“Meta Ads don’t work for us”, “LinkedIn Ads don’t work for us.” I’ve heard this TOOOO many times in my Marketing career.
So many brands (especially B2B) will give up on a channel the second they don’t see the results they expected.
Their reasoning? They blame the channel. “Ahh Meta ads just don’t work for us.” I hate to break it to them, but today I’m going to, almost ALL of the time it’s not the channel, it’s you.
Your creative, your copy, your forms, your targeting, it’s all way off, and that’s why your ads aren’t performing. It has nothing to do with Meta.
Before you STOP investing in channels that seemingly “don’t work for you”, double check these 6 aspects of your ads. 👇👇👇
1️⃣. Ad creative
Each platform speaks its own language and is optimal for certain types of creative. If you’re doing it right, the creative you’re making for X ads will be substantially different from the ad creative you’re using on TikTok.
What feels native to each platform varies, and if you want your ads to feel native they have to be specifically tailored to each platform. That’s STEP ONE.
Don’t use one piece of creative meant for TikTok and plaster it across YouTube, X, LinkedIn and expect it to perform.
Here’s what Salesforce is doing on TikTok vs. Meta. 👇
Their TikTok ads feel incredibly native with talking-head style videos (which are super popular on TikTok) as you can see below.
(This ad had a Top 5% clickthrough rate on TikTok.)
On the other hand, you see the type of creative they’re using on Meta is SUBSTANTIALLY different. It’s static, with an emphasis on a numerical ROI.
They’re both different services that they’re promoting, but both ads follow a similar funnel to a 30-day free trial, so the goal of each ad is the same, the creative and execution just varies substantially by platform.
2️⃣. The copy
Your copy matters more than the creative. Is the message in your ad clear and compelling, is it hitting the pain points of the audience?
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If you’re not hitting your ROAS goals, chances are your copy is missing the beat.
Even subtle changes to copy can have a MASSIVE swing on the efficiency of your Marketing dollars.
It all comes back to SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS.
What slang do they use? What acronyms do they use? What emojis do they use? Incorporate this into your ads before you say, “This channel doesn’t work for us.”
Don’t have the time or expertise to do any of that? HIRE A COPYWRITER.
3️⃣. The form
Is your form too complicated? Too long? Is the CTA boring? Are you just using “submit”?? Are there too many fields?
Look at this form from Arlist that is directed from one of their TikTok ads 👇
It’s simple, clear, easy, and most importantly DOESN’T TAKE UP 10 MINUTES of a person’s time to fill it out!!
*Side note, don’t overlook your post emails after someone fills out a form. Make sure they’re welcoming and reinforce exactly what someone signed up for.*
4️⃣. The call to action (CTA)
Is your CTA even strong enough to promote an action? Is the offer itself even valuable to the target audience???
You need to ask yourself this before blaming the channel. And if you don’t know if the offer is valuable to the target audience, then you’ve got bigger problems to tackle (see tip 5).
Liquid Death is a killer when it comes to juicy CTAs. 👇
“It sold out once, it will sell out again.”
Um OKAY looks like I need to buy the Liquid Death pint glass NOW.
Think outside of just “Free”, “Submit”, “Register”, and dive into the emotional strings that MOVE your customers. FOMO, scarcity, timeliness, use it ALL.
5️⃣. Audience targeting
Is your ideal customer profile (ICP) even ON THE CHANNEL in the first place?
If you’re selling enterprise B2B SaaS software, you probably shouldn’t be running ads on Snapchat. Sounds stupid but so many brands don’t think to first ask if their target audience is even on the platform.
6️⃣. Your landing page
If a customer clicks an ad for a black t-shirt and the landing page shows them the exact same t-shirt but in white, that’s a big issue.
Yes, it’s the same shirt in a different color, but it’s not aligned with what got the customer to CLICK.
Your ad and landing page need to be in lockstep with their copy, CTAs, and offering.
Ahhh okay that’s the end of my rant LOL.
Before ditching any channel, double check each of these 6 aspects and then I’ll believe you that “LinkedIn doesn’t work for our brand” or “TikTok doesn’t work for our.”
And one last thing before you give up on the channel, GO THROUGH THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY FOR YOURSELF.
So many B2B companies are seller centric, NOT customer centric. They make it easy for sellers to sell, but not easy for buyers to buy, because they’re making people jump through hoops to buy.
Remove friction in your funnel and thank me later lol.
