More ads won’t fix it. Better concepts will.
How we decide which ads to make before anything gets designed: who the ad is for, why they should buy, what they get, and how one idea turns into an ad set you can read.
Written by Pedram Ghozat, founder of MediaBoostr, and PedramAI · Updated
Why most Meta creative stops working
Most brands try to grow on Meta by making more videos and more images. The number of ads is rarely what holds them back.
Most brands have two or three of these at once. The fix is a plan for what to make, not more output.
The ad does the targeting now
Meta’s ad delivery has changed. Broad targeting is the default, and the system reads the ad itself to decide who sees it. So the words and pictures in the ad decide who you reach.
That changes what creative strategy is. The job is to decide which buyer each ad speaks to, which argument it makes and what it offers. Design comes after.
We use one set of words for this, so the brief, the ad account and the report all mean the same thing. A concept is a persona, an angle and an offer. One concept is one ad set. Everything below it is how that concept gets shown.
Test order: persona, then offer, then angle, then execution, then format, then hook.
Six steps before a single ad gets designed
The same process for every brand we work with, from the first research to an ad set you can read.
Start from ads that already work
We collect 15 to 30 ads from brands built on paid social, inside and outside the category. An ad that has run for months is paid-for proof. We borrow the argument, never the design.
Count what customers say
Reviews, ad comments and competitor reviews, sorted by problem, belief, buying trigger and what they tried before. Counting shows which problem is big.
Personas and awareness
Three to five personas, each a problem, a desire and a buying moment. For each we note how much they know when the ad meets them.
Angles
Two to four arguments per persona: pain, a belief flip, how it works, the change it makes, identity, comparison, an objection, a moment. A tired market needs a new mechanism, not a bigger claim.
Concepts, then executions
Each concept gets a persona, an angle and an offer, then 2 to 3 executions you can picture, each shown in 2 to 3 formats. Variation means a new hook on the same execution. Iteration means a new execution on a winning concept.
Ad sets you can read
One ad set per concept, named Persona | Angle | Offer. The ad set result says which concept works. The ads inside say which execution and format carry it.
Account setup, budgets and how we read the results are on Meta account structure. Research in depth is on customer research.
How one concept becomes an ad set
A made-up example: a brand that sells fitted T-shirts. One persona, one argument, one offer, then the ads that bring it to life.
Three executions in two to three formats each gives 6 to 9 ads, all testing one concept. Example brand and lines are made up.
After a winner: new executions on the winning concept go into a new ad set (same name, v2). Roughly half of new ads build on winners, a quarter are variations, and a quarter test new concepts.
Brands whose ads work on fans and stall on strangers
If retargeting looks great and new customers keep getting more expensive, the creative plan is usually where we start.
Questions
What is creative strategy for Meta ads?
It is the plan for which ads to make and why: which buyer each ad speaks to, which argument it makes and what it offers. It comes before design and production, and it decides how you read the results.
What is an ad concept?
We define a concept as a persona plus an angle plus an offer. One concept is one ad set. The ads inside it are different executions, formats and hooks of that one idea.
What is the difference between an angle and a hook?
The angle is the argument for why someone should buy. The hook is the first line or first three seconds of one ad. One angle can carry many hooks.
What is the difference between a variation and an iteration?
A variation is the same execution with a new hook, colour or crop, and Meta mostly treats it as the same ad. An iteration is a new execution of a winning concept. A new concept means a new persona, angle or offer, and gets its own ad set.
How many ads should each ad set have?
We aim for six or more statics or three or more videos per concept, with every ad visibly different, so the ad set gets a fair read.
Do you still use avatars?
No. We say persona: one buyer defined by a problem, a desire and the moment they buy. It means the same thing and avoids confusion with the face shown in an ad.