Most people running paid ads are building a business that can vanish overnight. The offer stops converting, the account gets restricted, the market shifts - and there's nothing underneath it. I've been the "Facebook ads guy" for years, and I made this mistake too. Every one of my biggest wins came from the same structure: paid advertising on the front end, and a brand on the back end that pulled people into retainers, residuals, and high-ticket programs. The ads got attention. The brand got loyalty. In this video I break down the five pillars I use to build a brand people stay connected to - the kind that makes high-end buyers come back on their own, without you chasing them every month.

There’s two modes of marketing: Getting into a market … And creating a whole new market. Gene Schwartz called the first tapping into a desire. Simply exploit the market that’s there and inject yourself into that desire. It works. But in many fast paced niches today, what we’re actually doing is creating brand new mini markets. That’s the core thesis of the blue ocean, UMP/UMS, and even branding and positioning. Because when you get someone to really consider something DIFFERENT … You’re ultimately just moving people into a new sub market you created and own. One works a little … And one builds businesses.

If there's one thing concerned students and clients want to know ... It's why ads tend to "yo-yo" so much. Some days your CPA is $20 and other days it's $100. A lot goes into determining what your CPA will (likely) be for a day. First - the "lighthouse" effect. Facebook only has so many buyers (especially GOOD buyers) in its ecosystem. And it only gives you access to that pool of A+++++ buyers on occasion - otherwise it would run out of them. So it deliberately cycles you out of that great pool into decent but not the worst pools. This is more about your market size and the number of folks who you're solving problems for than anything else. Second - What others in your space (and beyond) are doing. Remember that the ads marketplace is both a marketplace and a full-fledged ecosystem. If your competitors go and launch 50 ads, the auction will certainly be impacted. This means Facebook has to "rebalance" and "reprice" what it's charging in real time. This is some of what GEM and Lattice is meant to accomplish. What can you do about this? Study what others in your space are doing, and how the audience is reacting to it. If you notice trends emerging, test your variations and see if the algorithm latches on to it. Third - Facebook just being Facebook. Sometimes the engineers vibecode the latest changes and it TANKS. The worst part is, there's very little you can do about it. This is a legit phenomenon and it does stink - but there's not much we can do when that happens. Each account varies. Sometimes you ride the waves. Sometimes you pause - it's hard to say what to do in each and every situation. Over time the choppy waves settle and things go back to normal. Overcorrecting, especially when it's Meta doing Meta things, tends to backfire badly.

Detailed targeting and lookalike audiences are the fastest way to kill your ads. Facebook even actively tells you to avoid them now (not that I always listen to FB, I don't). But on this one, they're spot on. Some people out there still preach lookalikes as the gold standard. But then again, there were soldiers in WWII that never knew the war was over and thought they were fighting for many years after. So ... Go broad or go home.

If you’ve been struggling for the last week and can’t figure out why nothing is working, it’s not you. Meta is having massive problems. I just found a site a member in the advertising community built that studies what’s happening in the community. Check it out: https://isitmeormeta.com/