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🧠 99% Of Your “Beautiful” Creatives Are Useless

Pretty ads rack up likes and shares, but they can sabotage conversions if you don’t get the sequence right.

Author

Kody Nordquist
May 03, 2025

Welcome back to the 100th edition of Nord Media

When you meet someone for the first time, you probably don’t immediately think of them as your best friend.

You’ve got to chop it up, hang out, see if your hobbies align, maybe even share a few dumb jokes to build trust.

The same thing happens in marketing, except instead of hobbies, you’re aligning with intent.

And instead of jokes, you’ve got a few milliseconds of scroll-time to spark connection.

Because by the time someone lands on your site, the decision to convert has already been shaped. 

Not sealed, but shaped by everything that happened before they ever got there. 

Most brands miss this. They treat creative like a flashing billboard instead of a warm-up conversation.

They focus on “looking good,” not leading the prospect in.

In this email, we’re breaking down:

  • The 3 layers of pre-click context that shape post-click conversion

  • Why even high-performing creatives can secretly sabotage your backend

  • And how to build sequences that warm up the lead long before they ever land

Let’s dive in.

Exclusive Partner: Goodo Studios

You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through your feed, and every ad looks exactly the same?

Yeah, your customers feel that too.

You’ve spent countless hours building something unique, yet when it comes to creative, most agencies default to cookie-cutter ads. Same trendy sounds, same tired formats.

Good Studios does things differently. 

Instead of chasing trends or copying competitors, their team digs deep into why your customers actually buy from you. Then, they craft creative that captures attention and turns views into growth.

They’ve helped startups scale from zero to eight figures, designed campaigns for industry leaders, and consistently turned passive viewers into loyal customers.

Here’s how they do it:

  • Deep Discovery: They learn exactly what makes your brand special and why customers care.

  • Strategic Planning: They map insights into a clear creative roadmap focused on your growth goals.

  • Expert Execution: Your story comes to life with standout visuals that actually convert.

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Whether you need scroll-stopping social ads, YouTube content that blends storytelling with sales, or end-to-end video and photography production, they handle it all.

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Pretty Ads Don’t Always Perform

When ads are designed to entertain or go viral, they often front-load the dopamine without setting up the decision.

The shopper is hooked… but on the creative, not the product. 

When they land on your site, the context doesn’t carry over, and they bounce.

High-performing creatives can sabotage your backend if they generate the wrong type of attention.

Clicks aren’t the goal. Purchase-ready intent is.

Here’s what that actually looks like:

The “One Ad to Rule Them All” approach doesn’t work anymore. 

  • You can’t drop one banger and expect it to carry your funnel.

  • Attention spans are short, objections are high, and trust is low.

  • You need a sequence of multiple touchpoints that chip away at resistance while building desire.

Sequence is about shaping perception across time.

  • Start with intrigue.

  • Follow up with education.

  • Then bring the clarity and urgency to convert.

  • Each ad should lead into the next like chapters in a story, not disjointed attempts to “go viral.”

The most effective sequences align creative with the appropriate funnel stage.

  • Cold audiences: Focus on problem awareness and strong visual hooks

  • Warm audiences: Layer in credibility, benefits, and deeper storytelling

  • Hot audiences: Push clarity, urgency, and the final nudge to act

Bombarding people with content will have the opposite effect. You want to guide them through a narrative that warms them up before they ever land.

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Context Sells Before the Click

Before they ever reach your landing page, the conversion already has momentum, or it doesn’t.

They’ve absorbed the tone of the platform. 

Noticed how relevant (or irrelevant) the message felt.

Felt a gut-level reaction based on their mood, their expectations, or even what they had for lunch.

Three invisible layers are working in the background of every impression:

1. Platform context 

TikTok, Meta, and Instagram each have their own language.

If your ad doesn’t speak it fluently, it gets skipped. Doesn’t matter how good your product is.

2. Audience context

Are they cold? Warm? Retargeted?

If your message doesn’t align with where they are in the journey, the relevance is off, and the friction starts before the click.

3. Psychological context 

Nobody’s just “scrolling.”

They’re solving, searching, avoiding, and escaping.

Great creative interrupts the pattern with a message that hits the right nerve.

You can’t close the sale on a cold lead, but when the context is right, the ad does the warming for you, and by the time they hit your site they’re already halfway sold.

Closing Thoughts

The strongest conversions happen before the click.

It’s the quality of the context, the sequence of the creative, and the story you're telling across every touchpoint that shape whether someone’s ready to buy.

When you treat your ads like the warm-up, not just the bait, you stop wasting clicks and start creating real momentum.

Tighten up your front end, and your backend won’t have to work so hard.

Want growth that looks like this👇?

HOW??

We Use Strategies and Systems that Produce Consistent Results.

We’ve helped 100+ brands—from early-stage DTC startups to global brands—scale smarter, grow faster and get profitable. Whether your goal rapid growth, consistency at scale or just to be profitable again, we've built systems and strategies to achieve that for hundreds of brands over the years.

The results? You get reliable and consistent growth without sacrificing your profitability.

» Hire me to scale your DTC Brand «

Want to learn more? Connect with me on social 👇
LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.

Sincerely,
Kody

Disclaimer: Special thanks to Goodo & CreativeOS for sponsoring today’s newsletter.