FREE Multi-Media Training Series 
Only: October 29th - November 4th
LESSON #3 of 5:
"The Best Ideas For Ads: Fat Tails!"
From: Todd Brown
West Palm Beach, Florida

(Missed any of the prior Lessons? Go here for Lesson #1 and Lesson #2.)

"But," Katie says, "before we talk about copy and images and targeting and optimization, and all of that stuff, we need to first talk about the type of ideas our ads are based on. What we call Fat-Tail Ideas. Joe will explain it for you guys."

Up walks Joe Schriefer, head marketing and copy honcho at Agora Financial.
He tells a quick story of what life was like when he first got hired by Agora -- something about a pitbull sleeping in his office -- then jumps right in...

"We're in the business of ideas. That's what Agora sells. But, our stuff... our ads... are never based on mainstream ideas."

Joe's already getting exciting. He puts his Dunkin' coffee cup down on the table. 

"No," he says, "our ads can't be based on mainstream ideas if they're going to breakthrough the noise and get attention. Our prospects can turn on the TV or surf around the web and find an endless supply of mainstream, ordinary ideas. And no one values or pays good money for a mainstream idea, because it's a commoditized thing. So, no... that's not the business we're in. We don't ever build our campaigns around mainstream ideas."

Joe's now pacing back and forth. Clearly, fired-up.
"So, we always build our campaigns on alternative ideas, or Fat Tail ideas, like Katie said. Ideas... that are seen and viewed as very different from what our audience is already hearing from other sources. Let me give you some examples..."

And that's exactly what Joe does for the next 45 minutes or so -- he gives examples of mainstream ideas, Fat Tail ideas, and even demonstrates the process of turning ordinary advertising ideas into alternative ideas.

Really valuable stuff.

When he wraps up his final example, he turns the room back over to Katie...
"We'll be covering alternative ad ideas, and how you research and find them in a lot more detail," she says. "For now, once you've identified your Fat Tail idea, here's rule number one for creating good ads, regardless of the channel or platform. Ready?"

She pauses a second. 

Then, leans against the podium, raises her arm, extends her pointer finger, and continues... 
"Because you guys are leveraging external media for traffic generation, your ads should not be written with a rational appeal. You want to focus on strong emotional appeals. Good ads engage your audience emotionally."

She signals she wants the next slide displayed on the screen. 

Someone on the team brings it up for her...
[Note: Mark Ford has been the marketing consultant for the Agora Companies for decades. He's largely responsible for the marketing behind their growth to one and half billion in annual revenues.]

"The question you need to answer when constructing your ads," she says, "is why would someone be emotionally driven to purchase this product. Of all the emotional drivers, which one will have the strongest impact on your audience, based on what you know about them. The answer to that is what you base your ad around."

Someone shouts out a question...

It's hard to hear. But sounds like, "Are emotional drivers and persuasion triggers the same thing? I'm confused."

"No," Katie says. "Persuasion triggers are more like marketing tactics. They're the things that drive response. Things like reciprocity, social proof, commitment and consistency, the Cialdini psychological triggers. Emotional drivers are the core emotions that move all human beings to act. Make sense?"

"Yes."

"In our ads," Katie says, "our image and copy are designed to play-off the right emotional driver with the appropriate persuasion triggers. We'll be spending a lot more time on this. So don't worry. But for now, I want you to understand that combining those two, with the right Fat Tail idea, is how and why our stuff does so well."

She looks around the room. 

Lots of slow nods. 

"Now, let's talk about how we dial-in the targeting for our ads. There are really only two types of targeting we rely on for all our traffic generation."

She taps a button on her laptop to bring-up a new slide...
Bonus Gem From Katie:
(From Todd: I think this is brilliant. Have already spoken with our COO, Damian Lanfranchi, about using this process at MFA going forward.) 

As you get really good at finding Fat Tail advertising ideas -- and you'll absolutely get good the more you practice -- it becomes really fun to test your crazy new ideas.

Don't be afraid to test ideas that are only loosely connected to the idea behind the main marketing or campaign message. In fact, don't be afraid to test ideas which aren't really connected at all to the main marketing promo message.

If the crazy idea ad gets clicks, but has low sales conversions, write an advertorial and put an interstitial page in-between the ad and main marketing funnel. 

If that works, test the crazy idea as a new lead for the main marketing campaign.

You'll be surprised at how often your Fat Tail advertising ideas turn into a major sales conversion boost, or even breakthrough, for your main funnels.
Let's learn from each other...
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