Your Story vs. “What’s in it for Me?” (A Brief Case Study)
Tell your “story”…
Share your story with the world (or at least your target audience)…
This is the mantra we see and hear repeated over and over by brand strategists, copywriters, and marketing consultants. And you better believe I’m guilty of this too!
Here’s the thing….sharing your story in an authentic way is critical to growing your brand. This is a key ingredient in amassing a loyal following.
And let’s be honest….telling a good story can work wonders for your sales copy.
But before any of this can happen, people need to find you. They need the chance to read your sales page, to sign up to your email list, to read your blog post, or consume whatever content you’re putting out there.
And unless you’re getting consistent referrals or free viral traffic, this all starts with your PPC ads.
I want to share with you a recent example of 3 Facebook ads I created to promote my new rescue dog blog. I started this as a hobby, since my wife and I are both crazy dog lovers, but will be monetizing with our own products soon.
The ad images you’re about to see sent people directly to a squeeze page offering free tips on how to successfully crate train their “furry friend”.  I also shared the story and struggles we encountered trying to crate train our own dog that we recently rescued.
Here’s Facebook ad image 1:
Facebook Ad Image 2
Facebook Ad Image 3
Guess which ad led to the highest opt in rate?
If you guessed #3, then ding ding, we have a winner! In fact, my opt in rate increased 2.9 fold from ad 1 to ad 3. My opt in rate was really low to start, so it wasn’t too difficult to get almost a 3x increase.
Breaking it Down
Why do you think ad #3 performed best, while ad #1 shit the bed? The answer goes back to sharing your story vs. “what’s in it for them?” In the first ad, I was too focused on “me”. I was excited to share our own story of how frustrating it was to crate train our dog.
I forgot to make it about my audience. The wording in ad #1 invited people to read about our crate training experience. This probably attracted people who enjoy reading about funny or interesting dog stories, but these weren’t necessarily people having trouble crate training their own dog NOW.
As a result, my opt in rate was in the toilet.
Ad #2 was better, because I was now advertising how we fixed our crate training nightmare. This was more likely to generate clicks from people struggling with their own crate training issues than ad 1.
Ad #3 was best, because I spoke directly to my target audience; people who were currently struggling to crate train their own dog right NOW. These are people who were really feeling the pain, and in search of solution.
The result? Huge jump in my opt in rate!
The Takeaway
Use your ad to appeal to the pain or problem your audience is experiencing in that moment. Make it about them, and how you will help solve their problem. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the romanticism of our own story and experience, but save this for your landing page or blog post or email series after a prospect has clicked your ad.
As long as you’re delivering on what’s promised in your ad, you can now weave in your own personal experience to give more authority and authenticity to your content.
