If you have an online business in 2026 and you are not running static ads, you are genuinely leaving money on the table. And I know that sounds like something every marketing YouTuber says, but hear me out. Static ads are the fastest, cheapest,
and honestly one of the most underrated ways to test messaging to see what works and scale it. And the best part, with ClaudeCode and GPT image two, you can go from zero to a full batch of high converting static ads in under an hour. Even if you've never made an ad in your life before. In fact, here are a few ads I made for my clients a 100% made with AI. So in this video, I'm going to share the exact step by step process I use to create static AI image ads for my clients which you can steal free of charge. Okay. So quick context as to why I'm even talking about this. I run a media marketing agency and as part of our offer, we do content generation for clients including paid ads. And a while back, was doing everything manually, writing ad briefs by hand, paying freelancers hundreds per static ad created, and going back and forth on revisions. It was slow, expensive,
and honestly kind of painful. Then I started using ClaudeCode to handle the creative brief and GPT image two to make the actual ads and the workflow just kinda clicked. What used to take days and cost hundreds if not thousands,
now can be done in under an hour for a fraction of the cost. And look, I'm not gonna sit here and say that these AI generated images can replace a world class creative designers. But for testing angles fast, finding winners, and scaling what works, you can't really do much better. In fact, I'd go as far as saying this is genuinely overpowered right now and saves brands tens of thousands in monthly fees hiring agencies.
Okay. Just before I get into the how, let me quickly explain why static ads are even worthwhile in 2026.
Because truthfully, a lot of people sleep on them. Even in my last video, I had comments asking if static images even work. Here's the thing about static ads. When someone scrolls to a video ad on their feed, they have to commit five to ten seconds to even realize what the ad is about. By that time, most of the target audience has scrolled past before you've even got an opportunity to sell them on your product or offer. A static on the other hand, they can skim in literally one second, which means if you can nail the image and the copy, you can stop the scroll better than any other format. They are also the cheapest and fastest type of ad to produce, which means you can test more angles, more messaging, and more hooks in less time and for less money, especially with AI. And in paid ads, especially when starting out, speed is everything.
The brand that tests 20 different angles will always have more data to beat the brand that only tests one. But truthfully, not every static ad is going to work. Three things in particular make a winning static ad. And I'll come back to these in detail at the end, but I wanna set the foundations so you have a good understanding as to what type of ads to make. One, it needs to be instantly skimmable. Imagine the blink test. You blink once and see the ad. What can you retain from it? The key points should be there in the back of someone's mind. Two, it needs to address an objection or a desire. And three, it needs social proof somewhere on the ads as humans follow herd mentality. That is the very simple framework to keep in your mind. Now let's get going on building the ads. Okay. So step one, we're going to be using Claude code to build out the creative process for us and prompting the ads. And the reason this works so well is because Claudcode is not just prompting generic ad ideas. It's pulling from your actual business context,
your website, your ICP document, your copy. So the output is specific to your brand, not just generic ads for any website. This is the part that most people skip and then they wonder why their ads look like they are made for someone else's business. You have to give Claude the right context first. Think of it as briefing a new hire for your business. The more context and input you give them, the better output you'll receive. So here is what you're going to feed into ClaudeCode before prompting anything. And just a side note, I'll be using ClaudeCode plugged into Visual Studio Code, which is free to download for Mac and Windows. I'm making this point because the interface will look different to ClaudeCode, but don't worry, we're using ClaudeCode technology.
Everything else is the same. Firstly, you want to input your website URL. Claude can pull out your offer, services, tone, messaging.
Just paste it into the chat window and say, here's my website. Use it as context. And yes, this can work for ecommerce, SaaS, and even service based businesses.
I've created AI statics for all of those industries. Two, your ICP document. This is your ideal customer profile. Who they are, what they want, what objections they have, what language they use. If you don't have one, Claude can help you build it from scratch, but it's better to have one around that you can plug directly into Claude. And three, your existing copy. Any ads that may have worked before, subject lines that resonate, and landing pages. This trains Claude on messaging which has already worked for your brand in the past to make brand new ad creatives. Once you've uploaded all of that information, here is the prompt that I use. Based on the website ICP and copy are provided, write me 10 static ad image prompts for GPT image two. Each prompt should include the visual concept, the headline copy, the sub headline or body copy, a social proof element, and the CTA.
Make each one target a different objection or desire from the ICP.
Keep the copy punchy. This needs to be skimmable in under two seconds. I also add this 10 bullet point list as context into Claude code, so it knows the type of static ad images to create. If you want this exact document, then DM me static ad prompt on Instagram and I'll send it over to you. And you can also provide attachments of static ads, let's say from competitors or winning formats, and Claude can remake these for your own brand. And that is it. Claude will go away, pull out all of the necessary context and information you provided to generate the creative briefs and prompts for your images. Now quick one before we go on to generating the statics. And this is particularly relevant if you're running a drop shipping or ecommerce business or looking to start one. To be honest, ads are only half of the equation. The other half is picking your product and order fulfillment. Because there's no point running killer static ads that drive traffic to your store if you've not got a winning product. And even worse, if your supplier is slow, unreliable, and eating into your margins. The other day, I ran a twenty four hour drop shipping challenge from scratch using Claude code with TeamDrop chosen as my supplier. The reason I chose TeamDrop is because it's got access to the largest online stores in China and gives you direct factory prices. You So have access to the widest range of drop shipping products at lowest possible price, plus you can add your own packaging to white label the products and connect directly to Shopify store so TeamDrop can fulfill orders
on your behalf. And importantly for me, TeamDrop is rated excellent on Trustpilot so you know it's a reputable and trusted platform. As mentioned, I've been using Team Drop for my own drop shipping stores and it's trusted by thousands of others as well. It's absolutely free to sign up with no monthly subscription. I'll link Team Drop down below in the description and in the pinned comment. That link will also include some coupon codes, so you'll get discounts on the first orders you fulfill through their site. Once again, completely free to sign up, so no reason not to give it a go. Okay. So once we've used Claude code to generate our prompts, now we can move on the fun part generating the statics. And for that, we will be using GPT image two. Now if you haven't used GPT image two yet, the reason I recommend it is because right now it is the best model on the market. The text rendering is clean and the composition is solid as well and the time to generate is not too long. Now depending on when you watch this video, another model may have overtaken GPT image too, but as of now it is the best on the market. Plus you can use it with a free chat GPT subscription
as I'm going to show you in this video. So I'm going to take the first prompt from Claude and then copy and paste it into a brand new ChatGPT window.
I'm also going to attach an image of my product so GPT has this as reference and hit generate. It'll take a few minutes and there it is. You've got a static created for you entirely using AI. Now think about this for just a second. If I showed you this ad five years ago before Claude and ChatGPT was mainstream,
you would think I'm a professional graphic designer to make an ad like this. In fact, there are graphic designers charging hundreds if not thousands
per static ads. But in reality, I made this ad with just a couple prompts and AI doing a legwork. So yes, can bury our heads in the sand and pretend AI isn't happening or we can embrace this technology
and use it to revolutionize
our workflows. But hey, that's just one ad. Claude gave us 10 different prompts. I'm going to copy and paste each prompt separately into chat gbt to make all of our statics. Okay. It took about twenty to thirty minutes, but now we've got a batch of 10 statics that we can test through meta ads. That's pretty much a week of creative testing done in under half an hour. And you can see that all the statics are slightly different, but they all follow the same winning formula. Okay. So we've got the statics created, but before you throw them into meta, I've got to show you something very important. Let me give you the framework as to what actually converts on static ads because generating images is the easy part. How the creative strategist earn their dough is by coming up with the why behind the images. I e what works and what's gonna scale without wasting too much budget. I'm going to break this down into five things that the best static ads have. Number one, they are instantly skimmable. With the average attention span for social media users, people are not reading your ads, they are scanning them. You have about one second and even that is generous to communicate your core message before they scroll. This means your headline needs to be big, bold, and immediately clear. If someone has to squint or reread to understand what you're saying, you've lost them already. The best static sometimes are stupidly simple. Big glaring images that tell the whole story with one picture. Second thing, these statics lead with objection or desire. You really need to understand this core concept. Every customer that hasn't bought from you has a reason. Maybe it's the price. Maybe it's trust. Maybe they don't think the product will work for them specifically. Your static ad is the perfect place to address that head on. If price is an objection, break it down to a relatable daily figure. For example, less than your morning coffee. If trust is the objection, lead with a guarantee. Love it in thirty days or have your money back. And if it's relevance, call out your specific person, students, entrepreneurs, whoever it may be. The point is don't just show the product, speak directly to the person that's going to buy it. Three, social proof is nonnegotiable.
A star rating, a review quote, a trust pilot badge, even a number like 2,005 star reviews, All of these are valuable because some kind of social proof can be a difference between someone immediately scrolling and giving your static add a chance. People don't trust brands, they trust other people. So as ironic as it sounds, let the others do the selling for you. Four, design for the scroll. This one sounds obvious, but most people still get it wrong. Your ad is going to appear in a feed with other people's content. A feed that most likely will be designed and catered to the algorithm
of the user. So your creative needs to earn its place in that person's feed. That means eye catching imagery, strong color contrast, a visual hierarchy that guides the viewer's eyes from the image to the headline to description to the CTA all in under a second. And look, if your product looks good, show it. Don't hide behind clever design. Let the product do the work. And five, test fast, test messy, especially when starting out. This is the one most people resist the most. They try and be perfectionist. The goal is not to make one perfect ad. The goal is to make 15 ads, find two that work, and scale them. Most people spend two to three weeks making one ad and then burn out when it doesn't work. Meanwhile, other brands are pumping out over 20 statics every single week and playing the volume game. They're finding winners in the data and they are doubling down because speed beats perfection especially when starting out. And that is why this AI workflow I've showed you is so powerful. It lets you generate volume fast. You are not bottlenecked by a creative designer's availability
or the brief writing process. You can go from idea to a live ad in under an hour. Okay. So you have the entire workflow. The way I see it now, the responsibility is on your shoulders and there's two ways you can go with this. Number one, take this information away, apply it, create your statics, run them. Or two, if you've not got the time or lack creative direction, you can click the link down below and book in a call with my team, and we can help you scale your business through these AI ads. Our services are far more affordable than traditional creative designers on the market, and we can test many ads at scale quickly. The choice is yours. I'll leave a link down below to my marketing website so you can book in a call directly with my team. It's also on screen with me. And if you want to see this entire workflow in action, the other day I attempted a twenty four hour drop shipping challenge from scratch. I'm talking using Claude to find the winning product, create my store, make the static ads, and launch them on Meta. If you want to see exactly how I got on, you've got to check out the video right beside me. I'll see you there.