"To properly understand advertising or to learn even its rudiments one must start with the right conception. Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman’s standards." - Scientific Advertising by Claude C Hopkins
This is an interesting mental exercise.
Advertising should be judged by the same standards and criteria as salespeople.
Hopkins goes on to say that advertising is not for marketing. "It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen."
This is part of a conversation that every marketing/advertising person needs to have with clients. Many business leaders don't separate marketing/branding from advertising.
For example, posting on LinkedIn is branding, not advertising. To look to your LinkedIn team to make sales is unfair; that's not its primary function.
On the other hand, advertising should make sales for you. Especially in digital advertising, the number of steps from an advertisement to a checkout page can be as short as one click.
Seeing advertising as sales, not as anything else, will ensure that you spend the time and effort to build your ads with caution. This is something that many online platforms don't encourage.
You can grab a copy of Scientific Advertising on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4f6nX2U.
(As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.)
(Note: This book was published in 1923. The gender specific tone is in the original. I've opted to leave it to preserve the original tone.)