Why Ads That Make You Laugh Don't Make You Money

If you've ever been on TikTok or Instagram, you've seen the audacious videos that grab your attention with a guy making a stupid face. Or a pretty girl in a suggestive pose. You might think this is a great way to grab attention for you ads... but that would be a massive mistake. I've seen it too many times. Remember Old Spice ads? You'd get a whole movie, see Terry Crews laugh, cry, start a whole family and at the end a bottle of deodorant would appear. If you can't tell, this is terrible marketing and I'll tell you why...

Your ads need to lead your prospects into the sale, almost like appetizers.

How To Turn Your Ads Into Appetizers

Any good ad will leave you wanting to buy whatever they're selling. That's quite literally the definition of an advert. The problem with funny adverts is that they do the opposite thing. After you watch a video of Terry Crews jiggle his pecs around, you want to watch more and more funny videos. Now for Old Spice this form of advertising works because they have a marketing budget in the millions. But for the average business this is a terrible idea, not only does it bring the wrong type of people to your ads. Bored people who want to watch content on their phones. It also completely ruins your image. Selling is about building trust and no one trusts the jester. On the flip side, here's an example of a company getting it right.

McDonalds, The King of Advertising

Here's a McDonalds Ad:

What's the first thing the ad makes you want to do? Buy McDonalds. The ad almost provides a service, they know people walking down the street are hungry and they help you out by telling you what you want to eat. You're ad should do the same thing. Well not tell people what to eat obviously but let's say you own a hair salon, a great ad would be a video of you explaining different hair treatments and how they could help a client. At the end you can book them in to a call or consultation, but the initial information you give is what hooks them in.

It also has the added benefit of proving you're competent at what you're doing which is always good. Now you can see why comedic ads don't work, they make you want something completely separate to what the ad is selling. If you'd like to see how I could help you market your business fill out the form here and I'll personally give you a free marketing analysis. Bye for now,

Ryan. P.S You can check out my other articles here: https://www.taitmarketing.co.uk/blog