The most effective marketing never looks like marketing

Anyone who runs enough A/B tests eventually figures out that the marketing that pays the bills doesn’t look like marketing.

That’s because people have a sixth sense that filters out anything that looks like marketing. Yet each year, we spend a trillion dollars on marketing that doesn't work because it looks like marketing.

Here’s what actually works

• Emails – The ones that convert look like emails, not HTML brochures. Plain text. From a real person. (Your "from" address matters as much as your subject line.)
  

• Meta ads – User-Generated Content (UGC) style wins every A/B test. Anything that looks like a Canva template? Users scroll right past it.
  

• Landing pages – People want to understand what your product actually does, not read superlatives over stock photos of suspiciously happy office workers gathered around a laptop.
  

• Videos – Real people talking into their phones outperform studio production. You have 500 milliseconds to earn their attention – Intro music + polished edits = skip.

Do you look at ads or do you skip past them? Do you really think your customers are any different?

How to fix this:

1. Replace vague claims with customer specifics. Instead of "fast and easy," say "in five minutes" or "in three steps."
   

2. Show your product in action. Replace stock photos with screenshots, diagrams and results. Show the “aha moment” and the features that address prospects specific questions and worries.
   

3. Make it human. The more your marketing feels like it came from an actual person who understands their situation, the better it performs. (Even in B2B)
   

Bottom line: The best marketing looks like a friend or helpful colleague showing you something useful.

Your simple next step

Pick one piece of marketing that needs to perform better. Read it out loud. Does it sound like something a real person would say to a friend? If not, rewrite it.

Helpful? I send one thought like this each week to my subscribers – Read past issues and subscribe here.