EP 489: Are Your Facebook Ads Too Safe to Get Attention?

Show Notes:

😴 Why polished and technically correct ads can still be forgettable
👀 Why clear, simple ads still need enough personality to get noticed
💬 How stronger opinions and more interesting framing can help an ad feel less generic
🔎 Why Phil recommends studying what competitors are saying—and what they avoid saying
🧠 Phil’s take on copying industry ads: similar-looking creative can make it harder to stand apart
🎯 Why specific language can be more meaningful than broad phrases like “great customer service”
🗣️ How using the language you would actually use with a customer can make ads feel more natural
😂 Why humor, emotion, and personality can be worth considering without making an ad gimmicky
⚠️ The danger of confusing differentiation with clickbait, shocking headlines, or insulting competitors
🧪 Phil’s competitor test: remove the logos and names, then ask whether your ad would blend in or feel distinct
✅ Reminder: every business is unique, results vary, and there are no guaranteed outcomes

Transcript Disclaimer

This transcript was generated automatically using AI transcription tools and may include errors, omissions, or wording that differs from what was intended. I have not reviewed every word, and no part of this transcript should be interpreted as an income claim, success guarantee, or promise of results of any kind. The information is for educational purposes only.

Transcript:

Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Next Level Facebook Ads Podcast with Phil Graham. We help you master Facebook ads and give you an unfair advantage over your competition. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Speaker 2:
What’s up, podcast family? Welcome to the Next Level Facebook Ads Podcast, episode 489. Welcome to fall. It’s officially fall here in the U.S., September 22nd.
Hope you guys are doing amazing. Today, I want to talk about whether your Facebook and Instagram ads are maybe too safe to actually get the attention you need from your ads. Because a lot of ads are not horrible, but they’re safe and they’re boring.
There’s a lot of Facebook ads that are polished and professional or maybe technically correct, but they’re totally forgettable. And that can be a real problem because if your ad blends in with everything else that people typically see, then you might actually have results that are horrible. So I guess that would mean your ad is horrible after all, right? So today I want to talk about whether your Facebook ads might be playing it too safe and how to make them more noticeable without becoming gimmicky or obnoxious or off-brand or anything crazy. So it should be a great show today. Before we jump into that, if you guys need any help with your ads, whether that’s one-on-one coaching and consulting or somebody to run your ads for you, go to my website, PhilGrahamdigital.com, or you can DM me on Instagram at PhilGrahamdigital. We can set up a short Zoom call and I would love to connect with you. So let’s jump right in. And as always, we’re going to keep this episode very short, sweet, full of value and super actionable for you guys. Are your Facebook and Instagram ads too safe to get attention? Because if they don’t get attention, then there’s a good chance you’re losing money.
And that is not good. So many people do generic, general, boring, safe ads and just hope for the best. And usually they don’t get it.
So let’s talk about some things that you might try to not be in that kind of position because you don’t want to be boring. You want your ads to be clear and simple and focused, but not boring. So when somebody first sees your ad, they should be able to quickly understand what the ad is about just by barely scanning it.
They shouldn’t have to read the whole thing. And your ad should be clear, but still have some kind of personality in it somehow. Make it your personality.
Have some kind of a zip to it. Don’t let it be boring. Yes, you can have a strong opinion of things.
I certainly do when it comes to fake gurus and get-rich-quick idiots and stuff like that. Whatever you feel strongly about, make sure that comes out in your ads as it relates to your audience, you know, of course. Maybe you say something your competitors are afraid to say in their ad.
Or maybe you look at a problem that you help your audience solve and you think about talking about it or framing it or a more interesting way than other people frame it. And that’s something that can help you stand out potentially without having it look or be boring. So what I would do for you guys is take a look at what people in your industry are doing and think about their ads.
Like so many people make the big mistake of looking at ads, what’s being run in their industry and they run the same kind of crap. It’s insane. Like they just assume it’s working and many times it’s not, but they assume it does incorrectly and they run the same crap. They get the same results and they’re just like everybody else and they don’t stand out. What I want you to do is look and see what everybody in your industry is doing and what they’re avoiding. What are they not saying? Because every industry, every type of business has common frustrations and challenges that customers already know about.
And maybe there’s some annoying industry practice of not talking about that or a misconception in your industry or market that nobody else really challenges because they’re like afraid to, they don’t wanna rock the boat. Or maybe you look at stuff that’s going on in your market and it’s just the same crap everywhere and customers and your audience might be tired of hearing the same offer, the same promise, the same everything. You know, remember when webinars were such a big thing?
And yeah, they were good. But like eventually people got so tired of webinars because everybody and their mother and brother had an hour webinar that they wanted you to join, which 99% of the time was a glorified BS sales pitch. Sometimes people get tired of that crap.
Yet what most people do is do what everybody else is doing and keep doing that crap. So you got to be careful. You want to look at what people are avoiding.
What are they not doing in terms of your competitors? Because those could be opportunities for you to do something that isn’t boring, that is not safe, that might get noticed. That’s how you can create some really strong ad ideas and hooks and angles and stuff like that.
You just need to be more interesting than the standard crap that’s out there. And the good news is most of the stuff that’s out there is boring standard crap. So it’s very easy to be more interesting and get noticed when you compare yourself to that.
Now, a couple more tips for you. So many times when I see strong ads, they’re way more specific than general generic crappy ads. Let me give you an example.
A lot of times I’ll see an ad that’ll say something like great customer service, which is fine. I’ve done that before too, but there’s a better way to do it these days here in mid to late September, 2026. And that is be more specific.
So instead of just saying great customer service or top customer service or whatever the case may be, describe what your customers actually experience. What does that mean, great customer service? Does it mean that your customer service is not run by an AI bot?
It’s run by a real person that gives a damn and you respond to every message in 24 hours? Does it mean that if anybody has a problem with their order, you’re on it no matter what? Like whatever that is, explain it.
Be more specific. It’s way better than just saying great customer service, because now these days, great customer service doesn’t really mean anything. You should be more specific.
And also, not only is it more interesting, it becomes more believable. And here’s the big thing. Personality can separate you from competitors.
And this is especially true in like smaller businesses, entrepreneurs, stuff like that. People want to know who they’re dealing with, whether it’s a one person company or a larger company. you still want to know the types of people that you’re dealing with. Your ads don’t need to sound like a big corporation with lots of layers. In fact, if you are, you might want to make it so it doesn’t sound like that. Even if you are a big corporation, you might want to change that.
When you’re running these ads, you want to use the language you would actually use with a customer. Don’t fancy it up because it’s an ad. And think about using stuff like humor. Like look at Super bowl ads that cost tens of millions of dollars. So many of them have humor or emotion in them.
So think about using humor or opinion, something where your personality can come through. That’s something that can make a big difference. You want that personality to come through, even if it’s not perfect, even if it’s not polished. In fact, if it’s not perfect and polished, that’s probably a great thing. And then a little warning too, like you don’t want to take it overboard. You don’t want a mistake being different and not being boring for being crazy or stupid. Like you don’t want to do shocking headlines. You don’t want to do clickbait. You don’t want to insult competitors or specifically talk about somebody else or do some stupid stunt. Like you’ve seen this kind of stuff and it backfires.
It’s really dumb. So you don’t want to do that stuff. Do not go overboard either. There’s a happy medium between boring and going overboard. And you want that sweet spot in the middle.
So here’s what I recommend you guys do. I call it the competitor test. I want you to pull up some ads in the Facebook slash meta ad library of a bunch of your competitors and whether they’re your exact competitors or just people generally in the industry. And I want you to just kind of in your mind, remove their logos, remove their company names. Don’t think about their page. Just look at the ad kind of quickly, look at the creative and look at the headline and ad copy just really briefly and do that with about 10, 15, 20 different ones. And you’re going to probably notice how many of them look and sound very similar. If you take out the logos, the names and stuff like that.
And then I want you to ask yourself the ads you’re running or planning to run, Would you feel the same way if your ad was in that bunch? Or would your stand out and be totally different? Because if it’s not going to be different, if it’s not going to stand out, you’re going to have a hard time.
It doesn’t mean never run an ad like everyone else. You can try that too. But typically what I would rather have a lot of people do is look at what other people are doing and do the opposite so you can stand out.
Look at what’s going on in your market. Ask yourself if yours would blend in or stand out. And then try some things that we’ve talked about today to help it stand out without going overboard.
And I think that’s something that could be very, very important for a lot of you guys. And as always, just a reminder, it’s always important to point out that every business is unique. Results can vary.
There’s no guaranteed outcomes. So always keep that in mind. So my friends, episode 489 is in the books.
First day of fall. I love this time of year and I hope you guys are doing well. I’ll have another great episode next Tuesday.
Until then, have a wonderful week, and I’ll talk to you on next week’s episode. PhilGrahamdigital.com is the website if you want to connect. Until then, have a great week.
Peace out.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Next Level Facebook Ads Podcast. Please remember to subscribe and share this with all your friends. For show notes, more tips, and to learn more about Phil, please visit PhilGrahamdigital.com slash podcast.