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Ad Campaigns of the Wizard Who Got Away

Ryan Chute
Ryan Chute
February 18, 2022
Ad Campaigns of the Wizard Who Got Away

Just as there is a gap between knowledge and wisdom, there is also a gap between fact and truth. When you’re crafting your marketing plans, what do you rely on? Do you seek to present facts, or do you aim to deliver truths to your audience? As Frank LLoyd Wright once said, “The truth is more important than the facts.” What did he mean, and how does this apply to advertising?

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 17 of Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads:

_“No house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other.” “Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings in his head, later committing them to paper for clients and contractors. When Edgar Kaufmann arrived unexpectedly in Madison, Wisconsin, and phoned that he was driving to Taliesin to see the plans for his house, Wright sat down at a drafting table and, in 140 minutes, filled sheet after blank sheet with the plans for what became known as Fallingwater, considered by many to be the most influential house of the 20th century. Finishing his work just as Kaufmann entered, he stood and said, “I’ve been waiting for you.” Though he never penned a single word of advertising, Frank Lloyd Wright remains a legend among the wizards of ads, who know him simply as ‘The One Who Got Away.’ ”Frank Lloyd Wright made it his mission to create unique structures for unique people and circumstances. He sought the truth with his designs, rather than relying on conventional architectural techniques and procedures. With your ad campaigns, you’ll need to do the same. Without this level of specificity, then you might reach everyone, but move no one. Instead, with focus and clarity, you can move your ideal customers to act on your offers. Let’s go over the basics of ad campaigns, first, though.

What Exactly are Ad Campaigns?

Ad campaigns are series or sets of advertisements that fit together to convey one central message to an audience. That message should be aimed to drive a particular business goal, such as increased sales revenue or improved conversion rates. All aspects of the campaign will align to compel your audience to take a particular action. They tend to work as funnels, or paths. One ad leads to the next, and so forth. By capturing your audience’s attention with the first step, you’ve grabbed them. Then, your content and offers need to propel them through the rest of the funnel. Each step needs to be strong, and the process needs to move quickly. Otherwise, you’ll lose prospective clients along the way, which is a waste of your time and money. Marketing resources ought to be used effectively, but this is as much of an art as it is a science. We’re here to guide you through, though, so fear not.

What are Good and Bad Ad Campaigns?

It takes a lot of market research and understanding to craft a good ad campaign. If your ad campaign fulfills your business goals, then you can say it was good. And if it doesn’t help you meet your goals…well, then it probably was bad. By bad, we just mean that it didn’t serve you the way you needed. It doesn’t mean your marketing ideas are bad, or that there was something inherently wrong with your thought process. It might just mean that you got caught up somewhere along the way. The implementation, the presentation or many other aspects could have failed your campaign. To figure out what it was in particular might take some time. But we’re happy to help guide you along the way to ensure your first attempt is more successful. And you can always test, revise and re-implement. Generally, the more focused an ad campaign is, the more effective it is too. The goal is to reach the customers who are most likely to buy your product or service. To do that, you’ll need to identify who benefits from your business and how you can show them that benefit. If you’re having a hard time creating and implementing an ad campaign that works for you and your business, then let’s connect. With Wizard of Ads, you’ll get the support and expertise you need to drive your sales up and achieve the growth your business deserves.

Why “one size fits all” Ad Solutions Does not Work_

Why Doesn’t a “One Size Fits All” Ad Solutions Work?

It’s important to highlight what’s unique about your company, product or service. That means you can’t use a “one size fits all” approach. Since all solutions aren’t equally effective for your audience, you’re going to want to show them why your solution is ideal for them. Compelling an audience to take action on an offer requires a creative approach, which means setting yourself apart from the competition. If you don’t have a fresh take on your advertising efforts, then your message will feel stale to your customers. To make the most of your ad campaigns, make them unique and engaging. That’s how you can make them as compelling as possible. Otherwise, your brand will get lost in the noise.

Characteristics of Good Ad Campaigns

Even though much of this is creative, artistic work, there are definable aspects and actionable steps you can take to achieve success. Good ad campaigns have some things in common. That’s why we’ve gone through the process of identifying the eight most important characteristics of a good ad campaign. Ready to get started? Here we go.

Noticeable

If no one notices your campaign, then it’s guaranteed to fail. For an effective campaign, you first need to grab your audience’s attention. And you’ll need to hold onto it, too. If there are multiple steps in your campaign, then each step needs to re-grab the client’s attention.

Holistic

When you craft your campaigns, make sure you’re taking a holistic approach. That means you’ll want to touch on all of the different aspects of your service or product that are relevant to the campaign. By leaving out information, you might be lowering your conversion rate. To make sure each part of the campaign is concise enough, though, you can spread this information out over multiple ads. Your campaign needs to be more holistic than each individual step. The individual steps need to be focused enough for clarity, and then your ad campaign as a whole should leave a holistic impression with your viewers.

Fully Represents the Brand

Fully Represents the Brand

If your clients are going to trust your brand and stick with you, then you’ll need to represent yourself accurately and fully. Show them who you really are, and don’t leave anything out. The core principles your company adheres to should be distilled down enough to include in your materials. You don’t need to write your mission statement in your ads, but you do need to ensure your brand comes through in an accurate and compelling way. Your values matter, and your audience should think so too.

Creates Emotional Reaction

Propelling your prospective clients through the steps of your ad campaign, and eventually your sales funnel, requires emotional reactions on their part. If they don’t feel something, then they won’t act. They need to care, and you need to show them why they should care. By addressing their desires, motivations, fears, pain points and more, you can fuel something inside of them. When your audience is passionate, they’ll act on your offers. Make sure you can deliver what you promise, though, or else those emotions will quickly change to be negative. Negative reactions will hurt your brand.

Delivers Clear and Strong Message

If there isn’t one central takeaway, then your campaign won’t achieve the goals you seek. Without the focus of one, clear, strong message, your audience will be confused. And a confused audience doesn’t take the action you’re offering them. To decide on your central message, look back on your goals. The goal you have in mind should inform all aspects of your ad campaign. It’s especially important for the central message you choose, though, which will determine the ways in which you communicate your offers.

Simple but Suggestive

Simple but Suggestive

You don’t need to say something to imply it. Suggestive implications can be very engaging for people. When you drop breadcrumbs for them to follow, they’ll be much more pleased when they get to the end. People enjoy this process, as it engages their sense of curiosity and wonder. Craft your content and design your funnel to really play into this sense of discovery that your clients can achieve by following your trail. If you can get your audience members to enjoy each step along the way, they’ll be more likely to convert to customers. Make them wonder, but make sure you give them enough to work with.

Contains Lines That Are Easy to Remember

Your ads need to make an impression. That impression needs to be not only significant, but also long lasting. Maximize the impact of your words by crafting lines that are easy to remember. Play around with different one to see what sticks, and remember that the longer a line is, the more clever it needs to be.

Creates a Sense of Trust

When your audience trusts you, they’ll be more comfortable engaging with you. To facilitate the sales process down the road, show them your expertise now. And when you establish a strong relationship with your clients, they’ll be more likely to come back for continued purchases or contracts with you. With repeat customers, your sales will steadily increase, and the cycle will snowball. How do you create trust with your customers? Do you need help designing your ad campaigns to convert more sales and increase your company’s revenue? If any of the information here is intriguing, but you need help implementing it for your business, then let us know! At Wizard of Ads®, we’re here to serve you. Contact us today to learn more!

(Online)
(Offline)
(Ad Campaigns)
(Creative Advertising)
Ryan Chute
Ryan Chute

Helping small businesses become BIG brands with a holistic marketing strategy that speaks the same language across all sales and marketing channels.

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Frequently asked questions

Questions? We’ve got answers.

Who does the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors work with?

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors work with healthy and growing Residential Home Service Contractors hungry to grow by multiples, like you.

You are ready, willing, and able to grow your business. You are open to change and are seeking a distinctive angle of approach to gain the time and attention of a too-busy public.

You know that lasting relationships take time, patience, and good energy to nurture and cultivate. We carefully enter into every arrangement with the intention of working with you for as long as you own your business. You prefer lasting partnerships.

You are already a solid operator. You have successfully grown your business and appreciate the impact the right brand story will have to get to the next level in your operation. You know a strong relational message takes time to gain momentum, but it’s worth the one-time short-term discomfort for the long-term gains.

Marketing cannot fix a failing business.

We accelerate what’s already happening in a business. If your business is on the rocks, marketing will only speed up the inevitable.  

You’re focused on lasting change that leads to exponential, profitable growth, not just sales at any cost. Intuitively, you know that communication that enhances every element of your customer's experience and your employee's culture is the key to your success.

How does the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors charge?

Traditional marketing agencies are designed to capture the greatest amount of revenue from a client, regardless of results. Every last item is billed and expensed to the client. Typical agency fees can represent a whopping 55% of the entire advertising budget. That means a $5 million dollar advertising budget, you would spend $2.75 million on agency fees.

Think of Wizard of Ads® for Contractors as the Anti-Agency.

Our income is not tied to your advertising budget. Our income is exclusively tied to your growth. Our goal is to maximize your advertising impact with the lowest reasonable spend. This allows you to spend only what is necessary or to put extra horsepower into aggressively growing in your market.

The genius of this model is that it perfectly aligns our motivations as true partners for exponential profitable growth without the pain of being unaffordable. Ultimately, we are confident in taking the risk of being underpaid in the first few years because we know the results always speak for themselves.

Next, we do not accept commissions, referral fees, kickbacks, or other compensation from any service providers we recommend or engage for production work. Most agencies do. This includes the 15% agency commission for media buying. This approach is considerably different from the compensation plan employed by most advertising agencies, as it eliminates any potential conflicts of interest and allows us to focus our entire attention on helping you grow your business profitably as a true partner. For example, a $500,000 annual media buy would involve a $75,000 commission that we would have removed directly from your media providers' invoices.

This is the perfect pricing model for Residential Home Services.

By tying ourselves to gross revenue, we only have one motivation. Your motivation. We have no motivation to convince you to spend more money on marketing than what is necessary, and since we are a variable expense to sales, we NEVER become too expensive to have us on your team.

In almost every case, we end up lowering the amount of money you spend. We will stay within your planned marketing budget, including your media spend, production, and our Annual Fee. Add on the fact that you get any and all commissions back for media buys and various services provided by outside providers, and you will actually save money having us on your team.

Don’t forget, we have the largest buying power in North America for media buying, meaning for every dollar you spend buying media, we only spend 27 cents on average. This stretches your reach, impact, and frequency in a way no other agency (or yourself) can achieve on your own, saving you hundreds of thousands of dollars, eventually millions, every single year.

Clients who heed our advice and embrace our Marketing Strategy quickly add $1 million in incremental revenue to their business, making your investment a smart bet and a bit of a no-brainer.  

There is no longer any guesswork, hope, or fear that our marketing strategies are going to work. If our client’s are able to abandon any limiting beliefs about marketing, deliver operational excellence, and play the long game, our marketing strategy will accelerate their profitable growth.

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors pricing model is based solely on the topline revenue of your company. It consists of an Upfront Fee and an Annual Fee. These fees are inclusive of scheduled travel, services, and all other expenditures as outlined in the Consulting Agreement.

The Upfront Fee covers the intensive Uncovery Process, the first year’s Media Buy, the Creative Process, and the Market Research while the Annual Fee goes toward implementation, ongoing creative and consulting, and next year's media buy. You get a team of 3.5 people, with direct access to a top tier Creative Lead and Media Buyer, and on-demand access to me as your Master Strategist. You will also have a full-time Account Manager keeping everything on track.

While the upfront does have an initial pinch, it is easy to amortize the investment over the many years we will be working together to grow your business. Wizard of Ads® retain clients for 10 years, on average. The sale of the business is the number one reason for termination. We actively terminate the bottom 1% of clients who are unwilling or unable to follow our strategies.

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors believes that all rewards should be directly correlated to the success of our clients. This means that the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors only receives a raise when the company achieves growth. For example, if your gross sales for the year have increased by 25%, the Annual Fee you pay us in the following year will also be increased by 25%. Likewise, if your gross sales decrease, our Annual Fee will decrease by the same percentage during the following year.

This is an exceptionally easy and fair way to track and reward success. This model was developed by Wizard of Ads® over 35 years ago and has served us well because it serves our clients well.

As a rule of thumb, we take the risk of working for considerably less than our actual value in the first few years as we help accelerate growth. This means you need to be willing to pay us exceptionally well when you start doing even better.

When should I engage The Wizard of Ads® for Contractors?

There are four key revenue stages for engagement with the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors.

  1. Under $3.6 million in revenue
  2. Between $3.6 and $10 million in revenue
  3. Between $10 and $20 million in revenue
  4. Over $20 million in revenue

Under $3.6 million in revenue is an investment in your brand. This will serve you well in establishing your brand story early on and help you with your name, logo, and truck wrap design. It's easier to create pictures from a story than it is to make a story based on pre-drawn pictures. You'll be glad you did. Everyone on a fast path to growth is.

Most clients start with Wizard of Ads® for Contractors between $3.6 and $10 million in revenue. They have often seen a natural ceiling with their leads for demand service and are looking for ways to push past the ceiling. This can only be done with a properly executed brand strategy, specifically in mass media with a sticky story.

Between $10 and $20 million in revenue, Wizard of Ads® for Contractors has some natural economies of scale. This is a sweet spot where Wizard of Ads® for Contractors can offer some added value in getting the ball rolling.

Over $20 million in revenue is actually the lowest cost point of entry as a percentage of revenue, but not the cheapest time to start with the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors. Leveraging all economies of scale aside, we have been left out of the upside along the way, so engaging when over $20 million in revenue means we have to mend a lot of fences damaged along the way. This is also where clients see significant savings in their media buys and production costs.

There are also three market sizes to consider.

  • Primary Markets are the top 50 cities in America.
  • Secondary Markets are the smaller cities in America.
  • Tertiary Markets are the more rural trade areas in America.

When considering an engagement with The Wizard of Ads® for Contractors, consider what size market you are in. For example, a $3.6 million company in a Primary Market will struggle to get the necessary reach needed to make a splash. You either have to be more patient than a larger company or spend more money to accelerate your reach.

Alternatively, a $5 million company in a Secondary Market will look like a pretty darn big fish in a medium-sized pond.

A $20 Million company in a Primary Market will feel like a $50 million company using our strategies to potential customers.

The key to remember is that the earlier you start with the Wizard of Ads® for Contractors, the lower the investment to get started. As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

Are production costs included in your fees?

The Wizard of Ads® for Contractors Creative Lead will create the ad copy, cast the voice actors, source the production house, direct the performance, pick the music bed, manage all the edits, and provide you with the completed ad for final approval before sending to air on your behalf. This is included in our fees.

You pay for the production house, actors, royalty-free music, and jingles directly to avoid any potential for markups, commissions, or management fees.

We have many friends in the industry that give our clients good deals due to the large volume of work we provide them. We will introduce you to them.

How long before a brand-forward strategy starts working?

In approximately three months of activation, we’ll just be getting live on air. In six months (3 months on air), you’ll be getting anecdotal feedback from people that you are being heard, but there will be no direct line to revenue.

After 6 months on the air, you’ll think you made the biggest mistake of your life signing up for this branding nonsense. After 9 months on the air (12 months in) you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.

At 12 full months on the air, you’ll know why you did this branding thing. Two years from now, we'll be clinking champagne flutes as you wonder why you didn’t do this sooner.

How long before we’re live?

The general guideline is 70-120 days, depending on the level of production needed and if there is a name change to your business.

This includes an onsite visit, a deep dive into research, and getting things created, negotiated, approved, produced, and live on the air.

  • Uncovery - 15-30 days based on travel. 1-2 days onsite.
  • Research - 30-60 days based on the scope of work.
  • Creative and Media Buy Process - 45 to 60 days
  • Offline Production - 15 days for radio. 30 - 60 days for television.
  • Online Production (if switching) - 60 days

This means planning for roughly 90 to 120 days in the proper development and production of a completely unique Marketing Strategy before anything hits the airwaves.

Are you exclusive?

Creatively, yes. During the term of this Agreement, all Creative Partners assigned to your Account shall not engage, directly or indirectly, as an employee, officer, manager, partner, consultant, agent, owner, or in any other capacity, in any competition of the client, including any company engaged in marketing consulting.

For clarity, the Creative Partner is defined as the individual Wizard of Ads® Partners who is responsible for creating your creative strategy and ongoing creative copy. Competition is defined as companies that engage in the same industry and business units (e.g., HVAC, Plumbing, etc.) as you. The market area is defined as the area where the marketing message naturally reaches through DMA or 60 miles from the city center of the client's service area(s).

Naturally, we exclude any potential future competition in markets where you are not currently active at the date of signing.

We do not limit Media Buyers in any market. Media Buyers get better deals for larger volumes, making it beneficial for the client to have the Media Buyer available to do as many buys as possible to secure the best deals on the client’s behalf.

Do you do digital marketing?

In rare circumstances, Wizard of Ads® for Contractors will provide specific digital marketing solutions. Wizard of Ads® has very specific Partners that provide digital services that serve Residential Home Services effectively. Under no circumstances will digital marketing services be offered without Wizard of Ads® for Contractors' core solution.

It is most likely that Wizard of Ads® for Contractors will work with your existing digital partners and suppliers. If you do not have a reliable digital provider, we would be happy to introduce you to a number of great providers that play nice with Wizards.

Do you do jingles?

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors can assist you in getting a jingle for your business. Like any other tactical element of a marketing strategy, we do not produce a jingle for the sake of a jingle.

If you do not have a story or a strategic reason to have a jingle...or an ad campaign to tie it to, do not waste your hard-earned money on a jingle. You are wasting your time and money.

When you do build a single unified marketing strategy that incorporates a jingle for a specific (often scientific) reason, we have a Jingle Wizard who has studied the art and science of jingle design.

He will score you an original, royalty-free jingle, including professional singers, musicians, and producers. He will not knock off a generic jingle from a publicly available music bed that sounds like everyone else's jingle.

Your jingle will serve a very specific reason and produce a very specific result. Have you guessed how much we love jingles yet?

Who owns the copyrights?

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors owns your copyright for two very specific reasons. We also provide a fair use clause in all contracts to ensure you are in no way limited to the access of your creative works, whether you are working with us or not.

The first reason we own your copyright is to ensure that we do not have to go up against our own creative works in other markets we serve. This means you are not allowed to lend, give, borrow, tweak, rent, lease, or sell your creative works to any other company at any time.

The second reason we own your copyright is that we can establish a one-time value for your creative works in the event that someone steals the content. Upon selling you the copyrights, you can go after the perpetrator for theft and make a considerable bounty in a slam dunk case.

Here is how Wizard of Ads® word the fair use of your copyright for as long as your business is in operation:

All writing and/or marketing materials we create for you are not works-for-hire. Wizard of Ads® for Contractors hereby irrevocably grants you, and your successors in interest, the non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable, and worldwide right to use the Works in connection with the marketing of your business pursuant to the Marketing Strategy for so long as your business is operational.
How do I measure brand results?

There are a number of interesting ways to measure results. Some people like to get unique identifying telephone numbers, or create branded URLs that redirect to landing pages or the website. However, much of this is a waste of time and energy as it never tells the true story of the brand journey and how it affected the decision-making process.

Other indicators of brand effectiveness include tracking new customers, reactivated customers, or running a brand equity survey to get a sense of your share of mind. Digitally you will see direct search increase, which cannot be affected by anything digital, as well as branded keyword inquiries increase. You’ll, of course, need to get your digital people to add these to your campaigns if you hope to see an increase in conversions.

Wizard of Ads® for Contractors tracks the simplest of indicators. Top line revenue. When your branding takes effect, and the company responds in kind from the phone call or form fill-on, top-line revenue will increase. Efficacy is plotted on a T12, and total lead volume from all sources is tracked.

12 things you should know before signing up.
  1. Quality relationships take time. Branding is a long-term strategy. That’s why most contractors do it wrong, or not at all. There is always a lag between the start of the new campaign and the time it takes your customers to connect the dots. You MUST BE READY, WILLING, AND ABLE to endure this lag period. In our experience, the lag is typically 6 to 9 months, depending on how competitive the marketplace is, your company’s reputation, your budget in relation to reach, and the eight uncontrollable environmental factors. During this time, we will be helping you implement a transition plan to ease the pain. The good news is that this lag only happens once.
  2. Decisions by Committee. We completely reject the notion of decisions by committee. We work with a single, courageous decision-maker. We welcome decision influencers, but we only look to the Owner for the final decision. All decision-makers and influencers must be involved in the Uncovery and Marketing Strategy Presentation if they want to offer input in the future. It is critical that we have a 100% fully approved plan that can be defended and championed by all leaders in the organization.  
  3. Proven Strategy. That means we are not the low-cost provider. With nearly 200 home service clients and a book of strategic devices, tools, and tactics, this isn’t a guessing game for us. We know what to do to make your externally triggered grudge purchase appealing to your potential buyers. If you can deliver the goods, we can continue building relationships. If you are uncomfortable with the idea that you are paying us less now so that you can pay us considerably more once revenues allow, please do not commit. We intend to be your true partners, in sickness and in health...so long as you own your business.
  4. Automatic Payments. Everything is on automatic payments. If you struggle with managing cash flow, figure that out in your business first. We accept all major credit cards and ACH payments.
  5. We Cause Problems. If you don’t have a capacity issue now, I promise you will in about 9 months. Let’s deal with recruitment out of the gate as part of your comprehensive marketing strategy.
  6. We Own the Copyrights. All writing and/or marketing materials we create for you are not works-for-hire. We irrevocably grant you, and your successors in interest, the non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable, and worldwide right to use the Works in connection with the marketing of your business pursuant to the Marketing Strategy for so long as your business is operational.
  7. Brand Building. We will be steering you to limit the use of discounts, rebates, coupons, and sales to attract clients. We know this feels counterintuitive to many, and we will clarify our reasoning. Rest assured, we have considerable experience in creating similar offers that are not damaging to your profitability, your brand’s integrity, and your preferable long-term client relations.
  8. Creative Authority. We must have creative authority over the words. You can accept copy as written or reject it outright, but you cannot modify the words yourself. If you do not like something as written, we are happy to discuss it and make the necessary change to maintain the integrity and intention of the words chosen. Alternatively, we will scrap the concept and create new copy that you are happy to get behind 100%.
  9. Proprietary Algorithm. The media buy must be structured in a very specific way, including running a full 52-week schedule. It is based on brain chemistry, not P&Ls. Once we have committed to the buy, it’s important to avoid adjustments unless they are calculated additions.
  10. Knucklehead Factor. You should expect knuckleheads. For example, when you start running ads that are certain to get attention, you need the courage to continue running those ads, even when you receive complaints. We celebrate complaints. It means we’ve made people feel.
  11. Digital Weasels. In about three months from the time your advertising campaign hits the airways, your digital marketers will show you a marked increase in direct and organic traffic. Some Digital Marketers will mistakenly claim this success as their own. Done properly, you can continue to spend less and less on digital lead generation by increasing your branded keyword online presence.
  12. Annual Marketing Meetings. Travel permitting, we prefer to hold Annual Marketing Meetings (AMMs) outside your city. Years of experience have taught us that we get better results when decision-makers are outside their sphere of influence, away from the day-to-day distractions of the office.

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