Hey everyone!
I’m so glad to be back with “The Ads Dude” newsletter and welcome to the new subscribers. We are almost 1500 right now, and growing!
Since there are a lot of newcomers, I just wanted to re-introduce myself (I promise just 2 lines). I'm Francesco and I've been in the ads business for 19 years. I run a company (nanos.ai) a consulting firm (adsformakers.com) and I have a funnel product (funnel.surf).
This plethora of experiences put me in a very informed position when it comes to giving suggestions or share strategies on paid and organic campaigns. And that's why I'm writing this very newsletter.
Thank you for sharing this journey with me!
Let's get onto today's topic.
The greater machine
I'm pretty sure we already discussed this, and recently the great Gary Vee mentioned this shift: we are not in a social network era anymore but in an interests era, meaning that we don't connect to socials to spy on high-school sweethearts anymore, but rather find content that we actually find interesting.
Here's his article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/... (sorry for linking LinkedIn haha)
Truth be told, he's not saying anything incredibly innovative — the shift was there for us to see, and the various platforms' algorithms are mirroring this behaviour quite clearly.
OK, but what's in it for us? Everything!
Show and (maybe) tell
Up until two years ago, or even fewer, nobody would have thought we'd be interested in the ins and outs of the daily activities of dentists, drivers, or jewellers. But right now, these very same individuals are the real stars of the web.
This guy, for example, sells watches and makes all types of content like "Watches that tell people if you're really rich" or even more provocative stuff:
There are 2 things happening in the ads world right now.
Producing images with AI has become incredibly easy. This will drive down the quality of "static" ads and will force us to produce better content. Don't underestimate clients — they get tired of seeing the same AI-generated type of ad and are able to spot a well-crafted one. We are already drowning in "AI Slop."
Producing video is also easy and cheap. Phone cameras are incredible, and if you have a $60 microphone you get an almost professional setup (with a couple of lights you can do quality studio stuff).
The audience is craving short content. Matt Damon recently revealed in an interview that they have to repeat the plot 3–4 times for distracted audiences: [link]. This means that viewers are tuning out instantly if the format is not interesting.
The strategy
Start producing content — it's as simple as that. Talk about the business, show the ins and outs. You're a professional driver? Show the beautiful cars, the hotels, explain things, brag. You have a local renovation company? Make the clients dream about what their houses could become with you. You do cleaning (this is one of the most successful)? Show the full process, make the viewers crave the final results (bonus if they are OCD).
Who would have ever thought that watching seal coating videos would be so interesting?
(Instagram)
All of these content…can be used for ads. If you still don’t have followers you can use it for acquisition TOGETHER with organic posting. At some point the organic part will become your testing playground and you’ll push the winners as paid ads.
The flywheel?
This content is just the beginning. You'd need to make sure your Google Business is properly set up, your website is in good shape, and you have some kind of automation for lead acquisition and nurturing.
A good reel, carousel, or video with just a link can work miracles. Don't overengineer it in the beginning, but at the same time treat this very seriously — it's your business. If you create great content but then your clients can't book you, you're wasting your time and resources.
That's why everything needs to work in harmony:
Content → Website → Lead Gen → Lead Nurturing
Thank you for your invaluable support of my newsletter, I hope you found some useful insights here.
Feel free to reply to this email with any questions about growth or paid ads (or whatever you have in mind!. You can also book a session with me anytime at adsformakers.com.
Yours truly,
Francesco
