Welcome to TouchPoints, the newsletter that breaks down marketing collateral from top SAAS brands for inspiration and analysis.

Let’s dive in.

Bamboo HR

Full Homepage

Homepage Hero

Mailerlite

Linkedin Ad

No One Cares About Unlocking a Feature or Capability

For a lot of copywriting problems, it is helpful to think in pirate terms. 

The word "unlock" is especially relevant here. Your content & marketing is the map. 

Your features and capabilities? 

They are the key and the treasure chest itself. 

Who cares about a key and an old wooden chest? 

What people want to unlock is the treasure itself. 

That is the outcomes, or what some people call results and benefits. 

To be clear, the map and key are crucial. 

Especially, prospects need to know that they key you are selling truly gets them the treasure they want. 

Mailerlite's on-image headline "Unlock the email tools you need" falls relatively flat. 

It's like saying "unlock the key to this box". It's just not how the word "unlock" works in the mind of someone who wants something. 

Here is a similarly fluffy suggestion, using the word unlock: "Email Marketing software that Unlocks business growth”. 

See how the "unlock" there is the outcome? 

That is much more powerful, in my humble opinion. 

As far as the rest of this ad goes? 

The caption is concise and hits on several essential elements of messaging, and subheader callouts on the image are effective and clear. 

What is with that stock photo? Where is the connection there? 

I'm not sure it's helping much.

Gusto

Linkedin Ad

The Messaging Hack That will Resonate with Buyers 

In Gusto's ad below, they pair specific pain points with their competitors. 

Here is how I would produce a similar set of statements for my product: 

1. Go to review sites (capterra, getapp, softwareadvice)

2. Look at competitor's bad reviews

3. Find common issues that your product solves for

Most importantly, you NEED to make sure you are using the same phrases that these reviews use. 

These are a hidden key to messaging. 

They are the most resonant and poignant ways you could possibly state your product's value. 

Like I said, I am not sure that Gusto did this type of research, but I would guess that this ad was the result of a process similar to the one I outlined above. 

Where can you go if you haven't found this info on the review sites? 

Reddit, Quora, Stackoverflow, and communities where your ICP hangs out.

How to Take Advantage of Visual Hierarchy 

There is a viral image about visual hierarchy that basically pranks the reader in order to show them how humans tend to read.

The H1 reads "You'll read this first", then a subheader says "then you'll read this" then some body text ABOVE the header says "you'll read this last". 

Gusto is taking advantage of that here. 

They list 3 awesome competitor-aligned pain points in the ad image, then a fourth in the body copy ABOVE the image. 

This shows a confidence and cleverness that B2B advertisers often lack.

I would call it a slight risk, but one well worth taking.

Thank You For Reading

Thanks again for reading this issue of TouchPoints. Remember subscribers can always see the whole database of my annotations here.

Want My Help with Your Ads?

Are you tired of watching your paid advertising budget disappear with minimal results?

I can help.

I've spent the last 8 years helping businesses of all sizes escape the endless cycle of chasing clicks and impressions, and I'm ready to share my secrets with you.

My approach to paid media centers around two reliable strategies. Video View Retargeting, and Growth Implementation. They have already helped dozens of businesses transform their campaigns and achieve sustainable growth.

Want me to help you get more customers from your ads?

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend our thanks to the following companies for providing examples and insights that made this edition of TouchPoints possible:

• Adfolio - For their awesome repository of B2B ads, with excellent commentary.

• Founderway.AI - An awesome resource that helped me better figure out how to run this newsletter, and forever friends of TouchPoints.

• Concise Copy - Pavlo is an absolute expert at homepage copy. Check out his value prop canvas for a super useful resource.

• Growth Therapy - Amanda is more B2C than me, but her insights about paid media and growth marketing are always welcome.

I sincerely appreciate these folks for providing great content and inspiration. It's great thinkers like these that allow me to deliver the best of modern SaaS marketing to you, our subscribers, every week in TouchPoints.