One of the coolest things about running an ads agency these days is the sheer amount of places there are to, well, run ads. Back in the earlier days of digital advertising, FB, website banners, and search engines were really the place to go — and these days, there are tons of options to play around with… like TikTok.

Now, I will say that we don’t advertise on everything over here. Meta is our bread and butter, and we’ve gotten into Pinterest, too — but with over 900 million daily active users (!!!), it would be insane to say that TikTok isn’t a massively important — and opportunity-filled — platform.

It’s why we’ve been having lots of fun lately (and driving lots of results!) as we test it out.

So, here’s the Q: what do you need to know about TikTok ads? I’ve got you.

First up: getting started with TikTok ads

Tiktok makes it pretty simple to run ads, and has an Ads Manager that’s pretty intuitive for creating and managing your campaigns. The targeting is fairly robust for how new it is, and you can create lookalike audiences or segment by demographics, behavior, and the like. 

Most of the time, in-feed ads are going to be your best bet for selling an offer — but TikTok does have other options for advertiser content, too. You can purchase brand takeover ads, try out custom branded effects, and test unique engagement opps — but regardless, I always recommend keeping your ads concise, impactful, and fun. There’s also a big push on TikTok to consume and create trending content, so have fun leaning into trending sounds and effects when appropriate, too!

However, here’s a warning: commenters go a little rogue on TikTok, which can be stressful to keep an eye on. I hiiiiighly recommend that you have someone monitoring comments any time you run a TT ad. If they happen to get too spicy, restart the ad. 

A look inside our client’s experience advertising on TikTok

Now, you’re probably wondering… do TikTok ads work? In short, YES. In fact, here’s a little mini case study from one of our clients. This client was in the 3rd year of one of her launches, and so we all felt like it was a good time to diversify her ad spend and crank up the dollars. She had a +$300K ad budget (which is huge!), and we spent $48K of it testing on TikTok.

The videos we tested were all 30-second videos, all with short ad copy.  We uploaded audience lists to build our lookalike audiences and to retarget, and then we went for it! With that $48K, we ended up getting 23,000 leads for her free training — and those free training TikTok leads led to 148 sales on a $997 course. This, my friends, was a 300% return on ad spend… and it was just our first time trying!  

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So, friends, whaddya think? Are TikTok ads something you’re thinking about trying? We’re always here to support you — and you can bet that we’ll always tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Here recently, we’ve become big, big fans of Pinterest ads. As a suuuuuper visual (and truly inspiring) platform, Pinterest is such an ideal, highly-engaged platform for advertising — and the targeting potential, longevity, and traffic-driving options it has make it a big favorite.

And, as Pinterest LOVERS over here, we want to share the wealth — AKA, talk about why, exactly, Pinterest ads should be next to try on your ad strategy.

Lets dive in.

Wondering why you should try Pinterest ads?
There are a LOT of reasons, but some of our favorite reasons to try Pinterest ads are:

• It’s mobile heavy: Over 85% of Pinterest searches are done on mobile, making it the best for reaching online shoppers.
• Longevity, longevity: Unlike ads that disappear into the stratosphere, Pinterest Pins can last a little longer — the average Pin is repinned 11 times, which means its reach continues to grow.
• People are open to new things: As an inspiration and visuals-first platform, Pinterest has users that are looking for new brands and new ideas — meaning that 97% of searches are unbranded, giving a LOT of opportunity to sneak on in.
• Pinners love to purchase: Data from Pinterest shows that close to 83% of weekly users have made purchases based on their Pins — and data from Shopify shows that the average order value from Pinterest traffic is $50.

How to get started with Pinterest ads
Laying the groundwork for a new ad account is always a liiiiittle overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be — promise. To get started, you’ll need to create a Business account on Pinterest (you can create a new one or convert your existing personal account). Then, install the Pinterest Tag code on your site to make sure you can track any actions.

When you start running ads on Pinterest, you can choose objectives for your campaign that align with your goals — which include awareness, engagement, video views, conversions, and the like. Then, define your audience (Pinterest allows you to create Lookalike Audiences!), create your ad group, and start running ads. Boom!

The actual ad process is very similar to any other type of ads you’ve run (AKA, on Facebook), and Pinterest has really robust analytics and creative options to analyze as you go.

Something to know about Pinterest ads
When it comes to Pinterest, you are very likely going to see a higher CPL (cost-per-lead) than you’re used to. However, you can also see a really HUGE return with a lot of potential — and it’s because Pinterest users tend to be more intentional, more eager to learn, and actively searching for results that your offer can give. 

Take some numbers from a recent client launch we facilitated on Pinterest:

• FB/IG cost per lead: $0.70
• Pinterest cost per lead: $1.70 
• FB/IG ROAS: 266.28%
• Pinterest ROAS: 1374.12% (!)

A little more expensive? Sure. A major level up in results? Heck yes.

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So, there you have it friends — a little primer on Pinterest ads for ya! I can’t wait to see you start implementing Pinterest ads into your strategy AND to see you start driving some insane results.

You’ve got this.

Let’s be real here… are there many things better than an Instagram Story?!

(We think… no?!)

I mean, come on. What’s more fun than a little morning tap-through session of coffee pours, business advice, and funny memes?

But, guess what? It’s even better than you’d think… AKA, Stories are phenomenal from a BUSINESS perspective. 

In fact, data shows that over 500 million people use IG Stories daily — and ⅓ of the most viewed IG Stories are from business accounts.

That’s why running ads on Instagram Stories should be an absolute no-brainer for your business, friends.

Why you should run Story ads

A huge goal for business owners (AKA, you!) should always be to advertise in the most natural, aligned ways possible — and that’s where the Story ad placement comes into play. Focusing on the story graphic just as much as the square for the newsfeed is so important! Since they live in the same ecosystem of the beloved Stories your audience is already tapping through, they’re a seamlessly integrated vehicle for your own objectives. 

It’s the best.

Plus, they drive a TON of engagement — and data from Meta actually shows that ⅕ of organic stories already drive DMs from viewers. It just makes sense that being able to occupy that same real estate, especially as a trusted business targeting the right audience, is a 10/10 idea for your goals.

What to post in Story ads

To be really effective with Story ads, you’re going to want to lean into the exact thing that makes Stories so fun to engage with — AKA, the real-life, seamless aspect that your audience already looks for.

Here are some ideas:

• Lifestyle-esque content ideas that showcase your offer
• Launch teasers
• Highlight promotions of your existing content
• Influencer collaborations and UGC content
• Quizzes
• Tutorials or short teaching snippets
  

Use Social Proof: Showing a behind-the-scenes look at real results (think receipts and $$$) or testimonials (the more organic the better! Even screenshots of DM’s and messages can work really well).

Talk Scarcity: “Time is running out”, “There are [X] spots left!” etc. works well for stories because they are so timely and this kind of messaging easily stops the thumbtap.

Get Emotional: The “why” is SO important behind your brand, course, product, and what have you. Why did you create something so amazing? Bring the user along the journey with you to better illustrate your story.

Once you’ve built up a repertoire of top-of-the-funnel Story ads that connect well to your audience, you can start implementing strategic sales slides, too — especially for your webinars, bonuses, and limited-time offers.

Plus, to make it even easier, follow copy frameworks like this:

Webinar ads
LIVE ON [DATE]
WEBINAR TITLE
Join me LIVE to learn how to [transformation]!
CTA

Cart open
HERO COPY SPEAKING TO THE TRANSFORMATION
ENROLLMENT OPEN
[big image]
CTA TO JOIN

Bonus offers
[TIME LEFT]
BONUS
SUBCOPY SPEAKING TO THE TRANSFORMATION
CTA TO JOIN

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The world of ads is one that can be so, so seamlessly integrated into your daily content strategy, friends… and Story ad placements are really the BEST way to get you there. I’m always here for any questions!

What to keep in mind with Story ads

When you’re posting Story ads, I’d always, always recommend focusing on a few things: It’s all about the visuals! It’s a small space for text so be mindful of clear and direct messaging.

Branded colors and texts (brand awareness matters!), eye-catching font sizes and placements, and clear CTAs. This allows your Story ads to feel like part of the tapping journey rather than, well… an ad.

Need some inspo?

Here are some examples from our incredible clients:

Content creation is an essential piece of the business owner puzzle… Especially when it comes to rocking your Facebook ads strategy. After all, if you’re not creating content — specifically through video content like Reels and TikToks — you’re not going to be able to keep an audience engaged, much less build one that’s going to regularly buy from you.

Here’s the thing, though: content creation takes forever. In fact, it kind of feels like a never-ending wheel of things to do, huh? (Yup.)

Well, the key to making it easier is through batching Reels and TikToks — AKA, creating multiple videos at once instead of just creating them one by one as you have time. 

Why batching Reels & TikToks is so effective

When you batch, you can get a LOT more efficient with your creation. Instead of dealing with a myriad of other tasks, you can zone in on one thing — which makes all the difference in your time management and your level of focus. Plus, batching Reels & TikToks leads you to more consistency in your creation through everything from your lighting and tone to your style, edit, and level of energy.

And, more importantly than anything else, batching your content goes hand in hand with a strategy in ways that other content creation can’t. Since you’re zoning in on creation for a specific period of time, you have to create and move forward with a plan… and that makes all the difference in the actual longevity of your content, too.

Our favorite tips for batching Reels & TikToks

So, are you ready to start batching? (Heck yes, right?!) Here are some of our favorite tips:

Get inspo from people you admire: It can feel really hard to come up with a zillion ideas for new Reels & TikToks, which is why it can be really effective and helpful to scope out some inspo from your follows and the internet as a whole. Spend a while screenshotting and saving styles you love, getting inspiration for caption ideas, and starting to pay attention to what really ignites your interest. However, make sure not to get so knee-deep in comparison that you hang yourself up that way! (Been there.)

Plan it all out: To batch your content, you have to have a plan — which can seem really overwhelming. To ease the stress of batching Reels & TikToks, focus on planning out your funnel from engagement to freebie to offer. 

In your engagement planning, focus on inspiring, funny, personal, and educational content that aligns with your brand and really speaks to your audience. Once you start moving into the lead magnet and freebie sections of your funnel, start focusing big-time on benefits, personal stories, and results that really put your audience at the center of the puzzle. When it comes time to sell your offer, you can dial up the scarcity and urgency alongside more results and education.

Boom.

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And then, once you’ve batched out your content (woohoo!), start slotting it into an ads strategy for some serious results. Follow along on our blog for more inspo whenever you need it! 

At System Envy, we love a tool and a system.

(Shocking, right? System Envy living up to its name?)

But, we love a little tools and systems recap juuuuust as much as we love a system — and our team is obsessed with seeing what other small businesses are using, too. It’s been a while since we did a roundup of our favorite tools and software, and it’s changed a little since.

So today, we’re sharing a dive into the things that keep our clients happy, our business running, our funnel sending, and our analytics calculating.

But first, here’s why we’re NEVER opposed to switching things up.

The thing is, businesses change, tech changes, and priorities change — and that means that the tools and software we used back in 2005 aren’t going to be the same ones we use now. (Like, come on… none of us are still using AIM to instant message, are we?! Nope.)

However, I know from firsthand experience how hard it can be to try out new tools and software… especially when something’s working. So, here’s my advice: While I don’t recommend changing things JUST to change them, I also don’t recommend refusing to change in the name of sticking with routine. New technological advances and new steps in business are just waiting for you on the side of a little bit of fear, okay? Promise.

Tools and Software We’re Loving: 2024 Edition

From GSuire and Asana to Flodesk, WordPress, and Funnel Gorgeous, here are our go-to tools and software these days. 

GSuite: When it comes to GSuite, we love it all — Docs, Slides, Sheets, Gmail, you name it. Why? Because reporting software, um… just didn’t do it for us. I guess you can call us old school, but it’s way easier, way more effective, and WAY more sensible for our clients to report via GSuite. 

We tried the fancy Google Data Studios, but the plug-in wouldn’t work and the data broke over and over again, which was so frustrating. While it would definitely be really helpful for very straightforwardly data-driven businesses or straight lead gen or e-commerce businesses, it wasn’t helpful for us. Even with the fancy graphs and tables, it just never felt as streamlined or useful as a Google Sheet.

Asana: Guys, we could sing the promise of Asana forever and ever and ever. It’s been our favorite tool for a long time, and we can’t imagine it NOT being a favorite. Basically, it’s our project manager… and it’s grown as we have. We use it to plan, create, and schedule content, manage client projects, define ad campaigns, and SO. MUCH MORE.

10/10 recommend.

Funnel Gorgeous: After several years with another funnel software, we reworked allllll of our email funnels last year into FG Funnels, also known as Funnel Gorgeous Funnels. This is an all-in-one funnel builder that’s A) gorgeous (obviously) and B) really easy to use. Plus, it does everything from template design to automation.

Flodesk: Ah, Flodesk. If you want to send beautiful, on-brand emails, Flodesk is your bestie… just like it is to us. While we don’t do our heavy-lifting funnels through Flodesk, we do utilize it often for landing pages, newsletters, and the like. There are so many easy-to-use features, it’s SO intuitive, and it has a pretty robust ability for segmenting. Plus, it’s SO inexpensive.

WordPress: There are a lot of options for website building, but we just really still love WordPress. There’s really nothing like it in terms of blog capability and function, ease, and resources — and since it’s been around for so long, the kinks are worked out. Plus, the plug-in options are endless.

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Our System Envy tech stack is simple, but she’s effective… and we’re big fans. However, we’re always open to any suggestions. Do you have any favorites we’re not taking advantage of?

When your ad performance is killing it, there’s almost nothing (well, in the digital marketing space) that’s quite as exciting.

However, when your ad performance is lacking…. It can be confusing, frustrating, and really tricky to navigate. 

But, we’re an open book over here — and I’m here to share some really easy ways for you to boost your ad performance without feeling like you need to completely overhaul your campaigns, take a course, and add a bunch of new things to your plate.

First things first, though: here’s a reminder.

Ad performance is very, very rarely linear. If you’re experiencing a dip in performance, there’s definitely a reason… but it’s also not something to panic about. Promise. There are so many things that impact campaigns, and it’s why we continually talk over here about testing, tweaking, and then testing and tweaking some more.

3 Ways to Easily Boost Your Ad Performance

There are an unlimited amount of ways that you can boost your ad performance, so I am by no means sharing an exhaustive list with you here. However, I am sharing 3 of the easiest, most simple tips I have for quickly implementing and improving your ad performance.

You ready?

1. Align your brand in high-quality ways across your ad campaigns.

One of the quickest ways to almost instantly elevate your ads is by making sure that you’re paying attention to cohesive branding across every step of your audience’s ads journey. Ensure that your photos and graphics are high-quality and on par with everything else you share — and make sure that your brand colors, fonts, and styles are the same everywhere. This builds so much trust and also is such a value-add for your campaigns.

However, it’s not just about visuals either — stick to the same voice and tone in your ad copy as on your website (and make sure that messaging is clear in the first place). It’s paramount that anything you’re linking off to, whether that’s a landing page or a sales page or a checkout page, stays with this same pattern as well.

And trust me here: take the time to make these updates and you *will* see improvement. 

2. Don’t spread your budget too thin.

Often, an easy way to accidentally dilute your ads performance is by spreading your budget too thin across too many ad sets. Instead, try just a few — over here, we prefer spreading between Warm + Lookalike audiences (stacked) with cold audiences. Anything much beyond that is likely not going to get you big results — and you could be utilizing your ad spend so much better than that. 

Plus, remember: when you *don’t* spread your budget too thin, you give yourself actual space to test and try out new things where there’s space. When you *do* spread your budget too thin, you can’t make the impact you’re craving.

3. Shake up your CTAs.

How often (really) do you find yourself writing — and even clicking on — the EXACT same CTAs? It’s probably a lot, and they’re probably all in the vein of “click here” or “visit now.” If you want to quickly break audience boredom and shake up your ads, simply switch up your CTAs. It’s that simple. Here are a few ideas — just mix and match:

• Save/snag/reserve/grab your seat now!
• Just tap to get your hands on XXX!
• Become a <subject matter> expert today by clicking!
• Come say hi!
• I can’t wait to meet you — hit the link to come join the party
• Let’s make it happen, yeah? 

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Alright, pals — there you have it: 3 easy-peasy ways to elevate your ads *now.* Start implementing these today, and then scroll here for tons more ideas. I’ve got you, always!

As an ads agency for leading creatives and 7-figure entrepreneurs, we get asked a LOT about what offers are best for running ads to. It’s the great ads question, really: is it better to run ads to low-priced offers or high-priced offers?

And, as we love to do, we have an answer for you: it doesn’t matter the price of your offer — running social media ads can be a HUGE help. However, your strategy does matter. 

See, we’ve had clients make huge returns on ads for their $15 templates, and we’ve also had clients make huge returns on ads for their $3,500 courses. We recommend that you run ads to any offer that you want to scale, and we’re big believers that ads to a $15 offer are just as important and valuable in creating passive income as a $3,500 offer.

You just have to approach it all in the right way. Let’s break it down.

The truth about running any ads

As you probably know, no offer is going to sell well if it’s not strategized well — but if it is strategized well, ANY good offer can sell. This is why you need to define a strategy for your offers pre-launch, regardless of their ticket price… and those strategies are going to look different based on the details of your specific offer.

To do this, you need to make sure that it’s a GOOD offer for selling online. Just think: Is it an instantly downloadable guide? Is it a digital course? Is it a product with fast, free shipping? Those are examples of a product that typically sells well online through ads, regardless of the price point — while something like a 5-day Hawaiian retreat may require a more in-depth warm-up and nurture strategy to create buy-in. While ads can definitely help you, they might not be a super core part of your sales strategy *yet.* 

Once you determine that ads are great for your specific offer, jump right in!

Our tips for successfully launching low and high-priced offers with ads

To kill it with your ad campaign, you need to be really, really clear on your customer journey. What does your audience need to buy into your offer, regardless of the cost? If it’s a quick download that costs the same as a few Starbucks coffees, you can likely get away with a shorter ads runway and a strategy that doesn’t require as much warming up. 

If this is you, make sure you do these things in your ads journey:

• Ensure that your landing pages are clear, concise, and connected to your ad creative
• Test short and long-form copy — and tweak your ad creative as you go
• Consider running ads to an upsell option for people who do buy your low-priced offer
• Think about scalability: what next step should your purchasers take? How can you run ads to that next?

However, if you’re selling a big-ticket retreat or course, your audience needs to know and trust you. They need to be fully aware of your value, they need to be regularly learning from you, and they need to see your offer as something worthy of a bigger price point. That requires more thought and intention from the jump, and does require a longer period of testing and nurturing to be successful.

If this is you, make sure you do these things in your ads journey:

• Focus on audience-building and nurturing with free value, educational content, and lots of visibility
• Get clear on your ideal audience and continue to test, test, test
• Link every ad to a clear, well-written landing page or sales page that answers questions and tackles objections (bonus points if you offer Q&A sessions!)
• Utilize social proof and testimonials within your ads to build trust

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So, my friends, the answer to the great ads question is this: you can absolutely ROCK any priced offer, as long as you have the right strategy.

Once you’ve nailed that in, you’re good to freakin’ go — and we’re always here to help you.

Something about business that most people don’t talk about is how, well, UNfun it is to sell the product, offer, or service you have. If you’re like most business owners (and me!) you got into the work you do because you love it. You feel passion about that specific thing you do, and the idea of making a business out of it is, well, pretty much the best thing ever.

The selling part, though? Ugh. It can feel overwhelming, it can feel icky, and it can feel really inauthentic. 

I get it. Trust me.

However, here’s some tough love: to run a successful business, you simply HAVE to be able to sell your product, service, or offer. There’s no way around that, regardless of how much you wish there was.

(Psst… It’s why I love Facebook ads *so* much: because you can sell to an audience that’s really aligned with what you’re doing, and you can do it in a way that feels authentic and easy.)

So, if you’re feeling like selling is hard, I’ve got you. Here are 3 easy ways to sell, even when you really don’t want to.

1. Get really, really clear on your messaging.

Often, the reason that selling feels so difficult and icky is because you haven’t gotten true clarity on the reason that you/your service/your product/your offer is so, so incredible. While you’re likely aware of why it’s so incredible (duh! It’s what you do), you also probably haven’t tried to map it out and write it down…. And that means that it’s hard for you to put it in exact, customer-focused wording. 

So, to solve this, I want you to get a pen and paper and figure it out. Ask yourself:

• What exactly does this offer of mine promise?
• How do I get there?
• Who is this offer for?
• What makes this the top choice?

Once you figure this out, you can start to weave these promises and this journey into everything from your sales calls to your landing pages to your content to your ads… and your offer will sell ITSELF.

2. Test, test, test!

Often, the hardest part of selling is feeling like you’re not instantly successful — and I get that. That’s why testing comes into play in a myriad of ways, especially when you’re trying to get used to the act of selling itself. Keep playing with and tweaking everything from your marketing strategies to your audiences to that messaging you figured out in step 1 — and don’t stop testing until you’ve landed on something that you feel really, really confident in. 

3. Find support for the pieces you don’t feel so confident in.

I’m a big, big believer in outsourcing and leaning on support as much as I can — and I encourage you to do the same. Just because you have an offer you’re selling doesn’t mean you’re the one who needs to do absolutely everything in your business. In fact, that’s a recipe for burnout. So, hire! 

Hire the right team and contractors to support you, celebrate finding people that fit into the places you don’t feel as confident in, and lean on additional sources of marketing (hello, Facebook ads!) to take things out of your hands.

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More than anything, I want you to remind yourself of a few things: one, you’re WORTHY of selling your offer — and, two, you’re NOT alone in feeling like it’s hard to do just that. Instead of harping on that, get clear on your messaging, tweak your processes, and find support.

It works.

Promise.