TYLER STEPHENS

We create modular performance creatives for 7-9 figure eCom brands using creative intelligence. Co-Founder & Visionary @VisCapMedia

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

How to CONSISTENTLY pump $500k+ of profitable ad spend behind single creatives?

RT & Comment “VID” & I’ll shoot over a FREE Brainstorm template + video breakdown showing you how to do this consistently on your own! 👇 🧵

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

GOOD AD or BAD AD? What makes a great ad in 2024 Pt.48

This Carpe ad is a masterclass in reverse psychology for body care products. It doesn't sell deodorant; it sells the thrill of getting an ""accidental"" deal that the company supposedly can't afford.

Overall Score: 8/10.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

GOOD AD or BAD AD? What makes a great ad in 2024 Pt.47

This Carpe ad is a masterclass in belief re-ranking for personal care products. It doesn't sell deodorant; it sells the painful realization that you're getting ripped off everywhere else.

Overall Score: 8/10.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

GOOD AD or BAD AD? What makes a great ad in 2024 Pt.46

This Carpe ad is a masterclass in intensification for personal care products. It doesn't sell deodorant; it sells the fear of missing out on the deal of a lifetime.

Overall Score: 8/10.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

GOOD AD or BAD AD? What makes a great ad in 2024 Pt.45

Goli's TikTok ad is a masterclass in directing mental movies for the supplement category. It doesn't sell gummies; it sells instant relief from your most embarrassing body insecurities.

Overall Score: 8/10.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

You're not managing feedback.
You're turning down, the early warning siren of system failure.

You're not handling criticism.
You're ignoring, critical intelligence from the frontlines of your business.

You're not dealing with complaints.
You're throwing away advice from people who care the most.

I've watched countless leaders treat feedback like interruptions instead of golden nuggets.

They rush past the warnings to get back to "real work."

But most successful founders stopped seeing feedback as friction and started seeing it as fuel.

When you reframe criticism as caring, everything changes. Your team becomes more vocal about problems. Your solutions become more accurate.

Your growth becomes more sustainable.

The leaders winning today aren't the ones who avoid feedback - they're the ones who actively hunt for it.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Think about a prospect, half-distracted, reading your ad on their phone.

Here's what's actually running through their head:

➡️ "Okay, what is this, in plain words?"
➡️ "Is this just hype, or is it real?"
➡️ "Do I even care enough to keep reading?"

These aren't random thoughts. They're the real test every ad faces.

Here's what each one means.

"What is this in plain words" means they want it simple. Not dumbed down. Just clear.

"Is this hype or real" means they have a fluff detector, and it's always on. A hollow claim trips it instantly.

"Do I care enough to keep reading" means you have seconds, and a clever mechanism they can't follow burns those seconds.

The pattern is clear.

They're not dumb enough to fall for hype. They're not patient enough to decode genius.

They want the truth, said simply, fast.

Write to those three thoughts and the ad lands.

Is your ad answering a real prospect, or talking past one?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

GOOD AD or BAD AD? What makes a great ad in 2024 Pt.44

This beauty device ad is a masterclass in future pacing for the skincare category. It doesn't sell a cellulite treatment; it sells the transformation into a more confident version of yourself.

Overall Score: 8/10.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

There's a psychological trigger hiding in every high-performing video ad that most marketers completely miss.

I call it "invisible problem revelation."

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Here's how it works: instead of starting with your product, you start by revealing a problem your prospect didn't know they had.

Earth Breeze doesn't open with "buy our detergent sheets."

They open with "your clothes are covered in chemical residue."

UV light reveals the invisible chemicals glowing on fabric.

The prospect's immediate thought: "Holy shit, what's on my clothes?"

That's the genius part.

You're not interrupting their scroll to sell them something.

You're interrupting their scroll to show them something they need to know.

Most brands jump straight to "here's our solution."

Nobody cares about your solution until they understand the problem.

The pattern never fails: reveal the invisible problem first, introduce the solution second.

Your prospect will thank you for the education and buy because they want to.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

A congruent hook that's weak will lose to a clickbait hook that's strong.

Even when the strong one barely connects to the rest of the video.

I know that's not what the textbook says. Let me explain anyway.

Congruency matters. It does. When your hook flows cleanly into the body, the message stays cohesive, the promise holds, the viewer never feels tricked.

That's real. I'm not throwing it out.

But here's what I see people get wrong.

They worship congruency. They make it the rule. And then they write hooks that are perfectly on-message and perfectly forgettable.

A hook has one job before any other job.

Stop the scroll.

If it doesn't do that, nothing else about it matters. Not the congruency. Not the cohesion. Not the clean handoff into the body. There's nobody left to hand off to.

Here's the hard truth.

- A weak hook that's perfectly congruent gets scrolled past
- A strong hook that's a little off-topic gets watched
- You cannot sell, message, or convert someone who already left

So when you've got a hook with real stopping power - even if it's a little clickbaity, even if it only loosely ties to the video - it beats the polished, congruent one that nobody stops for.

Stopping power first. Congruency second.

Not "congruency doesn't matter." It does - it's a tiebreaker between two hooks that both stop the scroll. But it's not the entry fee. Attention is.

Here's what I've learned.

A perfect hook nobody sees isn't a hook. It's a diary entry.

Win the scroll first.

Then worry about how cleanly it connects.

Want the breakdown of how we write hooks that stop the scroll without torching the message?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

For years, I wrote copy like I was apologizing for it.

Soft claims. Careful language. Every edge sanded down before anyone saw it.

I thought that was professional.

It was just forgettable.

The challenge hit me one day, plain and simple.

I had a flat ad and a deadline, and no time to be careful.

So I wrote it angry. Sharp claims. Bold lines. The version I'd normally talk myself out of.

I figured I'd soften it before it went live.

Then I read it back.

And it was the best thing I'd written in months. It wasn't close.

Here's the breakthrough.

The strong version gave me a choice. I could leave it or tone it down.

Every soft draft before it gave me nothing. There was nowhere to take it.

Here's what that taught me.

Write the bold version first. Always.

You can walk a strong line back to safe.

You cannot walk a safe line forward to strong.

Are you writing bold drafts, or apologizing in advance?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Hot take: your "rockstar" media buyer is a liability, not an asset.

The industry loves the talented operator. The one who just gets it.

Give them the account. They'll figure it out. Everyone exhales.

I used to run things exactly like that. Trust the talent, let them cook.

Then I watched what happened when the talent left.

Everything they knew left with them. Every optimization, every reason behind every change, gone.

We weren't a company that scales. We were a company renting a brain.

Here's the proof. A real system survives a person walking out the door. A person can't.

The consequence of building around a head instead of a process is that your growth is hostage to whether that one person stays.

That's not a business. That's a hope.

A rockstar with no documented system isn't a flex.

It's a single point of failure with a great personality.

Build the system. Then hire the talent to run it.

Who in your business is currently irreplaceable, and why is that a problem?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Hot take: your feature list is the most boring part of your ad.

Brands love features. They're concrete. They're easy to write. They feel safe.

So the ad becomes a spec sheet, and everyone wonders why it falls flat.

I did this for years. When an ad felt thin, I'd add another feature.

It almost never helped.

Then I stopped listing features and started finishing them.

Same products. I just stopped writing "what it is" and kept going.

Feature, so the benefit, meaning the impact.

Conversions moved.

Here's why. A feature is a fact about your product.

A prospect doesn't care about facts about your product. They care about facts about their life.

Every feature you leave unfinished is a fact they have to translate themselves.

Most of them won't bother. They'll just scroll.

A feature is not a selling point.

A feature plus "so" plus "meaning" is.

Stop listing what it is. Start finishing the thought.

What feature in your ad have you left unfinished?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

People love to act like content is some dark art.

It's not. Not anymore. It's three things.

Here's the truth nobody selling you a course wants to say out loud.

Content got simple.

The platforms told us what works. The data is in. The mystery is gone. What's left is three skills - and almost everyone is still fumbling at least one of them.

Master these and you're already past most of your competition.

1. Speed

The ad has to move. Fast open, fast cuts, no runway. Every slow second is a door the viewer walks out of. Pace isn't a style choice - it's survival. A fast ad that's just okay beats a slow ad that's great. Every time.

2. Demonstration

Stop describing the result. Show it. Put the after-state on the screen and let the viewer watch it happen instead of asking them to imagine it. Telling builds doubt. Showing builds belief. The eyes close the sale the words can't.

3. Watch Time

This is the one most people ignore - and it's the one the algorithm actually rewards. Every choice you make should answer one question: does this earn the next three seconds? Hook earns the body. Body earns the offer. Keep them watching and the platform does your distribution for free.

Here's what I've learned.

Speed gets them in. Demonstration makes them believe. Watch time makes the platform hand you more people.

That's the whole machine.

Content isn't complicated. It's just three things done well, on repeat, while everyone else is out chasing the next trick.

Master the three. Skip the magic.

Want the breakdown of how we build all three into every piece of content we run?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Hot take: intrigue is the most overrated ingredient in a hook.

Every "write better hooks" post says the same thing.

Be mysterious. Open a loop. Make them curious.

So everyone writes vague, cryptic lines and calls it a hook.

I used to do it too. I'd write something deliberately mysterious and feel sharp.

Then I watched the numbers. Those hooks got attention for a heartbeat and lost it just as fast.

Here's what I learned. Intrigue is one of four ingredients, not the whole recipe.

A real hook also feels new, promises the reader something they want, and hints that the payoff is quick and easy.

Intrigue on its own is just a question with no reason to care about the answer.

The consequence of leaning on it alone is brutal. You get the glance, then the scroll.

You confused a moment of curiosity for a hooked reader.

They're not the same thing.

Curiosity opens the door. The other three are what walk them through it.

Are you writing full hooks, or just mysterious lines?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Fear Factor is the most underused weapon in your ad arsenal.

Here's what it is: Fear sells because it motivates. It urges. It moves people to action.

Fear causes stress, and stress creates the desire to do something about it immediately.

We used Fear Factor in this Earth Breeze ad we made. Instead of talking about "eco-friendly cleaning," we opened with a biohazard bag being poured on gravel.

"Still cleaning with these?! This is the one thing in your home you use weekly that's filled with harmful chemicals."

Then we showed chemicals glowing under UV light on someone's skin. Cancer research screenshots. Dead trees from chemical runoff.

By the time we introduced the product, viewers were already mentally throwing out their old detergent.

Here's your steal-able Fear Factor formula:
→ Show the threat (chemicals, waste, health risks)
→ Make it personal (this is happening to YOU)
→ Provide specific consequences (cancer, hormone disruption)
→ Offer the escape route (your product)

Fear Factor works when you follow four rules:
1. It must genuinely scare people
2. You offer a specific solution
3. The solution feels effective
4. They believe they can take action

Stop selling benefits. Start selling the fear of what happens if they don't buy.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

Early on, I almost killed a good offer with one sentence.

It was a solid product at a fair price.

And it just sat there. Nobody moved.

I spent two weeks convinced the product was the problem.

I rewrote the promise. Changed the images. Tweaked the targeting.

Nothing.

Then I changed one thing.

The price read "$240 per month."

I rewrote it as "$8 a day."

Same price. Same offer. Suddenly people said yes.

That's the moment it clicked for me.

The number was never scaring them.

The size of the number was.

"$240 a month" lands like a bill you have to think about.

"$8 a day" lands like nothing at all.

And it works in reverse for value.

A saving of "$10 a week" is forgettable.

"$520 a year" is a reason to act.

Some founders think a stuck offer needs a lower price.

Usually it just needs a smaller-feeling number.

The dollars stayed the same. Only the frame moved.

What number in your offer are you showing the scary way?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

You're not running a business. You're managing a series of problems that would terrify most people.

You're not making tough decisions. You're developing the strength to carry the weight of other families' living.

You're not dealing with stress. You're processing complexity that transforms ordinary minds into strategic powerhouses.

I've been in business for 10 years and here's what I've discovered about what we actually do.

Those 3 AM moments calculating cash flow? Or what move to make next? That's not anxiety, that's you developing a callus most people never get to develop.

Those impossible decisions between growth and stability? That's not pressure, that's you building decision-making muscles under conditions that forge real leaders.

The crushing responsibility of knowing that 23 people's rent checks depend on your strategic moves? That's not burden… that's you being able to do whatever it takes to get a problem solved.

Most people see the Instagram posts about "living your dreams" and think that's the point. But the real transformation happens in those sleepless nights.

This is exactly what entrepreneurship is designed to do. Every challenge is specifically engineered to develop capabilities you never knew you had.

So do I miss being a kid? Sometimes, yes, early on… But then I realized this IS the dream we signed up for. Be grateful you get to live it, most don't!

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

When an ad isn't working, the instinct is to make it more clever.

Usually you need to make it more simple.

Here's something I have to remind myself of more often than I'd like to admit.

Not every product needs an over-the-top, max-effort DR ad.

We get addicted to the craft. The layered hook. The mechanism reveal. The story arc with three turns and a callback. And sometimes that's exactly what the offer needs.

But sometimes it's not.

Some products sell on a clear demo and a price. Some offers are so good they just need to be stated. Some audiences are already warm and don't need to be dragged through a full persuasion gauntlet.

Here's the trap I keep watching people fall into.

The ad isn't working. So they try harder. More aggressive. More complex. More "DR." They pile technique on top of technique, convinced the answer is somewhere further out.

And the whole time, the answer was somewhere further back.

When it's not working, go back to the basics.

- Strip the ad down to the simplest version that could possibly sell
- Show the product. State the offer. Make one clear promise
- Get that simple version working first

Then - and only then - build up.

Add the complexity in layers, and watch what each layer actually does to the numbers. If a fancy element doesn't move anything, it was ego, not strategy.

Here's what I've learned.

Complexity isn't a sign you're good at this. It's something you earn your way up to, after the simple version proves the offer works at all.

When you're stuck, don't reach forward for the clever fix.

Reach back for the simple one.

Master the basics first. Build up from there.

Want the breakdown of how we strip an ad to basics before adding complexity?

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

You're not "doing more research." You're hiding in the procrastination room.

You're not "perfecting the concept." You're avoiding the action door.

You're not "being strategic with planning." You're scared to ship something imperfect.

I've watched countless entrepreneurs spend years in the first four rooms and wonder why they have no revenue.

Here's what changed everything:

I stopped respecting the planning phase and started worshipping the action phase.

Old way: Research → Validate → Plan → Perfect → Maybe Launch → Repeat

New way: Build → Ship → Learn → Iterate → Ship again → Cash

Same hours. Different rooms.

Result? First dollar earned within 30 days instead of 18 months.

The idea didn't change. The willingness to execute did. Success doesn't come from better ideas. It comes from faster execution.

When you control which room you spend time in, you control your outcomes.

The real magic happens when you stop treating action like the final step and start treating it like the first step.

[TYLER STEPHENS @imtylerstephens]

You're not a bad writer.

You're just writing in the wrong order.

You're not stuck.

You're building on something too thin to hold weight.

You're not slow.

You're being precious when you should be messy.

I did this for years.

A few careful lines. A long stare. A painful attempt to add more.

Here's the reframe that broke the cycle:

➡️ A first draft isn't meant to be good, it's meant to be big
➡️ Overwriting removes the pressure that kills your ideas
➡️ Cutting is the easy part, so save it for last

Stop trying to write a little and make it great.

Write a lot.
Cut it down.
Make it sharp.