work now and in the future. By doing these two things, we keep our ads evolving with the market.