Are Digital Marketing Ads Effective? $1.2* Million In Profit Says Yes
*$1.2 profit is profit after the cost of advertising, but does not include cost of products or services rendered.
I often read comments or articles posted by fellow HN readers that claim digital advertising is a hoax, bubble, fraud, or unnecessary.
An article from thecorrespondent.com made this strange claim, “Is online advertising working? We simply don’t know” (See: https://thecorrespondent.com/100/the-new-dot-com-bubble-is-here-its-called-online-advertising/13228924500-22d5fd24)
An HN reader wrote, “The only good ad is a dead one…With very few exceptions, especially in the consumer space, you won’t need advertising if you actually need something. You’ll search it out or your friends will tell you what to buy.”
$1.36 Million Dollars Says, Um… Yes, Online Advertising Is Working
In 36 months, advertising has helped me make $1.36 million in sales on about $120,000 of Facebook & Google ads.
Before learning how to advertise I struggled to start businesses with real revenue
I’ve been an entrepreneur for years. Yet, before learning copywriting and advertising I never made real money.
Now, I CONSISTENTLY make money via my landing pages and ads.
If ads don’t help, why was I broke before this?
You might be thinking, “CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION!”
True. But…
A SIMPLE thought experiment will PROVE that advertising works
Imagine that tomorrow at 10 AM I decide to give away 1,000 gold bars as a promotion.
But, I decide I won’t tell anyone.
I have no pre-existing foot traffic.
And I have no signage.
At 10 AM I unlock the doors of my shop.
How many people should I expect to show up to get a gold bar?
ZERO.
Even the best offer is unable to attract customers if nobody knows about it.
Advertising is… COMMUNICATION
Once you understand that, the debate about advertising’s effectiveness ends.
A successful advertiser thinks like this:
“I have something great that some people or companies need; I need to get this message out to the world!”
To get my message out I can…
1. Call people or companies on the phone..
2. Email them..
3. Blog about it or write an article..
4. Post on social media…
5. Buy an ad on social media..
6. Tell journalists about it via a press release..
7. Buy an ad on TV
8. Buy an ad in a newspaper
9. Buy an ad on internet sites and search engines
10. Go knocking door to door
11. And the list of ways to communicate goes on and on…
Some methods of communication are more invasive than others. Those are what we typically think of as “ads”.
But the fact that a form of communication is invasive doesn’t make it ineffective.
When I’m listening to the radio and I get interrupted by an emergency broadcast, is it innefective because I didn’t request it?
At the time of writing the first draft of this article I was running a Facebook campaign making $14 for every $1 I spent
In 17 days I generated $25,500 on $1,822.06 in ad spend. There is no way I hit $25,000+ in sales in 17 days by calling those persons on the phone or waiting for them to find my website.
“‘I have seen one advertisement actually sell not twice as much, not three times as much, but 19½ times as much as another. Both advertisements occupied the same space. Both were run in the same publication. Both had photographic illustrations. Both had carefully written copy. The difference was that one used the right appeal and the other used the wrong appeal.’ — John Caples, as quoted in Ogilvy, David. Ogilvy on Advertising . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Asking, “Is advertising effective?” is like asking, “Is an emergency broadcast effective?”
No, for those to whom it misses or doesn’t apply.
But for those it finds and to whom it applies, Yes.
So, I don’t understand why advertising’s effectiveness is such a debated topic on Hacker News and elsewhere.
A good ad COMMUNICATES 2 points
- I have something that will benefit you
- This is what to do to get it
To be fair, you’ve likely noticed that 90% of advertising fails to do one or both of the above objectives
A lot of advertising is, in fact, terrible; this is likely the source of the effectiveness debate.
I wrote an article entitled, ‘7 Books That Helped Me Generate $1.36 Million In Sales’.
In those 7 books, you’ll notice that history’s great advertisers admit most advertising doesn’t work.
However, they explain that the problem isn’t advertising itself.
It’s because most ad agencies reject the truth that good advertising is just communication.
Most advertising agencies are filled with marketers who:
1. Are artists trying to monetize their artistic passion
2. As a result of #1, refuse to do what we know works because it’s not sexy, attractive, or beautiful
3. As a result of #1 and #2, promote branding over direct benefit messaging
The problem with most advertising is the willful ignorance of many marketing professionals
One of the worst ads I’ve seen in my entire life is this Microsoft Surface ad. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=des3dpKtfIM).
It shows a feature — the snap-on keyboard — but fails to explain concrete benefits of owning a surface.
Whereas, this ad from Apple is one of the BEST ads I’ve seen in my lifetime. (https://youtu.be/szrsfeyLzyg)
It’s packed with benefits. And at the end it does a decent job of telling me I can get an iPhone from AT&T.
One ad communicates clearly and precisely.
The other looks like it could be an advertisement for a broadway musical… Very poor communication.
In his book, “Ogilvy on Advertising” David Ogilvy refers to the “Cult of Creativity”
I recommend you that section to understand why poor quality advertising is common.
Below is a quote from Ogilvy himself:
“I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”
Ogilvy, David. Ogilvy on Advertising . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
So, those on HN wondering if digital advertising is is effective… It is.
Good advertising is “communication of provable benefits to address a specific problem at a good price”.
Communication isn’t going away.
It sounds simple, because it is.
About Me: Hi, my name is Ayo Ijidakinro. I’m an experienced .NET software developer, marketer, and SEO. If you need help with any of these, you can message me on LinkedIn or send an email. Contact me now, because my schedule fills up quickly.
