What DTC marketers can learn from Speechify ads & marketing

The brand is called Speechify.

It’s the Dollar Shave Club for the app market.

Any marketer would benefit from learning from this brand.

Here’s why:

• Their ads are polarizing (which always get attention)

• If you sell to Gen Zs, this is an amazing brand to spy on

• They use psychology to their advantage

• They make amazing founder ads

• They ace UGC ads

And they’re making roughly $15mn a year and growing very fast.

Okay, let’s try and understand their ads and see what can steal from them.

Ad # 1 – The Dollar Shave Club founder ad steal

This ad has 13mn views on YouTube alone. I’m sure it crushed on Meta too. I remember sending this ad as a DM to my boss as soon as I saw it.

This ad went viral because it hit the right strings. Don’t take my word for it, just read the comments.

The key lesson here is that if your founder is dynamic, you can still make these types of ads.

What immediately stands out:

• The visual hook: He is wearing a suit in the swimming pool, the popular books, and the dog frame while he has the headset on.

• The script is poetic. Repetition creates rhythm. Rhythm creates memory. Your goal is to be memorable. (Check out my teardown below.)

What can we learn from this:

• If Speechify can do the same format, so can you.

• Be bold with your claim, most brands can't promise that.

• Show don’t tell. The founder made sure we got it with another frame connecting with how it works.

• Taking “show, don’t tell” to the next level by showing the demo to another person.

• If you’re going with a direct response, make sure you’re making it visually appealing, interesting to listen to, and answer skeptics with gut-punch benefits.

P.S. Talking about rhythm – What can’t this guy do? Check this.

Ad # 2 – When you get banned, you try a new thang

Here’s the kicker, Speechify was getting banned for using the AI voice of popular people and running that as ads. Remember from last week? Permissionless advertising needs to be treated very carefully.

So, what did they do? They signed up the favorite Gen Z rapper aka Snoop Dogg.

These are the two good ads with Snoop Dogg but obviously, they made various versions:

• Ad with Snoop Dogg

• Ad using Snoop Dogg’s footage

Second ad:

This is interesting, here are Snoop Dogg’s thoughts on it:

Okay, back to the analysis of the ads.

What immediately stands out:

First ad:

• The scroll stopper is Snoop Dogg

• He is “honored” to be the voice, damn!

• He doesn’t waste time telling you what Speechify is and how it can help you.

• CTA: Speechify can change your life – Big claim

Second ad:

• The ad is 16 seconds (they know their audience)

• Showing an Instagram profile gets into familiarity bias and the story format instead of standard video.

• Extra productivity means more money and more time. Selling the big idea.

What we can learn from these ads:

• If you have an influencer, make sure you have as much footage to make not just 10 ads but 1000s of ads.

• Use a familiar UI to communicate your idea.

• If you are using permissionless advertising, sometimes it is just better to get permission and work with big dogs!

Ad # 3 – Double down what works

What immediately stands out:

• Shouldn’t you be studying? I know that look when I see it. Stuff moms usually say.

• When you catch someone scrolling on social media. Genius hook!

• The guy is in the bathtub, like in the founder video.

• Use of exaggeration on the word “cut” with such a big scissor. Make it apparent.

• Did you know ... This is a proven hook I’ve covered with AG1 too and it always works. They used it as a lead-in.

• The use of negative words to agitate the pain: boring, overwhelming, constrained

• CTA: So what are you waiting for? Download Speechify and get your reading superpowers.

What we can learn from this ad:

• Lean into visual medium more

• Use negative words to evoke emotions

• When you know a hook works, double down

• Find the relatable hooks, not just scroll stoppers

• CTA: Connect your value props with a magical afterlife

If you want more examples that you can steal from Speechify, then check these ads out too:

• Founder podcast ads with the hook on addressing a niche

• Haunted enemy ads

• Another niche audience calling out ad

• If magic isn’t real, how do you explain this?

• And some more and more

In all honesty, this is the brand to spy on and get inspired. They make amazing UGCs and iterate on similar footage to create new ads.

P.S. I leave you with one more thought. If you are ads aren’t polarizing, then you’re not attracting one side that really resonates with you:

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

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