This Russ Ruffino ad – for Clients On Demand – just happened.
The body copy was as follows:
I’m Russ Ruffino, and I’m the MOST COPIED marketer on Facebook.
Why? Because I built a $35 million coaching company with ONE 45-minute presentation.
Here’s what that means for you:
- You can stop trying to build complicated funnels, or hack other people’s…
- You can quit making endless videos…
- You can stop undercharging for your best work…
- And you can probably stop 99% of the overcomplicated strategies everyone else is teaching.
Just ONE 45-minute presentation can be the backbone of a multi-million dollar business.
One presentation is ALL YOU NEED to attract the right clients, at the right price, anytime you want.
And this isn’t my opinion. We’ve helped coaches, experts, and thought leaders all over the world create their OWN 45-minute presentations…
And then leverage that ONE tool into 6 and 7-figure businesses.
Look – sometimes it’s hard to know who to believe. Any idiot can copy someone else’s Facebook ad. Any fool can hack someone’s funnel.
But NOBODY can copy our results, and nobody will be able to copy yours either.
Join me today for a free on-demand training where I’ll pull back the curtain and reveal exactly how one presentation can be the magnet that draws the perfect clients into your business every single day.
Click the button below to get access!
Honestly? Not impressed.
Right off the bat, I feel lied to, since “sleeping cat” had nothing to do with the ad itself. This is a pet peeve of mine.
It’s like:
Don’t dupe people into reading. Earn that sh*t. Put the work in to find the perfect, eye-catching image that actually ties into the copy. And if that’s not possible, a picture of you or your team or your product or your brand works just fine. At least it’s honest.
Now. Am I saying Russ Ruffino – or whoever wrote this ad for him – was intentionally trying to deceive people with “flat cat?” My guess is no. Probably just laziness. Like, “Hmm, this’ll do.” But, then again, that’s not a good first impression either, is it? (Laziness?)
Next, I’ve tested the “Sign Up” button versus one that simply says “Learn More,” and “Learn More” always wins. Not a huge deal, but probably leaving a few clicks on the table.
Also not a huge deal is his use of the subdomain, which I don’t love. I always have better luck putting my squeeze pages right on the root domain – no “this.that.com” or “this.com/that” nonsense. Just nice and clean: This.com. Even better, have the domain match the hook. For example, Ruffino could’ve used: MostCopiedMarketer.com.
Moving on.
The headline? Meh. It’s fine. Facebook makes the headlines so f*cking small anyways, it really doesn’t matter near as much as people think. Nonetheless, it’s polarizing – so he gets kudos for that. If it were me, however, I would’ve added “Read above” as the subheadline. Just to make it crystal clear. But whatevs.
Onto the body.
So he opens, edgy AF, balls dangling in the breeze. Right? That first line is the strongest part of the entire ad. Why? Cuz it’s so polarizing. It guarantees an emotional response: either you’re a Ruffino fan and you wholeheartedly agree, or you’ve never heard of him, and now you’re all: “The audacity of this guy!”
Which leads to lots of interaction with the ad. Likes, loves, wows, laughs, dislikes, and heated responses in the comments section.
And all of that activity? Tells Facebook: “This ad is relevant AF.”
Which helps lower Ruffino’s costs.
From there, it’s just marketing 101. He digs into the pain points a little, offers a simple solution, jabs the “idiots” and “fools” he’s competing against (not a fan of this – comes off petty and shows that you’re frustrated by ’em… which kinda knocks you down a notch), then ends with a cliché call to action.
Overall, decent, but I’d expect more from the King of Coaching.
Like, if it were me, I’d:
Add a clickable link or two within the body copy itself… to get way more clicks.
Take some sandpaper to it – smooth out each sentence. Swap out big words for small words. Make sentences and paragraphs shorter. More line breaks. Remove all overused jargon, which only makes him sound exactly like the very “idiots” and “fools” he dissed. For example, “leverage,” “on-demand,” “pull back the curtain,” “reveal.”
Add in a line, probably at the end, to soften the arrogance a bit. Some self-deprecating humor would really win back a good percentage of people who’d decided they hated Russ after that first doozy-of-a-claim. Ya know?
And I’d definitely make a damaging admission. As is, it just sounds way too good to be true. Why not win some trust by saying: “Oh, and at the end of this free presentation, I’ll try to sell you something. Sorry, not sorry.” Again, same as with the picture, honesty goes a long ways.
Last, when you click over to the squeeze page (where you’re supposed to register for this free on-demand presentation), there’s a total disconnect from the ad. No cat. No talk of being “the most copied marketer on Facebook.” The call to action got switched from “free presentation” to “reserve my pass now.” There’s all new bullets. And a blurb about “authenticity,” even though the ad was anything but authentic.
There’s a lot going on on that page. With opt-in conversions, less is more. (By the way, everything I’m saying here is what I’ve proven… spending millions of my own dollars on FB ads.) That said, it’s formatted beautifully on mobile, which saves him.
Pro tip: I wouldn’t even worry about what your sh*t looks like on desktop these days; 80-90% of my Facebook ad traffic comes from mobile… and that number’s only gonna go up.
Anyways.
Despite all this, clearly, Russ Ruffino is doing just fine. That’s good news for you… if you run Facebook ads… cuz you can patch these holes… and still compete with the top marketers… who have bigger names, more momentum, and deeper pockets than you might have. Right?
Oh, and I’m not a hater. One, I’ve given Ruffino nothing but love in other articles. He’s the head honcho of high ticket, no doubt. Two, I’m almost certain he’s got a Facebook person who does all his ads – so my critique really has nothing to do with his skill as a copywriter or advertiser. Three, I’m well aware: he wouldn’t be running an ad that wasn’t profitable.
On the other hand?
Be careful with cause and effect. Is he successful… because of… or in spite of… his Facebook ads?
Like, he does so many things exceptionally well. Is it that hard to believe that advertising isn’t one of ’em? That this particular ad, for instance, is – gasp! – merely average?
(Of course not. Especially when you charge, what, $10,000 for your front-end product? I mean… that gives you some serious cushion, does it not?)
PS, compare Ruffino’s COD ad, above, to this used car ad. Who would you trust more? Like more? Be more willing to give your hard-earned money to… assuming you wanted each offer equally?
