In the world of digital marketing, getting your paid ads right can make or break a campaign. But success doesn’t come without its challenges. Through trial and error, we’ve uncovered common mistakes that undermine creative strategies. The good news? We’re sharing how you can avoid them. Here’s how to sidestep these pitfalls and ensure your ads stand out in a crowded digital landscape.
1. Ignoring The Hook
The first 3 seconds of your ad creative can determine its success. Without a strong hook, users scroll past.
The Problem: Weak or generic openings don’t grab attention. Viewers leave before they understand your message.
The Fix: Start with something bold or unexpected. Use striking visuals, relatable scenarios, or intriguing questions to stop the scroll. Need inspo? We’ve developed a list of 101 hooks that are proven to help boost ad performance.
Here are some tips on how to improve your hook’s performance:
- Use Trends: Trending topics or formats instantly grab attention and feel relevant to your audience.
- Ask Questions: Pose a question that sparks curiosity or addresses a problem your audience wants to solve.
- Highlight Pain Points: Call out a challenge your audience faces to make them feel understood.
- Show Bold Visuals: Use striking, unusual, or unexpected imagery to stop the scroll and draw people in.
This hook is great because it immediately starts by sharing relatable content to call your attention. “PSA” is used to convey important information intended to inform the public about an issue, encourage action, or raise awareness, so it’s a great technique to capture attention from the very beginning.
2. Focusing Only on Features, Not Benefits
Features alone don’t connect emotionally. People buy benefits, not specs.
The Problem: Highlighting features misses the chance to show how your product solves a problem.
For example, you’re a supplement brand and you’re highlighting the ingredients but… what makes your supplement better than the rest? Focus on benefits like “Boost your energy with natural ingredients”, or “Prioritize proper hydration with key electrolytes”.
The Fix: Emphasize the transformation your product provides.
Check out this carousel and how it uses both features and benefits. It explains the ingredients and the benefit each ingredient has.
3. One-Size-Fits-All Creative
Listen carefully: do not recycle the same paid ad across all platforms. Results won’t be the same.
Each platform has unique formats, audience behaviors, and best practices. A TikTok audience doesn’t consume content the same way as a Meta audience.
The Problem: Each platform has a distinct style, and its users behave differently. Using one creative for all can backfire. Why? Because of different content expectations –for instance, users are willing to see some authentic, fast-paced videos on TikTok while Meta favors short, engaged content; also, there are different audiences on each platform that you need to keep in mind.
The Fix: Tailor your creatives to fit each platform’s style and audience. It takes effort but delivers better results.
4. Overusing Generic Phrases
It’s time to talk about banner blindness.
Banner blindness is a phenomenon where users ignore ads, often due to overexposure or predictability.
You’re seeing the same phrase everywhere. It’s not authentic anymore. And you know it’s a paid ad before they’ve even finished the pitch.
The Problem: Audiences ignore phrases they’ve seen too many times. Your ad feels unoriginal and untrustworthy.
The Fix: Use fresh, specific language. Address your audience’s needs or use storytelling to grab attention.
Here are some examples:
- Don’t say “New Year, New You” try “This year, I finally solved my [pain point] with [product]” instead.
- Stop using “Transform Your Life Today” try “Life Hack: Try [product] for [pain point]” instead.
- Change “Get Results in Just [X] Days!” for “Here’s how to get [value prop]”.
5. Skipping UGC
2025 is the era of user-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) is content created by individual users to share information or tell a story: they may tell how they found your product, how great it was for them and more. It’s authentic content that works extraordinarily well for audiences nowadays.
The problem: Audiences crave real stories. Ignoring UGC in your ad mix means missing out on relatable, high-converting content.
The fix: Incorporate UGC into your campaigns. There are plenty of ways for that: from testimonials to reviews, real-life demos or voice overs – because yes, a real voice is way better than an AI generated one.
If you don’t have time to source a UGC creator, don’t worry, we can do that for you!
This one example here has everything a good UGC video should have:
- Starts with a strong hook
- Shows a before/after transformation
- Spotlights the product in action
- Lists benefits, not features
6. No Clear Call To Action
Even a great ad fails without a clear next step.
Now imagine: your ad creative is great, it has amazing UGC, answers the main BDQs your customers could have, but it finishes abruptly and it isn’t clear what to do next. Confused viewers don’t convert.
The problem: Vague or absent CTAs leave potential customers guessing. They’ll leave without taking action.
The fix: Add a specific, actionable CTA. Examples include “Shop now,” “Start your free trial,” or “Learn more today.”
Bonus tip: Adapt your CTA to the platform you’re advertising. For example, for Tiktok add your CTA in native-style captions or to have your voiceover state the CTA clearly.
7. Not Scaling Enough
Failing to scale a winning ad creative is one of the biggest missed opportunities in paid media. You’ve done the hard work of finding a creative that works—don’t let it go to waste.
The Problem: Many advertisers either hesitate to scale or scale too cautiously. A winning creative has a limited lifespan, and delaying scaling can lead to leaving significant revenue on the table. Additionally, scaling without a clear strategy can cause performance to plateau or decline.
The Fix: Scale your winner strategically and quickly. One proven approach is ourthe Outlier Method. This method involves isolating top-performing creatives, analyzing key metrics, and allocating more budget to scale those winners fast.
- Start Testing Early: Identify potential winners before your campaign is fully live.
- Analyze Metrics: Focus on critical indicators like CTR, CPA, and ROAS to select your outliers.
- Allocate Budget Aggressively: Double down on top creatives while monitoring performance closely.
Scaling is the key to maximizing your campaign ROI. Don’t let hesitation hold you back.
Turn Mistakes Into Wins
Avoiding these mistakes can dramatically boost your paid ad performance. By leveraging tailored messaging, understanding your audience, and using data to guide your decisions, you’ll create ads that resonate and drive results. In a competitive market, a strong creative strategy isn’t just an advantage—it’s a necessity. Implement these fixes, test relentlessly, and watch your campaigns thrive.
Your Growth Partners
From UGC to landing pages, Primer helps create high-converting marketing assets. Trusted by top brands like Ka’Chava, Rocksbox and more, we’d love to work with you to grow your revenue, and can partner in whatever way suits you best.
Your Growth Marketing Team: Partnering with Primer means we take care of everything—strategy and planning, creative production, reporting, and optional media buying—to achieve your growth objectives. You focus on your business while we deliver the results.
Creative On-Demand: Access a subscription-based marketing creative platform to request UGC, video ads, images, and landing pages crafted by top marketing creative strategists and designers who understand what drives conversions.
