The Weekly Sharpener #110

Scaling a business isn't hard...if you know the secret 😤

Author

Chase Mohseni
January 16th, 2023

👋 Hey fam!  

I'm really excited to share this 👊 Monday roundup with you! (Thanks Holiday season) 

First, we spend time with Charley Tichenor and he goes off! We discuss Facebook Ads, Business fundamentals, and the journey of personal growth we've both been on. It's a fun one. Bonus - we have our first playbook to give you a TLDR of the episode! 

Next, we check out what's going on with the paid social app growth and how you can synthesize it with your strategy going into the rest of the year! 

Finally, we dig into some great learnings from 2022 on paid ads that you can bring forward. You could say we dedicated this edition to your ads...and we did! 

Thanks for spending a few minutes with us today, we appreciate you, and hope you find this valuable! 

Cheers,

Chase

The Weekly Sharpener #94_Is your brand part of the culture? If not, 😬...

Check out Pencil if you're ready to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI.

Special Tip: 

You aren't "persuading" anybody to:

Customers only act because of their emotional, subconscious needs. Advertising is our way of stepping into the space between their desire & our solution.

(Courtesy of Sarah Levinger)

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Also listen on Apple 🍎 or Spotify 🎧

If you enjoy the episode, please rate us 5⭐️'s & share!

Curious about our top takeaways from our time with Charley? Check out Pencil Marketing Playbook #1. 

Content That Matters

New Report Shows that Time Spent Using Social Apps Rose to New Highs in 2022

data.ai’s annual overview also highlights the rise of BeReal, and TikTok’s in-app spending push.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/new-report-shows-that-time-spent-using-social-apps-rose-to-new-highs-in-202/640073/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-01-12%20Social%20Media%20Today%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:47279%5D&utm_term=Social%20Media%20Today

Why it matters: The reason we care about these stats is it dictates where we need to be putting our advertising dollars. But you know that already. What might surprise you is that globally - Facebook is still in third place on downloads. 

Global time on platforms is up above 2 TRILLION (🤯) hours. 

This is due to TikTok pushing a quick shift in Instagrams strategy to focus on reels plus and some algorithmic changes each platform has been working on. 

Why are we sharing this data?

1) It's interesting.

2) Your strategy needs to be informed by: 

  • What your customers need

  • Where they are

  • How that intersects for your business

  • If that's on platforms - how does each work?

  • How can you supply each platform with what it needs to give you efficient costs + high value customers.

The only call to arms is - to know what to expect from each platform and in knowing that - allocate budgets for creative production.

Your stack will probably be: 

  • IG

  • TikTok

  • Facebook

  • Snap

  • YouTube

Am I wrong? 

Thread of the week 🤌

Why it matters: This is an amazing breakdown of what's working and what's not working with Facebook ads. Cory is on the front lines building a great agency, so this is worth a lead. 

My favorite part is: bad ad, good product - can still sell, but the inverse isn't true. Focus on the core and let ads be the fuel! 

Expert Strategy + Learnings

Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC. 

Carl's CRO Tips 🙌

This is why customers buy: > They are motivated > They understand the value > Little friction in the customer journey > They feel certain

For more 🔥 follow Carl Weische from Accelerated.

Worth Your Time 💡

No explanation, just amazing content. 

From our Library 📚

Paid Ad Diagnostic for when you're Ads are not converting sales

https://www.trypencil.com/post/paid-ad-diagnostic-when-your-not-converting-sales

What are Shopify Audiences & How should I use them?

https://www.trypencil.com/post/what-are-shopify-audiences-how-should-i-use-them

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