It’s a state of mind more than it is a place.
A realization of why this site exists.
Just a reminder: there will not be a main dispatch for you this week, as we are moving to a bi-weekly schedule. Next up is Dispatch No. 5 where we’re talking about decay in advertising.
As myself, and some great contributors that you’ll love, have been writing away for that dispatch… I took a moment to pause and rationalize why the hell I’m spending time doing all of this.
A part of me needed to separate running a business (my agency) from this community and the associated social brand, a.k.a. Jake the Ad Nerd.
So, I built a website. It was my way of “funneling” traffic and clearly seeing where my time was being spent. Which allows for more impactful planning of my day/week.
As mentioned from day one…
I need to be selfish with my time BUT I’ll give back as much as I can.
While building that site, I wrote something that I wanted to share.
It could be of little to no value for you.
Shit… I might even lose you as a reader just by sending this out.
But, at the very least, I wanted to offer a transparent glimpse into my head right now and why I believe this place exists. If you’re spending time here, I owe you that.
A mindset.
The creation of this newsletter, and brand if you will, stemmed from being pretty tired of seeing “ninjas” and “gurus” flocking around the web, preaching bullshit. Lame.
There used to be something uniquely special in the simplistic creativity of paid media, especially in Facebook Ads. There was a beauty that spilled over from previous advertising channels and eras where selling was an art form.
Things changed though.
Paid media started getting a bad wrap.
The “experts” began monetizing every single ounce of space they could and it flooded minds with plain nonsense. $5 a day strategy, How to go from 0-100k in a day dropshipping using Facebook Ads, You need 30+ ad-sets to ma… You know what I’m referring to.
Bad habits of others and neglect, flooded advertising platforms and it became all about hacks. Why? Because that was easy to write and produce content around.
For me, this space got loud and less… beautiful.
When I first started in paid media, we held stock in pretty creative that could also move product. We took the time to write engaging copy and build out long-term strategies that could scale businesses.
But now, there’s an urge to chase that hack. That shortcut.
A note: There’s a difference between sharing tactics and how you came up with those ideas vs. just sharing hacks or shortcuts. We’ve covered some tactics here and we’ll continue to cover them… (in our own new ways).
Why?
Because I believe that you would never let the words impact your fundamentals and I have a notion that you can take what someone says and evolve it in your own way.
I truly believe that.
There are others that do the same.
Rather than promise you something, they simply show you something.
What you do with that knowledge of “what’s working”, is completely up to you.
So, I began thinking…
Where’s the original thought in this space and the embrace of solving challenges?
Asking that question to myself is the reason that I set out to create a place for you that shows there’s still something special when it comes to advertising, and I’m not alone with that feeling.
I chose to focus on Facebook Ads, for pretty obvious reasons. It’s my bread and butter. Hell, I’ve spent the last 6 years of my life on the fucking platform, generating well over $280M in revenues.
But, it’s also the platform that’s been bombarded the most with pure and utter nonsense recently (in my opinion).
Which is when I started noticing something…
Filtered through the noise, I could hear it in the voices of those that I spent time conversing with.
I knew that there were people creating unique and impactful ideas. Every. Single. Day. And I wanted to chat with them, feature them, and collaborate on topics with them.
I wanted to celebrate our fundamental ideas of how we (myself and the contributors) believe you should go about running Facebook Ads and inspire you to start thinking about what we’re doing and build upon it in your OWN WAY.
Thus, FB Ad Nerds was born.
It may even evolve into just an advertising newsletter in the future. I’m not sure.
But, there’s one thing that I do know…
Media buyers deserve a kick in the arse.
We also deserve more resources that offer a new and raw take on how you, and the businesses moving product, should think about advertising to fellow human beings, on the largest platform(s) in the world.
If anything, a resource that challenges and inspires you.
With that…
We’re just getting started.
Until next time.
Cheers,
Jake the Ad Nerd 🤙