Dos and Don'ts in Paid Ads

Zack Greenfield • January 25, 2023

Hey guys, on this video we're gonna talk about paid ads, and we're gonna talk about what you must do and what you must not do in your paid ads to get decent results in my experience. So hang in there and we're gonna cover it right now. 

So if you're running paid ads or thinking about running paid ads, here's what I have to say about today's paid advertising environment. And there's lots of headlines about advertisers are pulling back and this and that and the other thing. Uh, but the reality is if you wanna raise traffic on your website and or conversions, um, you've got to figure out how to do that. And paid advertising is still a great way to move traffic. It works every day for, uh, most of my clients that are running edge with us. We have obviously like everybody, some campaigns that are duds and that happens. So you need to learn to expect that paid advertising is a process. There's not a silver bullet. You're gonna have your better campaigns, you're gonna want to, you know, run with those. And the stuff that's not doing well, you're gonna clip it. 

It's just that simple. Now, here's some rules that I think you could live by starting right now. From what I've seen over the last 12 months, if you're gonna do PPC and stuff, you've got to have a really compelling, powerful offer that steps in front of anything that your competitors might have out in the market. Then that kind of sucks because it sorta, you know, takes you down that race to the bottom, which I really don't, uh, like to encourage folks to do. So the slant on it might be writing the ad in such a way that you're presenting an incredible amount of value, right? So turn that whole equation upside down. So instead of being the cheapest, be the best with incredible amounts of value. So you can, you can skin that cat any way you want, but what I am telling you is you gotta widen the margin considerably to get clicks on PPC ads where they're positioned above organic search results. 

So you really gotta kill it on that value proposition, whether it be valued by cheap or valued by best, or valued by most, the, the gaps gotta be really big. So think of it this way, if I could give you a rule thumb shoot for 10 times, whatever everything else is out there, be at 10 x and you, you likely get some good results. Uh, the other thing you know that you don't wanna do, that, the sort of counter to that is being vague, uh, not precise, you know, precise, especially in the PPC world. Like saying exactly what the person's gonna get if they click is hugely important. You know, you've got all these possibilities to play around at extensions and Google's, you know, gonna rotate things and try to optimize 'em for you. But when you're writing all those into your ppc, uh, responsive ads, you wanna make sure that you're continually being precise in all of your variant. 

So anything that's vague is just not gonna be appealing. Like, great soup click, you know, best soup in town. Okay, so what, how about, and this is the difference. I'm giving you a soup example. So random best soup in town, nobody's clicking that ad. It's just, it's just not compelling. But here's what is compelling. Five gallons of soup for $1. New customers only. Wait a second. I can get five gallons of soup for a buck if I'm a new customer. Like that specifically says incredible amounts of value if I'm a new customer. And obviously ads are mostly to get new customers. So you could say that and you can have terms and conditions around that, of course. So you see the difference there. Best soup in town or, you know, five gallons of soup for a buck. So that, that's really what I'm talking about. 

Incredible amounts of value, very precise. So do that and don't be vague and just sort of like wide open with stuff. It's just not compelling. You're just not gonna get a lot of clicks. This also goes a l goes along with your display advertising. Display has a lot of other things with it that you can play around with to catch people's eyes, like animation and pictures say a lot more than oftentimes the words do. But this video is mainly about PPC and kind of what I've discovered through, you know, hundreds and hundreds of ads that we're currently running. I mean, it might, it's probably in the thousands. It's for the year for sure. Uh, and so that's just a good, two good rules of thumb to start off with. I wish you the best of luck out there. Smash the like button for me and subscribe to the channel so you can join us on the next one and we'll see you then.
GET HELP TODAY
By Zack Greenfield May 5, 2026
Agentic AI is revolutionizing the marketing funnel. See how autonomous AI agents are boosting conversion and slashing costs in 2025.
By Zack Greenfield April 30, 2026
Brand trust in 2026 is tested as AI-generated and human content collide. Here’s how business owners can harness authenticity for real growth.
By Zack Greenfield April 28, 2026
Conversational AI ads are reshaping digital marketing in 2025. Discover how Snap and YouTube's AI-driven features can future-proof your marketing strategy.
By Zack Greenfield April 23, 2026
AI agents like OpenAI’s Workspace Agents and industry shifts from Fox to Google are quietly reshaping marketing. Learn how to leverage them for ROI.
By Zack Greenfield April 22, 2026
Small restaurants in Scottsdale are drowning in competition. Old Town alone packs more than 90 dining establishments into a few walkable blocks, and that doesn't count the resort restaurants with marketing budgets bigger than your annual revenue. Add rising food costs, labor shortages, and the shift to third-party delivery platforms taking 30% cuts, and you've got a business environment where half of new restaurants fail within their first year.
By Zack Greenfield April 16, 2026
You're plating during dinner rush when your phone buzzes. Another competitor just posted a reel that hit 50,000 views. Meanwhile, your last Facebook post from three weeks ago got 12 likes—most from your mom and the produce delivery guy. You know you need help, but between managing staff, vendors, health inspections, and actually cooking food, who has time to become a marketing expert?
By Zack Greenfield April 14, 2026
Meta to overtake Google in digital ad revenue as AI transforms marketing automation and branded experiences. Is your business ahead of the curve?
By Zack Greenfield April 9, 2026
LLM-referred traffic is the new SEO frontier in 2025. Ignore it and lose conversions. Here’s how to get your business ready—before your competitors do.
By Zack Greenfield April 7, 2026
Most Arizona businesses don't need a full-service agency with 47 people and a receptionist named Brenda. They need a small team that actually knows their market, responds to texts, and doesn't bill them for "strategy sessions" that could've been an email.
By Zack Greenfield March 31, 2026
Phoenix and Scottsdale sit 12 miles apart, but their marketing playbooks might as well be in different states. What works for a taco shop in Central Phoenix will fall flat for a boutique in Old Town Scottsdale, and pretending otherwise is how small businesses light their marketing budget on fire.
Show More