Lessons

Lesson Info

The Aducate Formula

Now the thing is when it comes to any ad if you're anything like me sometimes you just don't feel in your creative mindset, and you wake up and you think, "You know what? "Today's not a creative day." We all have those days. You can be great at everything you do, but sometimes it's really difficult to be creative for your own business as well. It's really easy to sometimes think of creative ideas for other people and think, "I've got a great idea for an ad for you," but when you try and do it for yourself it becomes quite difficult. So what we do is we actually use a formula, and I'm gonna share that with you. It's called the Aducate Formula. Now remember, when we advertise on YouTube for this type of campaign we're going to be using key words. So this is in-store shoppers; they're looking for information. They're almost have went offline for a second into bricks and mortar business. What those people are looking for is to almost talk to a sales rep. They're looking to find out informa...

tion about the features, the benefits, and understand exactly what product's gonna be right for them. Now what they're looking for is education. And so that's exactly what we're gonna give them. Obviously you may have guessed, but Aducate comes as an ad, but also the plan is to educate the viewer as well. Not meaning to teach you how to suck eggs or anything like that, but I just wanted to make that clear from the very beginning. And Aducate is also an acronym. So we're gonna work through each one of those letters that actually means something. But this formula has been tried and tested. We've used it so often and it works really, really well, especially when you just need to have a formula to create a really good script for your video ad. So, this Aducate formula. As you said before it's an acronym, so we're gonna break down each one of these letters. And the first thing you want to do is-- And before I get into this, I should actually mention that I'm gonna go through each one of these letters. Just sit there and listen in. Don't make any notes just yet because I have an exercise for you as well that will make the whole process a lot easier afterwards. So just soak in the information for the time being. The A stands for the aim, okay, the aim of your viewer. Your viewer's going to YouTube. They're looking for information. They've typed in one of these keywords or these titles, or these, at least 300 keywords that you've generated that are YouTube-friendly. They've typed one of those in. And we're gonna get in front of them. So what's their aim? What are they really looking for? What do they want, What do they need? There's obviously something they want, otherwise they wouldn't be going to YouTube in the first place. So what can you help them out with? Understand exactly what that benefit is to them. What's the aim, what do they want right there and then? What would be the benefit of that as well? And start writing those things down. That's kind of one of the first steps, is to understand exactly what your viewers are looking for and tapping into their aims. The second thing is the difficulty. The difficulty is also the reason they've come to YouTube. If they could easily achieve their aim, they wouldn't be on YouTube. They're going to YouTube because they want to know something, do something, buy something. They've typed in one of those keywords that you've generated, one of those 300 keywords. But they've not achieved their aim just yet. There's something standing in the way, what is that? What's the difficulty they're having? Is it confusion? Is it something just, they just don't know about something? Have they tried things in the past that haven't worked? Or is it something that's just a problem for them? Now you see a lot of companies create ads very effective that tap into the difficulty very well, and you'll get bonus points if you personify that difficulty as well. So you've probably seen things like kitchen detergent ads on TV, for example. Now the problem that some people face is bacteria and dirt and grime, for example. And when they see that they try and personify dirt and bacteria and grime. And what they'll normally do is personify it by a little green kind of menacing monster almost. So almost like if you've got your magnifying glass out, and you've probably seen this on the TV ads before, you have this little green monster that would represent the bacteria. And by personifying the difficulty it's easy for the viewer to be like, "Yeah, that's the problem, "that's the thing that's in the way." You may have seen Allstate insurance did it very effectively by creating a human character called Mayhem. And Mayhem, this human, this kind of a guy, would end up breaking down a house or smashing a car to pieces and just walking off. And it's like Mayhem can strike at any moment. And that's the thing is for Allstate, if they create this problem that could be a storm or whatever it is, but they're personifying it into a person, it's so much easier as a viewer to be like, "I don't want that person, that Mayhem thing, to strike me, "and therefore I need insurance "to make sure I don't have that problem." Cause when we just think of oh, a storm could happen, or a flood could happen, or anything might happen, it doesn't feel like it's-- you feel like you kind of can maybe bypass that sometimes or maybe it won't happen to you, but when it's Mayhem and he's choosing his victims, and it's kind of like you could be the victim, it makes you want to have something to stop that Mayhem from happening. So if you can personify the difficulty and talk about it in a way that your viewer feels like, "You've nailed it; "that's exactly what my problem is right now. "That's exactly what my difficulty is right now," you'll go so far to a point where they really kind of get to build trust with you because they'll feel like you know their problem as well as they do, maybe even better than they do as well. So if your viewer's having sleepless nights, you'll know that about them. So it depends on what they're looking for, their aim, but also what's that problem, what's the difficulty that's standing in the way from them achieving that aim and tap into that. Now the next thing, the next letter is the U and that stands for Understand. Okay, so as the company who's advertising, you need to share that empathy. You need to show them that you understand what they're going through. You don't have to have some big story around your kind of empathy for them, it's just making sure that they know at an emotional level you can understand. Not to say that you're going through it as well, but you can just say, "Do you know what? "I understand what it feels like." And if you can describe that feeling clearly, so they know that you know what it feels like, again, they'll build up trust with you very very quickly indeed. A lot of people feel like trust needs a lot of time to build, and it's true, trust does need time to build. But as soon as someone feels like you are like them and you understand them, then they are likely to trust you very very quickly indeed. So if you are able to clearly explain that you understand their aims, their difficulties, and understand the emotion that goes with that, it goes a long way in building that trust with you. Now, once you've built that trust with them, you're gonna then want to position yourself as the person that can help them, okay. You are not the hero of the story. They're not looking to you for you to be the company that's gonna solve all their problems and you are great. It's not that; instead what you're doing is you're positioning yourself as someone who can help them become great. So you wanna position it with credibility. You wanna make sure that you can showcase to someone, and it doesn't have to be much, you just want a sentence or two about how you can prove to them that you are a potential good guide for them, someone who can really help them out. Now, let's say for example you've won an award or you've helped loads of people or you have other forms of credibility, maybe you've written a book or you've spoken from stage or anything like that. Anything that just gives the viewer a tick in the box to be like, "Oh, great, you know what you're talking about." They're not looking for you to really impress them, all they're looking for them to do is for like, "It sounds like you know exactly what I'm going through, "and oh, great, look, you're an expert "in this space as well; that's fantastic." They're not looking for you to really brag about how great you are, even if you are amazing. They're looking for you to just quickly explain to them that you know what you're talking about. And so if you have written a book or you've spoken from stage, that might be a good time to showcase some of that in the video you create as well. So credibility is a really important part, but don't labor the process, just a sentence or two is fine. Once you've built that credibility, then you're gonna go into an action plan. You've positioned yourself as that leader or as that person that can help them, that guide to that process. But now you've gotta show them that you've actually got a plan that works, okay. It's one thing to be a really effective expert that can help them, but it's another thing for them to trust in your process. So you need to make sure that you have some sort of action plan in place. Now, if doing business with your business means that there's 27 things you need to do in order to achieve the result, that's fine, even if there are 27 things internally in your business, you can know there's 27, but when you explain it in a video ad, you need to make sure it feels easy for the viewer to do it. If you were to say, "Hey, I can help you "with all your problems, we're fantastic, "and there's 27 things you need to do," then they're gonna turn off very quickly. Because they won't feel like they can do it. It feels like, "Oh, well that's fine "for some people, but I can't do that." So what you need to do is package those 27 things into three or maybe even four things that almost becomes like, "Okay, there's three steps "for you to achieve the goal that you're looking for "and here's what you need to do." So you're gonna be basically saying like-- You're gonna try and break your process down to three steps, three overarching themes that someone can say, "Okay, that doesn't seem so difficult; I can do that." That's what you're looking to do. You're looking to position it so someone can buy in to your process as well. Cause they know that you've got lots of successful clients and they went through that same plan as well, even though there's gonna be nuances and differences every single time you run that program. But if there's three steps or four steps, it's gonna make someone feel like, "Cool, I can do that." Now you get bonus points, again, if when you're doing this, if you make it feel like they've already started the first thing. If they already feel like they've achieved one of those things already, like, "First thing you need to do is make sure "you decide upon this," or something. And if the viewer has already done that, they're gonna feel like, "Oh, great, "I've already achieved step one, that's great." Now, there's loads of different scientific studies on this but one of the ones that really resonates with me is that sometimes, if you were to look at loyalty cards when you go to a coffee shop for example, if you were to go and buy a coffee and the cashier behind the desk was to give you a loyalty card and say, "Hey, look, "here's 10 you need to get, but I'm gonna stamp "two of them for you right now," and give it to you, you're so much more likely to keep that in your pocket and use it every time you go to that coffee shop, than if they were to give you one that's blank with eight to get. So if they give you a loyalty card with it already started, you are so much more likely to continue with that loyalty card. The same thing happens when you're creating your ad. If you can make the viewer feel like they've already started the process that you outline, and there's only a few more things to do, they're so much more likely to buy in to the process. So make them feel like they've already started, they've already done something great; almost congratulate them for that and show them there's only a few more steps to go to achieve the aim you want to get. So that's something that has been really really valuable to add into your video ad. Now, the next thing you need to do is teach them something. Once you put this action plan, you might want to highlight one of those parts of the action plan. We do this very well when some of our clients might write books, for example. We'll say, "Hey look, this book covers these 10 chapters "but this works in three processes," or something along those lines, and then they'll say, "If you actually look at page 37, "here's a really good strategy; "it's gonna really help you out." So they're kind of choosing a very individual thing, but it has to be content that is novel, that's new to them. It's something unique to you as a business as well. That makes them feel like, "Wow, haven't heard that before." And that's really really good valuable advice. Something that's gonna be easy to explain, easy for the viewer to get, like they just understand it straightaway, to the point at which they think, "That's amazing, I haven't heard that before. That's a really really interesting viewpoint," or whatever it might be, but something valuable, something that you can teach them, that makes them feel like even if they were to leave the video right now, that video ad, and disappear and not go to your website and buy your programs and products, even if they were to leave the video at that point, you know you still left them with a really valuable experience. They've got something from the video ad. If you can achieve that, if you can teach them one or two things, or maybe even three things, quickly, that made them feel like, "I haven't heard that before; "that was really useful," you're going to get them to the point in their mindset where they're thinking you as a brand are really valuable. What you've got to offer is very valuable. You've just shared this in a 90 second or a two or three minute video ad and imagine what'll happen if I go and take the next step with your business, if I sign up for that webinar, if I download that PDF. Whatever it is you might have for people, if you provide this value in the video ad itself, that first experience they have with you and your brand is gonna be amazing. And that's what we're looking to achieve in the video itself, so provide a bit more teaching around the action plan that makes people buy in to the whole process itself. And then, the final part is the exit points of this video. Now, when it comes to the end of the video, you want to have a really clear call to action. You want to tell people exactly what to do next. Something I often say is, "Hey, look, "if you like this content within this two minute ad, "you are gonna love what I have got for you next." Cause you've bought the right to be able to say that if they're still watching your video ad at that point. So you might say, "If you like this stuff, "you're gonna love what I got next, "and here's exactly what I've got for you." Then you're gonna future pace exactly what you want them to do. And what I mean by future pace is to say, "Here's the next few steps you're going to take: "you're gonna click this link, "you're gonna go to our website. "You can see the box here that's the opt-in box. "Fill in your name and email and it's gonna take you "through to this page where--" whatever it is you might have to offer. So you kind of just future pace the next few steps that people are gonna take in order to take the next step that's a logical next step for your viewer to take. So you're gonna be nice and clear and you're not gonna lose your energy at this point. You're gonna be nice and clear, make it kind of very very succinct and very concise of what you want your viewer to do and tell them to go and take that specific action. Be really clear with that and then if you have that, that's gonna end your video in such a way where a viewer's gonna be like, "This has been really valuable so far "and now I want to click to go and find out what to do next. "What's the next thing you have for me? "Because if it's been this good so far, "just imagine what it's gonna be like if I do "join that webinar, if I do go and buy that product." Whatever it is you might be promoting at that point. So, this Aducate process, this aim, difficulty, understand, credibility, action plan, teach, and exit, is gonna be really valuable for you when you create your ads for those in-store shoppers. And what I wanna share with you is the fact that I have a downloadable form that you can use that will really help you out with this building of this script. And the first thing you're gonna do is-- it comes in three steps. One, you're gonna write down notes based off these different-- the letters of aim, difficulty, understand, credibility, action plan, teach, and exit. You're gonna write down notes in each one of those letters. The next thing you're gonna do is you're gonna draft, do a first script. So you just get to write it and just get comfortable with how it's all gonna flow. And then the third step is you're gonna get quite creative around it as well, so you can make sure it just flows really nicely, you feel comfortable presenting it, you feel like, "Yeah, this feels really good." You might add a few bits in, take a few bits away, and just make it your own. But you can get creative at that point as well, because you know you've got all the building blocks, all the precursors you need to get conversions from your video ad and get a really good user experience inside of your video ad on Youtube.