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False advertisements - are you immune to them already?

Marketing, social media, advertising

WJS

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Lately I’m trying to experiment with FB ads to gauge the market for a potential service. I wrote the ad, selected the demographics, and had it published.

After some time I checked the data. The response I got was rather underwhelming. Therefore I made some changes to the ad copy and tried again. Still, it wasn’t great.

Then I came across some ads from people who are offering rather similar services, and I realized what went wrong.

The ad I posted was too “truthful”.

How so? Imagine a typical fast food commercial: they showcase a gigantic, juicy burger and tells you how fulfilling it would be when you take the first bite. And when you get the actual food, the portion is more like kids’ meal, with hardly any flavours to it.

By the time you realized you’re duped, it’s too late.

I was the “dumb” one for showcasing an actual “burger”. No blowing up the “burger” size by 100%, no exaggeration about how it’s like “the only burger you’ll ever want to eat after this”. Sure I highlighted the great part of the “burger”, but compared to the other ads, mine didn’t stand a chance.

Which got me to thinking, are we so accustomed to all these false advertisements that we are immune to them? When we see an ad, do we automatically “discount” the claims, and hold no real expectations anymore?

What if the advertisers decided to show the REAL “burger”? Would people still buy it? Would people instantly disqualify it because it’s not appealing enough?

I talked to a few people who have done FB ads. They told me outright that “everybody does it”. Whoever manages to get the attention of the client, gets the chance to engage them, and eventually get the sales. Therefore they make amazing claims, and deal with clients later. Like the burger ad, customers have learnt to be fine with it as they’ve more or less expected it.

Though I hate to admit it, what they said hold some truths. A lot of people are superficial, and many have gone through so much bad experiences their hearts have gone cold.

Guess I’ll have to figure out another way to reach the market. This false advertisement route doesn’t really bode well with me.
 
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Flybye

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Funny thing is this type of advertising is not new. I love looking at historic 1800s/early 1900s photos, and you know what I have noticed? Businesses were doing the same thing back then. "Finest in this section." "The best ones you will find." etc.

I am 100% immune to them, and it sometimes shifts me away from companies that do such depending on if it is something I need or want. The problem is we are not commoners. The commoners are some how shifted towards this type of advertising which is why everyone does it. They know it grabs the attentions and makes people want it. I dont know the psychology behind it or why it sometimes seems to hypnotize people, but it sure does look like it does.
 

miraman

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Sorry, I really don't have anything to show you but it got your attention didn't it? ha ha. seems 10K is the number these days that marketers are using to get people's attention and sell their courses. I pass those right up when I see em.
 
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Benito Alvarez

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I've been doing mobile performance advertising for the last 8 years and we've always initially dry-tested a tonne of offers, which means advertising something that has no product behind and leading the user to a "offer no longer available" page.

This helped us answer the question what is the offer people actually want and that allows us to hit our target cost per acquisition, then build the product around it.

This way shifts the initial budget more onto Facebook ads than product development but then saves money on not developing products that people are not interested in.

I this this as if exaggerating one feature sells more you can shift all focus on over delivering on that feature and pushing other features later in the road map.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

WJS

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If you cant beat em, join em?

Funny thing is this type of advertising is not new. I love looking at historic 1800s/early 1900s photos, and you know what I have noticed? Businesses were doing the same thing back then. "Finest in this section." "The best ones you will find." etc.

I am 100% immune to them, and it sometimes shifts me away from companies that do such depending on if it is something I need or want. The problem is we are not commoners. The commoners are some how shifted towards this type of advertising which is why everyone does it. They know it grabs the attentions and makes people want it. I dont know the psychology behind it or why it sometimes seems to hypnotize people, but it sure does look like it does.


That’s exactly my point. When I see these kinds of ads I would roll my eyes and say “Yeah right”. I’m so immune to them nowadays they’re not even there anymore. LOL. So when it comes to my turn to put on an ad I wanted to avoid making claims that I as a consumer wouldn’t want to see.

To be honest when I didn’t get much response I was really tempted to just follow the norm. I had the ad rewritten to follow the “standard”. But just as I was about to switch my FB ad, I started to get better responses from my original ad, which was a big relieve for me. I shoved the new ad and kept the original one. No closed deal yet though, but I’m happy that I didn’t have to compromise my values to get what I want.



Learn How I made 10,000 in just 60 days!


Sorry, I really don't have anything to show you but it got your attention didn't it? ha ha. seems 10K is the number these days that marketers are using to get people's attention and sell their courses. I pass those right up when I see em.

If I were to see those ads 10 years ago I would probably read them. But it gets really old when you see the same claims over and over again. Nowadays if I see ads like that, I scroll right past them. Most of them don’t have much value to offer and they’re just a waste of time.


I've been doing mobile performance advertising for the last 8 years and we've always initially dry-tested a tonne of offers, which means advertising something that has no product behind and leading the user to a "offer no longer available" page.

This helped us answer the question what is the offer people actually want and that allows us to hit our target cost per acquisition, then build the product around it.

This way shifts the initial budget more onto Facebook ads than product development but then saves money on not developing products that people are not interested in.

I this this as if exaggerating one feature sells more you can shift all focus on over delivering on that feature and pushing other features later in the road map.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

My FB ad was for a service, but I will definitely use your advice in the future when I want to promote products. Thanks for the input.
 

Kung Fu Steve

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I'm sorry to be a dick here...

My first assumption is your ad sucks a lot more than you think it does so you're coming up with a limiting belief that says you have to lie to sell... not true at all.

Are you selling burgers?

Can we see the ad? Maybe we can make some shifts in the copy, headline, image, or maybe it's the offer.
 
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Consolation

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Good insights. I was researching how majority of big brands in electronics use CG in their ads.
This helps me.

IMO it depends a lot on context. You can see how IKEA uses CG in their catalog.
 

annagreenang

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I've been doing mobile performance advertising for the last 8 years and we've always initially dry-tested a tonne of offers, which means advertising something that has no product behind and leading the user to a "offer no longer available" page.

This helped us answer the question what is the offer people actually want and that allows us to hit our target cost per acquisition, then build the product around it.

This way shifts the initial budget more onto Facebook ads than product development but then saves money on not developing products that people are not interested in.

I this this as if exaggerating one feature sells more you can shift all focus on over delivering on that feature and pushing other features later in the road map.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Thank you for sharing, I find it quite helpful
 

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