Writing Ad Copy for Different Target Audiences

Most brands don’t have a Meta ads problem. They have a creative strategy problem. Let’s fix that. If I were building a Meta creative strategy for a hiking supplement brand, here’s exactly how I’d do it: 1️⃣ Nail the Hook—The Scroll-Stopping Moment The first three seconds make or break the ad. The mistake? Most brands talk about themselves. 🚫 “Premium electrolyte blend for peak performance.” (No one cares.) ✅ “You’re halfway up the mountain—legs shaking, out of breath. You reach for your water… but it’s not enough.” (Now they feel the problem.) Emotion first. Product second. 2️⃣ Targeted Messaging for Different Audiences You can’t talk to everyone the same way. • Serious hikers? “Stay fueled for 10+ mile treks—no cramps, no crashes.” • Weekend adventurers? “You finally made it to the summit. Don’t let dehydration ruin the view.” • Outdoor athletes? “Perform longer, recover faster—trusted by endurance athletes everywhere.” The best creative speaks directly to the person watching it. 3️⃣ Creative That Actually Converts We don’t just throw up pretty UGC and hope. We test structured creative types: 📌 Static Ads for Retargeting: High-contrast product shots + bold callouts (“Lasts 2x longer than leading brands.”) 📌 Demo Videos for Cold Audiences: Show the supplement dissolving, real hikers using it, explain the science. 📌 Story-Based UGC for Social Proof: “I used to get wrecked on hikes—then I found this.” (Problem → Solution → Transformation) 4️⃣ Data-Driven Testing to Find the 20% That Print Money Most brands run ads blind. We track: 🔥 Thumbstop Ratio – Are people even watching? 🔥 Outbound CTR – Is the hook working? 🔥 CPAs Across Angles – Which audience + message is scaling profitably? Once we find a winner, we scale it with broad targeting + aggressive budget increases. Bottom line: Scaling on Meta in 2025 isn’t about launching more ads. It’s about launching better ads, built on real strategy. Most brands are wasting money because they skip these steps. Are you?

Creative is the new targeting, but how do you execute on that? Every decision you make with regard to ad creative matters for who you reach: - Creator selection - style, age, interests, etc. - Music selection - genre, pace, etc. - Copy - subtle framing/phrasing, value props - Context - use cases, setting - Testimonials - from who, and what they say - And more... To focus efforts, we ALWAYS recommend starting with consumer research. Here is an example from a recent client project for a wellness brand: - Our 30-45 demo is 34% MORE likely to trust friends & family for advice, and 10% more likely to trust social media - Our 50+ demo is 32% more likely to ask a doctor for advice and 49% more likely to ask a pharmacist for advice So what does this mean for our creative strategy? To truly reach these people and drive conversion, we need to build trust through different avenues. We should (generally) not be showing a pharmacist to our 30-45 demographic and we should not be showing a non-credentialed/non-medical professional creator to our 50+ demo. The data proves this. - In ads mentioning a doctor's recommendation and leveraging an older creator, we see our younger demo underperform by 60%, with our older demo outperforming by 10%. - In ads featuring testimonials & social proof, our younger demo outperforms by nearly 50%. As is always the case ... remember to think audience-first! New Engen #DigitalMarketing #CreativeTesting *Ad screenshots are AI reproduced in general direction of actual assets to mask brand.

Marketer: We need to define our target market. CEO: Our target market is everybody. Marketer: 😬 If your marketing speaks to "everybody," it speaks to nobody. Here are 5 ways I write copy for a specific target market: 1. High LTV customer surveys + interviews. Identify your highest life-time value (LTV) customers. Survey and interview them. Conduct jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) interviews. Understand what problem your product solves for them, how it solves it, what obstacles they had to overcome before purchasing, and how they speak about your product. 2. Churned customer surveys + interviews. Identify WHY the product didn't work for them. What was the primary obstacle or issue? If it's something copy can help overcome, ensure your copy does so. For example, security and privacy are a common objection for SaaS customers. You can overcome this objection by writing copy that describes your stringent security and privacy measures. 3. Review mining. Find real reviews of products or services that solve a similar (or the same) problem that your product solves. Document how people speak about the problems they faced and how they speak about the transformation the product provided. Sources for reviews: Amazon, G2, Apple app store, Google. 4. User testing. Have customers or people within your target market review and react to your copy. Note where they're confused. Where they resonate with copy. And ask them questions to determine the effectiveness of your copy + design. 5. A/B testing. Run A/B tests to find your highest-converting messages. I recommend testing your hero section copy and imagery OFTEN. This is a high-impact area. Afraid you'll lose customers by speaking to a specific target market? Don't be. You'll lose even more by speaking to no one.