Before & After Images: A Simple & Powerful Marketing Tactic

COPYWRITING IS FOR SUCKERS!

Why write a bunch of copy when you can just show an image instead?

Your job as a great marketer & copywriter is to convey information quickly and effectively…and one of the best tools I’ve ever seen at showing a transformation is a simple before & after photo. Watch this video:​

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A Before & After photos skips all the mumbo jumbo and gets straight to the thing the customer wants: A TRANSFORMATION!

Before & After photos work well for showing any kind of transformation:

• Services like home remodeling (Old Kitchen → New Kitchen)
• Health products (Weight A Lot → Weigh Less)
• Repair services (Broken → Fixed)
• Price Savings (High Price → Low Price)

These are especially powerful for ads and social media where you don't have a lot of time to showcase your work, and instead want to jump straight to the point of what you can do for a customer.

Here's a bunch of examples to give you some inspiration for showing off your own transformations:

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1.) Video Setup Before & After

Look at this Before & After photo of a home office video setup. Instead of explaining a bunch of technical jargon about camera and lighting, you can INSTANTLY see the quality upgrade from this service!

This instantly gets people interested!

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2.) Bathroom remodeling before & after Instagram ad

Before & After's work SOOOO well for construction and remodeling. Honestly it's probably one of the top ways to show off work in this industry.

This simple one-image Instagram Ad shows a great before/after example of shower that was old but has been remodeled.

No need for a lot of text.

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3.) Awesome “This Morning” vs “Late Afternoon” Bathroom Remodeling Ad

This ad uses a “Before & After” format but with specific times that demonstrate how fast they can remodel a bathroom.

This takes the whole before & after concept to the next level by giving a time frame as well!

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4.) Expensive & Complex → Cheap & Simple

Copywriting Tip: Sometimes a simple Before & After photo will explain an entire product without much need for copy.

For example, this simple advertisement for a charging device shows a 1-outlet device replacing multiple charging bricks:

You instantly understand the product with this Before & After image.

Since that charging device is a PHYSICAL PRODUCT you can see, it’s easy to do a before & after of it. But if you sell a service you can show the after results of using your service, like these ads:

So instead of showing the service itself you show the RESULTS of the service.

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5.) Building social media audience Before/After Instagram Ad

This clever Instagram Ad for CreatorU uses a meme to show that building an audience is easier with them.

Since this service is more an education platform, it's harder to show the "results" of the service, so instead it shows of results in written form.

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6.) Clixlo Price Comparison Ad

I like how Clixlo promotes their website builder by showing how many services (and their prices) you have to use to compare with their single service.

This is an ad seen on Instagram, and it instantly shows this service is way cheaper and simpler than the alternative.

I personally love this style of Before & After for software companies.

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7.) Frumpy → Stylish

This was a great Instagram ad image by Sene.

It shows the same model in a loose and frumpy suit, then an “After” picture in the more fitted Sene Clothing outfit.

Since clothing is so visual, they simply used a visual to convey the looks of their clothes.

In my experiences copywriting for clothing companies, the image matters far more than the copy.

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8.) Ungroomed → Groomed

Physical services do best for Before & After's, and this pet Before & After is no different.

Not only does this ad have cute dogs (which always works), but also shows a cute transformation!

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9.) Gross → Clean

We've gotta include at least one powerwashing Before & After photo!

This simple before/after doesn’t use any text, and it doesn't need to, because the photo results speak for themselves!

Like we said, copywriting is for SUCKERS!!

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10.) YardZen Before/After Pic

This is a simple but effective way of showing a before/after result for a company that helps you design yard spaces.

Since this is an ad, it first need to grab attention...and explaining the process of how this company delivers yard plans would be way too boring, so just showing a nice Before & After is way better!

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11.) Female Weight Loss Before and After Photo

A CLASSIC use case of Before & After's is the weight loss industry. This is an example of before and after weight loss photos...you instantly can see the transformation without the need to read anything.

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12.) Austin Shoe Hospital

The goal of this A-Frame ad for a shoe hospital was to have people look at the Before & After pics and think, “Ohhhh maybe I can bring in my old pair or shoes and make them awesome again!”

No need for a lot of text here, just show Dirty then Clean shoes!

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So remember, people care about the TRANSFORMATION you can give them, and sometimes you can just SHOW it instead of explain it.

Hope this helps drive some ideas for using Before & After's for your own product or service.

Sincerely,
Neville Medhora

P.S. Read this on the web here.
P.P.S. Watch the video here.
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