Hey pookies,
This week, a strategist who has managed $5M+ in ad spend shows you the questions he answers when he researches a product. You will also learn how to get better copy from AI by giving it your old winners and losers, and how to write unaware ads starting from a winner you already have.
1. Use the same list of research questions for every new product.
Idea from Kevin [Creative Strategist $5M+ Spend] | Shared 28 Oct
Kevin is one of our members. He recorded a 95 minute video showing how his agency researches a market by hand. You can watch the full video right here. My notes from it are below the link.
Watch the full video
His example was magnesium for people with high cortisol. Cortisol is the body's stress hormone.
He starts with an idea. Then he uses research to make the idea stronger.
Answer the same questions every time
Kevin does not start from a blank page. His research doc has the same list of questions about the buyer every time. Here they are.
What are their goals and desires?
What are their pains and fears?
Who do they blame for the problem?
What holds them back?
What are their prejudices? These are the things they already assume.
What do they use now? What do they like and dislike about it?
What are their horror stories?
Do they believe the solution works? If not, why not?
He pastes every review, comment or study he finds under the question it answers.
Next to every finding, he puts the link to where he found it. That way he can check any claim later.
Read the comments to learn what buyers already know
He found a viral TikTok about high cortisol with 1 million likes. The comments kept asking how to fix it.
Kevin saw that these people already know they have high cortisol. Nobody is giving them a way to lower it. He called this market solution aware, because they are already looking for a way to fix it.
He saved the opening of that video to use as a hook.
He also takes screenshots of the commenters' profile pictures. That shows him who the buyer is. In this case, they looked like women over 40, likely in or near menopause, with high-stress jobs. Some were nurses or senior managers.
Write down what people dislike about the fixes they use now
A creator shared a story about ashwagandha killing motivation and causing depression. Kevin wrote it down as a dislike.
A pharmacist's video said the wrong kind of magnesium, like magnesium oxide, can cause diarrhea. Magnesium glycinate was named as the kind to use.
Use AI to explain things, then check its work
He puts studies into Gemini and asks it to explain them.
He gives AI his full research doc and asks it to fill in his buyer profile. He asks for a link next to every claim it adds.
AI also helps him write a doc on how the product works. In that doc, the AI got the facts about cortisol wrong. So he checks that work himself. That is why he does not trust AI much.
He asks AI questions, and he does the research himself.
Try it this week
Before you write your next batch of ads, make the doc.
Copy the questions above into one doc.
Paste each review, comment or study under the question it answers. Add the link.
Find a viral video about the problem. Read the comments to see what buyers already know.
Write down what people dislike about the fixes they use now.
2. Let your own ads teach the AI.
Aniruddha Mishra [C-level $10m+/M] | 26 Sep
Someone in the server said AI was writing bad copy for them. In the replies, Aniruddha Mishra shared a method that has been super helpful for Aniruddha's own team.
Aniruddha's 4 steps to better AI copy
Download your past video ads and write out what is said in each one.
Put the hooks, scripts, angles and results in one sheet.
Give the AI both winners and losers. Include ads that barely got traction.
Ask it what patterns show up in the ads that did well and the ads that did badly. Then use what it finds to write new copy.
Aniruddha said the AI writes much better copy when it sees both what worked and what did not.
2 more things to give the AI
Wasan Wes [Creative Strategist $300k Spend] replied in the same thread with 2 more things to add.
Persona cards. A short profile of each type of buyer.
A language bank. A list of the real words your buyers use, from places like Reddit and reviews.
Wasan gives both to the AI so it can use them while it writes.
Try it this week
Do this with your own ad account this week.
Pull your past video ads. Winners, losers, and the ones that barely got traction.
Write out what is said in each one. Put the hook, script, angle and results for each ad in one sheet.
Give the sheet to the AI. Ask what patterns show up in the ads that did well and the ads that did badly.
Write your next scripts from what it finds.
3. Write ads for people who don't know they have a problem yet.
Wasan Wes [Creative Strategist $300k Spend] | 24 Oct
A brand owner asked the server for creative agencies that are good at unaware ads. Wasan Wes said you can start with the winning ads you already have.
What an unaware buyer is
An unaware buyer does not know they have a problem. They think it is normal.
Wasan's example is women who think crepey skin is just a normal part of getting older. Crepey skin is thin and wrinkled.
Start the ad by saying it is not normal
The opening can be very simple. Show the crepey skin and say "NO, this is not normal for aging."
If you know exactly who your buyer is, make it sharper. "NO, if you are 50, your skin should NOT look like this."
Start from an ad that already works
Wasan said a good first step is to take a winning ad, rewrite the script for unaware buyers, and test it.
Test the hooks with image ads
Use statics to test unaware angles and hooks. Wasan said statics are so underrated. Wasan called them cheap, fast and effective.
Wasan said native ads are also very good for unaware buyers.
Let AI write the first draft
First, tell Claude to study the awareness levels.
Give it your winning ad.
Tell it to make this ad unaware.
Try it this week
Pick 1 winning ad this week.
Write down the problem your buyer thinks is normal.
Write a new script for that ad. Open by saying the problem is not normal.
Test the new hooks as image ads.
- George Rose
DTC Performance Circle
George's Grok Bot drafts these emails. George reads and approves each one before it is sent. He checks every fact and makes sure each idea is useful.
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