How do you stand out from competitors and create memorable ads that sell? Well, my concise answer is to use psychology to influence human behavior and drive action.
But thatâs not a very helpful, or specific answer. So instead, letâs dive into the how. First, though, I want you to understand why you need to create memorable ads and why itâs so important to success.
You might be thinking, âWhy is memorability even important to ad success?â Before I answer that, let me first explain what memorability is in my own terms. Then weâll dive into the why and how.
Memorability, as I put it, is the ability to recall and retain information based on an experience.
Now, why is this important to have in your ads? If your customers canât remember your ad, your product, or your brand, how can you expect them to buy from you over your competitors?
You canât. They wonât. Thatâs why itâs important.
And now that you hopefully understand that, letâs get into the desert, the how.
For many, many weeks, I pondered how to create memorable, psychology-based ads that sell. I successfully created a formula, a framework if you will, of five questions to ask yourself in order to do just that: create memorable ads that sell.
The five questions are as follows:
- Can I visualize it?
- Can I falsify it?
- Can nobody else say this?
- Does this make me feel something?
- Does this provide value, solve a problem, accomplish a goal, or raise status?
Letâs dive in.
1. Can I visualize it?
Lisa Kron once said, âIf I canât see it, itâs not there.â And this couldnât apply more to successful advertising.
Humans remember concrete words, items, and experiences that we can visualize. Abstract information and words are just air coming out of our mouths. You canât see whatâs being said in your head, but when you can, you remember it.
Letâs use an example to prove this point.
I want you to read the following words, then close your eyes and think about which ones you can recall. Ready? Here we go.
- Better way
- Wrinkly grandma
- Easy transition
- Crystal diamond
- Far off
- Muscly pit bull
Which ones did you remember? If I had to guess, you likely remembered wrinkly grandma, crystal diamond, and muscly pit bull.
The reason why is because you can actually see it. You can drop a crystal diamond on your foot. You canât drop a better way on your foot.
Thatâs why visualization is vital to success. It enhances recall.
2. Can I falsify it?
Something that is falsifiable means it can be proven true or false. But why is this important? Humans love true or false information because we can confirm or deny a fact.
Facts give us relevant, relatable, and real information that helps make whatever we are processing relative to something else.
Facts can create conflict... and not the fist-fighting kind. The kind that compares two things to each other that are opposites.
And to reiterate, if you can compare and contrast opposites, you can remember the relativity and facts much easier.
3. Can nobody else say this?
This third rule might be the most important, and vital piece to ad success. If you can say something that no other brand can say, then you have an ad worth a shit. And you most certainly have a leg up over your competitors.
There are two parts of this question that you must understand to proceed. One, this is by far the hardest part of the process and requires a heavy understanding of your who, what, where, when, and why. Two, this does not have to be a phrase that other brands can say, it has to be something they cannot claim.
To go more in-depth on number two, Iâll give you a quick example. Hinge, the dating app, decided to create an ad that says, âThe Dating App Designed to be Deleted.â
Can another dating app say that phrase? Well, theoretically yes. But no other app has said it, so they would just be copying exactly what Hinge said and be delegitimized by copying them. Hinge now owns that phrase because no other brand has said it.
Thatâs what it means to have something no one else can say. And it is a powerful separator to diverge yourself from your competition.
4. Does this make me feel something?
Have you ever seen an ad that evoked such a big emotional response that you couldnât forget it? I know I most certainly have. And I know itâs driven me to buy products before too.
Human beings are emotional beings that think. Not thinking beings that emote. We act first upon emotion and second on logic. When you tap into emotions, you increase the likelihood of memorability and action.
When youâre creating ads, the heavier the emotional response you can evoke, the greater the likelihood of success on all fronts.
5. Does this provide value?
The final piece of the puzzle, providing value. The beauty of this step is that there are many different ways to provide value. You can provide value through solving a problem, helping people accomplish a goal, or raising their status.
Those are the big three motivators when it comes to providing value that gets people to act. And each relates back to evoking that emotional response to get them to act.
Wrapping it all together
Taking each of these questions seriously will give you the necessary information to create memorable ads that sell. And when you get a âyesâ for all five, youâve probably got a winner. If you get three, youâve got a solid ad, and if you get two or less, head back to the drawing board.
Now that you have my five-question formula to create memorable ads, go put it into effect and watch your brandâs success blow the roof off the place.
Stay mad,
Carson đ§Ș
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