I’m always happy to see Sam Adams Octoberfest arrive on shelves. But make no mistake, fall is being foisted upon us, folks.

Brands pretending fall is already here provided the seed for today’s Feature Story. We’ll look at ads pretending not to be ads - pretty hard to do these days. After that, we’ve got lots of juice in the following sections:

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (go slow, win fast) 

• Facts & Stats (repelling ads)

• Get Hacking  

Let’s get into the Feature using this screencap…

Organic Marketing via Ads that Look Like Content

The screen capture above looks nothing like an ad. Yeah, I see the giant disclaimer at the top of it!😁

Yet, here’s how the ad makes readers overlook that. 

That chart ad looked like the other hundred charts I’ve seen in that newsletter for years (Chartr, now Sherwood).

By mirroring the newsletter’s usual content aesthetics, the ad blends in and readers are more likely to look closer and not scroll right by it.

Pretty cool in an age when everyone can spot an ad a mile away and subconsciously block out thousands of ads that never make it into our conscious minds.

If I stopped the lesson here, I’d simply ask you to test various ways to make your ads appear more like organic marketing. More natural. But let’s go deeper.

Proof Organic Marketing is Effective (2 pieces of evidence)

#1 Couple editions ago, I posted a link showing ‘ugly’ Facebook Ads got more conversions.

#2 User-generated content produces massive sales today.

UGC even worked in the Wild West days. 

Sam Colt was a failure for years. It took just one user of his revolver to turn Colt’s fortunes around. A famed Texas Ranger saw the invention’s value when no one else did, and his endorsement turned the tide for the Colt brand.

Now for some examples of ads. Can you immediately pick out which ones are ads?

Organic Marketing: Which One’s an Ad?

Sure, after taking time to look closely, a marketer like yourself can spot the ad. 

But remember, the point of having an ad blend in with content is to give your ad a bit more time to grab someone’s attention.

Just imagine all the ads you’ve scrolled by that showed off products you might’ve found to be awesome, but never got your attention for that extra eight seconds.

So. All three of those above screencaps are ads. All three. 

The YouTube Ad looks like a goofy YouTuber made the video. 

Natural for the platform. Blends in well.

The RE Cost Seg Ad looks like some plain text.

Even the disclaimer uses the more natural word “note” at the end.

The Agital Ad is nearly identical to the content in that section.

The disclaimer asterisk is at the very end of the ad. Further, the second asterisk that indicates asterisk number one means “sponsored,” comes at the end of the section.

Organic Marketing is Tricky

No doubt, most industries have compliance to worry about when it comes to letting consumers know an ad is in fact an ad.

And the point is not to trick shoppers. Unless you’re in the insurance industry. 

Kidding. Not really. 

Back to my point. Organic marketing or ads that blend in with content are not for trickery. They are for giving your ads more time to make an impact on people seeing them.

A legit product or service only needs a few more seconds to get enough consideration to produce a sale.

Touchy 

Lack of touchpoints costs businesses sales. 

Brands realize they need more touchpoints but often miss opportunities right under their nose—anonymous visitors to their website.

Smart Recognition identifies these interested visitors and collects their verified email addresses so you can add touchpoints (retargeted ads & abandoned browse emails). 

Schedule a Smart Recognition demo.

*Need 15k in monthly US-based traffic. Presented by Smart Recognition

Self-Help

“If you can’t do it slow, you can’t do it fast.” ~Randy McElwee (Retired Green Beret & Gracie Jiu Jitsu Instructor)

Mr. Randy repeated this over and over because students, myself included, would try to rush Jiu Jitsu techniques, thinking that’s how you catch your training partner off-guard. 

But when you go slow, over time you perfect your technique. Then, it doesn’t matter what your partner expects. 

On the mat, Mr. Randy moved like a boa constrictor, not a flying squirrel. He’d inch his way to a dominant position and effortlessly catch his opponents in a submission. He moved slow. But his rolling sessions (sparring) ended fast, with opponents tapping out.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: Gen Zers are more than twice as likely than the average shopper to buy __________ directly through social media in 2024  Answer at end of post.

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Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

Last Wednesday, I handed you an easy tactic for ramping up your video content production. Well, here’s another way to do it that requires even less effort, smarts, or skill.

Brainstorm 10 ideas for extra-longform videos that fit your business. Use the model of peaceful river videos that run for three or four hours. People ‘watch’ these videos in the background. Nissan found success doing something similar in a four-hour animated ad featuring soothing music.

Here are three ideas to kickstart your brainstorm:

1. Time-lapse cityscapes: Set up a camera to capture the changing light and activity of a city skyline over several hours. 

2. Slow-motion product demos or user-generated product use. Put on a loop.

3. Animated infographics: Create simple, looping animations of key statistics or facts related to your industry or product. 

This bonus one just hit me. Do a fun daily weather report on a loop. Weather data is readily available, people still watch video weather reports, and there’s room for creativity.

Inbox Hacking is read by smart marketers from Mastercard, Allstate, and You. Please forward to your marketing peeps.

Shane McLendon, Copy Kingpin - Inbox Hacking 

P.S. Answer: “Holiday gifts” (from Bonus in Facts & Stats  section).