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Reverse Engineering 2023's top YouTube ads

Free 56 min video training:Discover the science behind irresistible hooks and breakthrough advertising that beats the YouTube algorithm. Two top experts reveal their secrets.

Author

VidTao
November 20, 2023

Welcome to today’s VidTao Newsletter, your one-stop destination for all the latest in Direct Response video advertising.

Today’s briefing is a 6 minute read:

  • 📺 Breakdown: Reverse Engineering 2023’s Top YouTube ads: (56 min video training) Discover how to “dissect” the anatomy of today’s top YouTube ads to replicate their success

  • 📦 VidTao Ad Discovery: Check out this eComm YouTube ad spending $250k/month

  • 🧬 Direct Response Headline / Hook Framework Insights from Agora’s founder + Breakthrough Advertising’s Eugene Schwartz

  • 🗳️ Poll: About Your Black Friday ads…

  • ➕ Plus: When you’ll be able to targ YouTube Shorts Ad Placement option in the works?, Build an AI research assistant from scratch, GPT Vision tools, Twitter/X’s DR ads mis-step, The 3 Advertorial Types, Direct Response vs. “World Building”, 5 Part Growth Dashboard (from Lyft/Masterclass’ Paid Growth Director), and much more…

📺 Breakdown: Reverse Engineering 2023’s Top YouTube ads

Want to see how to Reverse Engineer the marketing, positioning & psychological principles behind 2023's top YouTube ads?

VidTao recently hosted an 56 minute breakdown of a couple of 2023's top YouTube ads. Go here to check it out.

Alex & Billy on the call

On the call we had:

  • Inceptly Creative Director Alex Simic (Alex & Inceptly are the performance ad team behind $950M+ in direct response revenue via YouTube ads and other traffic channels)

  • Billy Broas (Billy is the creator of the 5 Lightbulbs Framework & marketing advisor to companies like Ryan Deiss’ Digital Marketer, Ali Abdaal & multiple Y Combinator startups)

Here’s what you’ll discover on the call: 

  • The 5-part framework to easily “dissect” the anatomy of ANY winning YouTube ad (Show your copy team this 5-part framework and watch them crank out new, breakthrough ads thanks to this perspective switch)

  • The 3 overused video elements that kill results - and how to eliminate them from your next video ad

  • The “contrast trick” that doubled retention on this one ad (for dramatically lower CPMs & CPA)

  • The bullet-writing formula that turns curiosity into action - see how applying it to VIDEO made Bottom Line millions

  • And much more

👉 Go here to watch (it’s 100% free) and get on the interest list for some very exciting creative training we’ll be launching soon…

✍️ Direct Response Strategy & Tactics Corner

Why is your market’s “Awareness Level” Important?

Turns out Direct Response legends have A LOT to say on this topic.

And today we’re going to dive into it thanks to Mark Forde’s (aka “Michael Masterson”) fantastic book “Great Leads” 

(Go here to see the article we did last week all about how Mark generated $1 billion+ in Direct Response Revenue from his "Lead" Framework)

📖 Key Insight: Understanding Your Customer’s Level of Awareness

💡What does your customer already know?

“Everything your prospect knows before you begin your sales pitch will determine not just what you’ll say, but how you’ll say it, when you open the conversation between seller and buyer. More specifically, what your reader knows will help you decide which of the following six lead types will work best. It’s that simple.” 

- Mark Forde, “Great Leads”

Here’s how Eugene Schwartz (one of the 20th century’s top marketers & author of the classic Breakthrough Advertising) frames this:

  • 📦 When to Lead With the PRODUCT: “If [your prospect] is aware of your product and realizes it can satisfy his desire, your headline starts with your product.”

  • ❤️ When to Lead With the DESIRE: “If he is not aware of your product, but only of the desire itself, your headline starts with the desire.”

  • 🤔 When to Lead With the PROBLEM: “If he is not yet aware of what he really seeks, but is concerned only with the general problem, your headline starts with that problem and crystallizes it into a specific need.”

Eugene Schwartz elaborated this into a handy framework:

It’s helpful to look at some top offer-driven businesses and what market awareness stage they entered into:

Dollar Shave Club:

  • Awareness Stage: Problem Aware - People were aware of the high costs of razor blades from major brands.

Purple Mattress:

  • Awareness Stage: Unaware - Most people were not aware that major mattress alternatives with new materials existed.

Squatty Potty:

  • Awareness Stage: Unaware - People did not know that improper toilet posture was causing problems.

Next Steps…

Go ahead and look deeper into your market, get data and ask yourself:

What does your customer already know?

Find the Awareness Stage you’re playing in, adjust your ads accordingly, and watch what it does to your results.

Today’s Newsletter is Supported by Inceptly
Direct Response Video & Traffic Agency

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That’s it for today!

Best wishes,

The VidTao Team

PS - Got a direct response offer or brand you're looking to scale with paid traffic?

Here's how our partners at Inceptly (our Direct Response Video & Traffic agency partner with over $950M in Direct Response revenue generated) can help:

1) Paid ads Strategy & Execution on Google, YouTube, Meta, TikTok (and more)

"We have been working with Inceptly for over 2 years now, and they have been instrumental in helping us drive paid acquisition at scale. I highly recommend Inceptly's services." - Sandy Diao, Director of Growth @ Descript . com

2) Build a Custom Tracking & Attribution “Brain”:

"Thanks to [Inceptly's] data team, we now have a custom tracking solution built specifically to our business that supplies all of the information we need to floor or throttle the proverbial gas pedal which is front-end advertising." - Devyn Merklin, CMO Livingood Daily

Can one of Inceptly's custom data solutions help you finally crack the code on attribution at scale?

3) Build Direct Response Video Creatives that SCALE

"The Inceptly team just gets it when it comes to performance video creative. I love it." - Val Yakovchik, Founder & CEO MoxieLash

Let's build your next winning creative campaign on YouTube, YouTube shorts (and more)!

4) "UpSkill" Your Internal Creative & Media Buying Team

"Thanks to our work with Inceptly, at our current pace within 3-4 weeks we should be doing highly profitable $10k+ days on YouTube." - Wouter Akika, VidTao Bootcamp client, Founder & CEO of MyDermaDream

Let's “Transplant” our team’s experience directly into your internal team, as quickly as possible. Fast-track your team’s media buying & creative skillset with the best in the business.

PPS: Have you checked out VidTao 2.0 yet?

We just added new features like Affiliate offer tracking, and millions of NEW YouTube ads indexed from all your favorite companies and offers.

Here’s how to check it out:

☝️If you have a VidTao Premium account already?

Go to next.vidtao.com to log in to VidTao 2.0 and try it out.

🙅 …And if you don’t yet have a VidTao Premium account?

Current VidTao Premium members will be “grandfathered in” on the current pricing tier for VidTao 2.0…

…But once we fully launch VidTao 2.0 at the end of the month?

We’ll be raising the price (as you can imagine we’ve invested A LOT to upgrade the software and continue to add a bunch more amazing features we’ll be walking through over the next few days)

Go here to lock in current pricing & claim your VidTao Premium membership with VidTao 2.0 access: