The Real Reason Your Ads Stop Working
R3OAS I guardianmarketing.substack.com I r3oas.com
You followed the strategy.
You launched the campaign.
And it worked.
Maybe for a few days.
Maybe for a few weeks.
Leads were coming in, your funnel looked solid, and you started thinking:
“I’ve finally cracked it.”
Then, slowly… it stopped.
Same offer. Same ads. Same budget.
But the results? Gone.
Most people blame fatigue. Or the algorithm. Or the economy.
But what if none of that is the real reason?
What if there’s a deeper principle at play - one that determines who_your ads work on… and why they stop working the moment you try to scale?
In the excerpt below from R3OAS: Retentions, Referrals, and Raving Fans Over Ad Spend, Laurel Portié reveals what’s actually happening …
INNOVATION OR INFORMATION? THE SECRET TO GETTING PEOPLE TO CHOOSE YOU
Nic and I were in Phoenix for an event, and if you don’t know, Phoenix is one of the places where they’re actively testing driverless cars.
These things are everywhere.
The company behind them is Waymo, and while they claim these cars are the future, reality says otherwise.
At one point, a bunch of Waymo cars in Scottsdale completely froze in the middle of the road because they were all trying to be polite to each other. No joke—these things sat there, stuck in a weird robot stand-off, because none of them wanted to cut the other off. The cars couldn’t figure out who had the right of way, so they just… stopped.
It was like a live-action version of when you and another person try to walk past each other, but you both go the same direction three times in a row. Only, instead of humans awkwardly laughing, it was just a bunch of empty cars blocking traffic, with no idea what to do next.
Now, here’s where this gets personal. After the event, Christina and I had to grab a ride, and one of the only cars available was—yep, you guessed it—a Waymo. So we hopped in, not knowing exactly what to expect.
Not gonna lie, this thing freaked us out.
The car was whipping in and out of traffic, creeping up to red lights like it was debating whether to actually stop, and then slow-crawling onto a busy highway like it was scared to merge. It felt like being in a high-stakes driving test where the car had anxiety but was too proud to admit it.
Was it interesting?
Hell yes.
Was it innovative?
Absolutely.
Would I ever voluntarily take another one?
Not unless I had no other choice.
That’s the thing about innovation. It gets attention, but it doesn’t get adopted.
If Innovation Doesn’t Sell… What Does?
Information.
See, the problem with innovation is that it feels too new to most people. It’s unfamiliar. It creates uncertainty. And people don’t buy when they feel uncertain.
That’s why most of you struggle to sell your offers. You’re out here talking about your product or service like it’s some futuristic game-changer, but your audience isn’t there yet.
It’s like when marketers push some fancy new ad strategy and say, “This is the new way to run ads—everything else is dead.” People don’t trust that. It’s too much change, too fast.
You don’t sell innovation. You sell information.
Because what’s information to you, might still be innovation to them.
Let me explain.
I once had a student who was struggling to sell her program. She was telling people, “My system is based on AI and behavioral psychology, using advanced machine learning to optimize your client acquisition process.”
Sounds impressive, right?
But her audience wasn’t buying. Why?
Because most of them barely understood how to set up a basic email sequence, let alone integrate AI into their business. Instead of sounding like a solution, she sounded like she was speaking a different language.
Her potential clients weren’t rejecting her program because it didn’t work—they were rejecting it because it felt too complicated. It felt like innovation, not information.
So I told her to simplify. Instead of leading with AI and machine learning, I had her say:
"I help coaches book more sales calls without having to manually chase leads."
That’s information. It’s something her audience already understands and wants.
Later, once they were inside her world, she could introduce the AI and psychology components as the how—but they weren’t the selling point.
Same product. Different framing. And suddenly, people were listening.
The Real Reason Your Ads Stop Working
This is exactly why ads that work in the beginning start to tank over time.
Early adopters jump on board fast because, to them, your message is information. They already get it. They already trust it.
But then you try scaling, and suddenly your results drop. Why? Because now, you’re talking to people who don’t get it yet. To them, your pitch isn’t information—it’s innovation. And like that self-driving car in Scottsdale, they just stop. They don’t know how to move forward, so they don’t.
If you want to sell to a bigger audience, you have to stop pitching innovation and start breaking it down into information. You have to bridge the gap between what you know and what they believe to be true.
So what do you do next?
You stop talking at people, and you start guiding them through the belief shifts they need to make before they’re ready to buy.
And that is what we’re going to break down next.
Ready for the Next Piece?
If your ads have stalled, better hooks might not be what you need.
It’s possible your messaging has simply left most of your audience behind.
When people don’t recognize what you’re saying as relevant and safe to them, they don’t engage.
👀 The "next" part of the book (the one Laurel teases at the end of that section above) is where it all starts to click - and it’s coming soon with the launch of R3OAS.
As we prepare to launch the published book officially, we're going to be teasing little bits from the book here on MBD. We'll be doing all sorts of special extra things surrounding the book, including workshops - we'll be looking for opportunities to give MBD+ members unique opportunities surrounding the launch :)
Curious what you get with an MBD+ subscription? Read more here
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