What 25 Years of Running Ads Taught Me About What Actually Converts
I’ve been running ads for 25 years.
That means I’ve written copy before Facebook existed, scaled campaigns when Google Ads was still called AdWords, lived through every “this platform is dead” panic, and watched countless new tools promise to replace fundamentals.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
The platforms changed.
Human behavior didn’t.
If you strip away dashboards, algorithms, and shiny features, conversion still comes down to a handful of principles that have worked for decades—and will still work long after the current platforms are replaced.
Here’s what actually converts.
1. Conversion Has Never Been About Platforms—It’s Always Been About Psychology
Every few years, marketers blame the platform.
“Facebook is saturated.”
“Google is too expensive.”
“TikTok doesn’t convert.”
That’s really just noise.
People still buy for the same reasons they always have:
To solve a painful problem
To gain an advantage
To reduce risk
To feel certain they’re making the right decision
The ad platform is just a delivery system for psychology.
If your messaging doesn’t tap into real fear, desire, urgency, or relief, no amount of targeting or creative testing will save you. When ads fail, it’s rarely because the platform changed—it’s because the message no longer resonates with how the buyer sees their problem today.
2. The Offer Does More Heavy Lifting Than the Ad Ever Will
This is where most campaigns quietly die.
Marketers obsess over:
Hooks
Headlines
Formats
Creatives
Meanwhile, the offer is weak, generic, or indistinguishable.
After 25 years, I can tell you this with certainty:
Strong offers make average ads work. Weak offers kill great ads.
A strong offer:
Reduces risk
Increases perceived value
Makes the next step obvious
Feels unfair to ignore
When an offer is right, conversion rates go up, costs go down, and scaling feels almost boring. When it’s wrong, teams chase tactics, blame algorithms, and burn budgets trying to “optimize” something that was broken from the start.
3. Clarity Beats Cleverness Every Time
Some of the highest-converting ads I’ve ever run made me uncomfortable to launch.
They felt:
Too simple
Too obvious
Too direct
And they overdelivered.
Why?
Because buyers don’t want to be impressed—they want to understand.
If someone can’t immediately answer:
What is this?
Who is it for?
Why should I care?
What happens next?
…you’ve already lost them.
Clever copy wins awards. Clear copy wins customers.
After 25 years, I’ll choose clarity every single time.
4. Speed to Belief Is the Real Conversion Metric
Here’s the metric most dashboards don’t show you:
How fast does the prospect believe you?
Your ad and funnel have one real job:
Collapse skepticism as quickly as possible.
That happens through:
Specificity (“who this is for” and “who it’s not for”)
Proof (results, case studies, real outcomes)
Relevance (speaking directly to their current reality)
Authority (why you are the one to listen to)
If belief takes too long to form, people bounce—not because they’re uninterested, but because they’re unconvinced.
The faster belief forms, the faster conversion happens.
The Common Thread Most Marketers Miss
After 25 years, here’s the pattern I see over and over:
Ads don’t fail because of technology.
They fail because of misalignment.
Misalignment between:
The problem and the message
The promise and the proof
The offer and the audience
The ad and the funnel that follows
When everything lines up, ads feel easy. When they don’t, no amount of testing fixes the core issue.
Final Thought
If you want better conversions, stop asking:
“What’s the latest tactic?”
“What’s the newest platform?”
“What hack am I missing?”
And start asking:
“Is my message psychologically relevant?”
“Is my offer strong enough to carry the sale?”
“Is my clarity undeniable?”
“Am I collapsing belief—or creating friction?”
