The Arbitrage

And what comes next...

Nerds,

This newsletter has passed many milestones since its existence: last month marked the drop of the 29th dispatch, going out to 7,893 advertising and marketing professionals.

In total, it’s been 8 months of pure amazingness for me personally.

But this is the day that I announce, the newsletter will be dialing back. I don’t know if it will be shutting down... However, the cadence will be very ad-hoc, if anything, moving forward.

Why?

As a business owner, with responsibilities to my team and our partners first, I believe my time is best suited reinvesting into them.

Transparently, as the leader of our agency, I have let that slip.

I fell into a world of being noisy. I don’t view it as a bad thing. I simply view it as something I don’t want to be part of.

Today, our inboxes are completely flooded and we are all utilizing precious time. With more and more of those inboxes being viewed as monetary.

I don’t want that.

I know this newsletter has created real value for readers (I hear it every day) and, by doing so, I hope it created an enduring idea in the world of advertising.

An idea that you can cut through the bullshit, rely on fundamentals, evolve, adapt, and do amazing things.

But it is time for me to move on, refocus my efforts and provide value via other mediums. Which I’ll chat about later.

My team deserves more of my time, our partners deserve more of my time. And believe me, I make this decision with a heavy heart because I also know that you deserve more of my time.  

We have a window of opportunity as our agency solidifies itself as a premier partner to pursue excellence in areas that I hope will provide a deeper relationship.

And I hope you’ll join me on that journey.

The world of advertising has become very crowded and frankly… rather noisy. Maybe this was due to the low barrier of entry. Maybe this was due to us selling the services as something anyone and everyone could do.

People have certainly learned how to tweet and to me, the space is slowly going back to the contrarian guru’s. I know we won’t let that stand and I also know others are actively combating that through their newsletters and their content.

I champion them as friends. I champion them as leaders and I’ll let them take the stage for now. It’s time for me to move on from the written word.

It's time to reshift focus into something long term.

I believe that a fundamental measure of the success of this newsletter will be the reader value we created over the long term, together.

Because of that emphasis on the long term, I’m dedicated my time and focus to what I truly care about.

As much as I have thoroughly enjoyed writing and speaking with all of you…

I will continue to focus relentlessly on our partners. Above all else.

One of the most beautiful pieces of feedback we received the other day from a friend and partner, really sparked my desire to shift focus.

He said to me, “The best part about your agency Jake, is that I never have to think about you or your amazing team. You’re there when I need you and I know that the rest is handled.”

As we hold strong with a 98% referral rate, I’m leaning into that more.  

Is this the right step?

I 100% believe that it is. I would however be remiss if I wasn't clear in the approach I’ve taken to make this decision and will continue to take.  

What is my outlook moving forward?  

I feel good about what we've done here with the newsletter, and even more excited about what I want to do moving forward. 

Behind the scenes videos, raw access to our agency team, and an audio first version of what’s on our minds. More specifically, my mind.

I truly believe that this newsletter became a state of mind, more than a digital place for content. And for that, I’m forever grateful.

YOU allowed me that arbitrage.

I’ve said this publicly here and I’ll use this time to say it again…

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/tactics and eras where selling was an art form.

I’ve done what I can for now for the community and brands, to get back to that realization of what it really takes to grow a DTC brand through digital acquisition and retention strategies.

For some of you, this paid media space has become loud and less… beautiful.

If you’re like me, you still hold stock in pretty creative that can also move product. You take the time to write engaging copy and build out long-term strategies that can actually scale businesses.

If you came here to resist the urge to chase that hack. That shortcut. I encourage you to continue doing so. It will unlock so much for you.

The original thought in this space and the embrace of solving challenges is hard to find. I know you know where to find it though.

I did however realize this more when my content was being repurposed for others. Sad, but true.

I hope I’ve created a place for you that shows there’s still something special when it comes to paid media, and we’re not alone with that feeling.

In this community, we celebrated our fundamental ideas of how we believe others should go about running paid media and I hope I have inspired you to start thinking about what/why we’re doing and build upon it in your OWN WAY.

You work hard and you deserve more resources that offer a fresh take on how you, and the businesses moving product, should think about advertising to fellow human beings, on the largest digital platform(s) in the world.

I hope this was that place for a little while.

If anything, a resource that challenged and inspired you.

And I hope to build that in other ways moving forward.

2020 was indeed an incredibly challenging yet exhaustingly rewarding year.

I will forever remain grateful to you as a reader, to the partners gained from this newsletter for their business and trust, to our team for our hard work and allowing me to put time into this, and to the advertising community at large for the support and encouragement.

We are… The Ad Nerds. Forever.