"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

- Leonardo da Vinci

I've seen a lot in my 7 years and $13M+ running Facebook ads... but this new ad creation strategy is now in the top 3 of my favourite breakthroughs of all time. After battling to restore performance of this particular front end sales funnel for more than 6 months for this account... we went from averaging 42 sales a day at $153.85 CPA to clocking in (on average) 114 sales a day over the last 7 days while slicing my CPA by 2.45x down to $62.87

To be honest, I'm a little hesitant to share it because it works so well that it's almost too easy, and telling you what it is essentially is giving away the keys to the Zuckerberg mint if executed correctly.

3 Things before I continue...

#1) This method was introduced to me by Will Perry of Unicorn Traffic and founder of Elite Media Buyers, and this is only ONE of his methods that I took and ran with. If you haven't checked out his stuff, I highly recommend it.

#2) I have only had outstanding success with this ad style thanks to collaborating on implementing this strategy with the legendary copywriter Peter Lu (@peter_lu01).

#3) Here's proof that it works (insert guru-style blurry screenshot below that seems hard to believe)... and it's worth mentioning that I've tried 5 different variations of this method, and it's worked all 5 times.

Note: The lightning-bolt ads covered in this article are inside the green box, and some of the old ads for comparison are circled in the red box.

Dang... Alright Blake! But What Are These Lightning Bolt-On Ads?

So glad you asked. It's quite simple really, and once you have this ad creation strategy in your tool belt... you'll never run out of ads again.

First, they are called "Lightning Bolt-On Ads" because they are fast and are essentially two pieces of video content bolted together, a core video element (more on that in a moment) and a CTA (Call To Action) video element. That's it. Because there are only 2 main parts, and in many cases you can get away with just a few CTA video element variations... you can have endless combinations where the rate limiting factor is how much core video content you can make and how good your content is.

If this strategy does not work for you... it means the content you chose to use in the ad is not good. Repeat and try again.

Step #1: The Core Video

One of the easiest ways to find ideal core video content to use as the first section of your ads is to review your organic posts and reels on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok... and grab the ones with the highest combinations of reach, likes, and comments.

Pro-Tip: If you already post a lot of great content... review your content in Meta Business Suite or with whatever tools you use to analyze your top performing content and start with those first.

If you don't have plenty of good content to use, I recommend creating some base core videos to start with that have a strong hook (I.e. first 3-5 seconds of the video) followed by a great piece of content.

Here are some examples of content styles that work exceptionally well:

1) Demonstration/Educational content (my personal favourite)

2) Polarizing view content (I.e. taking a stance against a commonly held belief)

3) Top 3/5/7 Tip-Style Videos (e.g. the top 5 online businesses to start in 2023)

The key here, in most cases, is to post these types of videos and see which videos get the best organic

Step #2: The CTA Bolt-On Video

All you have to do is film a quick 30-90 second call to action (CTA) script that ideally takes place in the same setting as the original piece of content so that it looks relatively natural when you bolt the pieces of content together.

So, if the core video content is in front of a whiteboard with a blue shirt... film the CTA in front of the same whiteboard with a blue shirt. If the core video content was filmed on a hike with your dog wearing a white shirt... well, you get where I'm going with this.

Then, you attach the core video from step #1 to the CTA video in step #2 and voila... you have your first Lightning Bolt-On Ad created and ready to launch.

Here's a sample template you can copy and paste to get started with your own Lightning Bolt-On Ads:

"And if you're looking for [insert number of tips, tricks, strategies, or resources] more [insert relevant solution] to elevate your [insert relevant achievement or goal], and boost your [insert business metric],....

Then luckily for you, we've compiled it all inside the [insert product name] [show product in hand]

These [insert what the product provides - tips, strategies, etc] have been successfully implemented in [insert number of industries] industries and counting...

As of this filming, there are [insert number of users or customers] [Editor: show screenshot on page] who have used these [insert what the product provides - tips, strategies, etc] with a considerable amount of success since [insert start date].

You can get this [insert product type - book, guide, etc] for yourself today.

Go read it, use it, and see what that does for your [insert business metric].

You won't regret it."

All you have to do is fill in the template with your relevant information and tweak the copy to whatever product or lead magnet you're offering.

A Final Note On Quality...

The simple yet harsh truth about this strategy is that it will result in one of two outcomes...

#1) You'll make drastic cuts to your CPA and your ads will begin to soar off the backs of your amazing content.

Or...

#2) The ads will absolutely bomb and it means that the quality of your content is missing the mark.